Perth Voice Interactive

AUSTRALIAN troops withdrew from Afghanistan last year but for many the memories are indelible.

Maylands’ Dorsa Nazemi-Salman has just returned from a 13-month stint in Herat, western Afghanistan, where she worked for the Red Cross as a protection aid worker.

The 34-year-old was in charge of Herat Provincial Prison, the country’s second largest gaol, where she coordinated access to clean water and improved sanitation and health care.

She says the most heart-wrenching experience was helping maimed children.

“I dreaded receiving phone calls from Herat Provincial Hospital,” she says.

“The phone call meant that there was a civilian who was injured due to either a conflict or improvised explosive device

“I mostly hated seeing children on the hospital beds. There are many old IEDs which are left from the Soviet time (early 1980s). Little kids who don’t know what they are usually pick them up, to either play with them or sell them as scrap metal. They explode and cause serious damage.”

“Helping the most vulnerable in a conflict zone is pretty fulfilling.”

When Iranian-born Ms Nazemi-Salman migrated to Australia at 17 she couldn’t speak a word of English. But she quickly found her feet and joined the Red Cross in 2012, where she has worked in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan: “I chose Red Cross because of their international human rights mandate as well as their reputation,” she says.

“However, once you are on an assignment, your assumptions about the humanitarian world are turned upside down.

“The humanitarian community has a way to show you a side of humanity you had never seen before, a very humbling experience.

“In Herat I also worked protecting the civilian population, documenting any cases where a violation of human rights against a civilian is committed: this could be in the form of a civilian being caught in crossfire or a civilian who has injuries related to the conflict.

“Helping the most vulnerable in a conflict zone is pretty fulfilling.” Ms Nazemi-Salman, a paddleboard enthusiast, says she misses plying the Swan and enjoying coffee in Mt Lawley when far from home: “I really miss the beaches and freedom to run where-ever and whenever I want.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK