"We are working as one family, one people"

When Noel Piroro was asked to help train demining teams in Syria, he didn’t miss a beat. He had seen the pain landmines had wrought in his own country, Zimbabwe, where they instil fear 50 years on.

"Landmines were laid to disturb our lives during years of conflict" he says. "They destroyed our land, our livestock, our houses. We couldn’t go on with our lives.

"It’s the same in Syria. These are good people, they’ve welcomed me. Their land should be free, for cultivation, for houses and businesses."

Noel joins a team of specialist HALO deminers from multiple countries, who are clearing deadly explosives left behind by 14 years of civil war.

Each of these humanitarians brings vital minefield and bomb disposal expertise from the savannas of Angola and Zimbabwe, the jungles of Cambodia and the island lagoons of Sri Lanka. They have 227 years of experience between them.

Like Noel, they are also driven by their own accounts of loss and conflict. They empathise deeply with the Syrian people.

"War in Angola ended 24 years ago", says Valdemar Fernandez. Yet we’re still having terrible accidents.

"Some people think that after a war, everything goes back to normal. But it doesn’t. We’re still clearing mines, and removing deadly weapons and unexploded bombs, all these years later."

Life-saving work

Syria’s brutal civil war ended with the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024. But for millions of returning Syrians, the landscape remains a danger.

Villages and towns had been wrecked by conflict and contain dangerous explosives to this day.

HALO and the Syria mine action sector estimate that 2,442 people have been killed or injured by explosives from the end of the regime to August 2026.

"Explosive hazards affect our country, daily. It’s a wonderful feeling to see so many people with international expertise here to help us.

"My hope is that Syria will once again be safe, stable, and prosperous, proud of its people, and free from all harm and danger."

The international demining teams will be in Syria for a total of six months. They will focus on the four first HALO Syria manual demining teams this summer, to help build their capacity.

"This is an investment in Syria’s future," says HALO Syria’s Piers Brecher.

"The demining team is not just clearing landmines. They’re creating the conditions for millions of Syrians to rebuild their lives, revive their communities and restore hope for the future."

What is World Humanitarian Day?

World Humanitarian Day honours humanitarian aid workers who venture into disaster and conflict zones to save lives, often at grave personal risk.

At a time when humanitarian workers are increasingly under attack, we’re honouring deminers, like Noel, Valdemar, Abdulrahman and the rest of the international demining team who risk their own lives to keep their communities safe after conflict.

"Children have suffered here, they have lost their hands and feet. I have seen the accidents from unexploded bombs," says former driver turned deminer Mohammad Suleiman Al Mahamid.

"The people coming from abroad to help rebuild Syria have made me more determined to rebuild my country.

"I want a Syria free from explosives and landmines. A green Syria."

227 years between them

Our incredible international demining team in full, and their years of HALO experience.

Thai Lip: 30 years, Cuthbert Mutukwa: 12 years Kennedy Chingwanga: 11 years Piroro Noel: 14 years Valdemar Fernandes: 29 years Kim Ly: 30 years Bernard Tachiwenyika: 11 years Joel Chiteculo Jose: 26 Rosarin Bernard: 21 years Youey Yai: 30 years