JEDDAH — There are about 50 women among the 700 volunteers in Jeddah, according to the director of the department of Civil Defense in Makkah region Maj. Gen. Salim Bin Marzouq Al-Matrafi. Addressing a special function to celebrate the International Volunteer Day in Jeddah on Monday, Matrafi praised the women's work in the field of volunteering and said they are discharging their duties perfectly according to the special charter of the Civil Defense. He said there are more than 40 volunteering and welfare societies providing support to the Civil Defense. "There are other women volunteers working with the official charitable organizations doing important works including first aid, relief and other social activities concerning women and children," he said. Matrafi said the Kingdom has achieved great successes in this field. He said the work of the volunteers is being organized by a special charter issued by the Interior Ministry deciding the assignment of the volunteers including firefighting, rescue, search operations, evacuation, accommodation, relief and others. Matrafi said they liaise with the leaders of the teams to decide the work expected from the volunteers at times of need. Meanwhile, chairman of the Saudi team of volunteers for search and rescue, Mohammed Sabri Qasas, said the 520 volunteers, including a number of women, have carried out several desert, mountain and sea search and rescue operations. "The lack of funds is the only major problem facing us. We depend on our own resources to prepare our four-wheel drive cars which are vital for desert search," he said. Qasas said the volunteers also buy the diving and sea search equipment from their own pocket money. He said for about two and a half years the team has been undertaking voluntary work under the supervision of the Civil Defense, the Border Guard and other concerned parties. The chairman said all the volunteers are highly qualified and received rigorous training which made them quite capable of doing the rescue, relief, search and firefighting works. He said the women volunteers are assigned social activities consisting of the awareness tasks wherein they visit girl schools and orphanages to propagate the volunteering work.
