By ALAN PERROTT
Graham Zinsli will pack his bright Red Cross badge, a Lonely Planet guide and an unopened Christmas present today before going where only armed troops dare to venture.
The 38-year-old is off to Afghanistan as part of the Red Cross effort to patch up the human damage wrought by the world's most sophisticated military Machinery.
Understandably he is a little nervous, but Mr Zinsli, of Hillsborough in Auckland, has faith that his Red Cross badge will get him through doorways that few can enter.
"There is always some degree of risk involved. It's more a matter of not taking any unnecessary risks and knowing where not to go.
"But the neutrality of the Red Cross has been respected wherever I have been - people know we do not take sides.
"The last time I was over there, there were a lot of anti-Western demonstrations but we were always left alone.
"Sometimes you can walk into a place wearing the badge and the people look at you like you're an angel. That is a very strange experience."
Mr Zinsli is a nursing consultant at North Shore Hospital's emergency unit, experience that has been invaluable for his two previous tours of Red Cross duty.
He spent six months in the pre-Taleban Kandahar in 1996-1997 and a further six months in Ethiopia's Addis Ababa in 1999.
His work in Afghanistan will bookend the life of the Taleban regime.
He was there in October 1996 when the radical Islamic army swept into the capital Kabul and he will return as they teeter on the brink of collapse.
He is not sure what awaits him, apart from a harsh winter.
Until his formal briefing, his only information will come from a Lonely Planet guide for Pakistan.
But he wants to see how the country and its people have stood up.
"I don't think Kandahar could look any worse. It looked wartorn and destroyed last I saw. I can't imagine it'll be any worse. But Afghans are a very proud, strong people. They will ask for help only if they need it and only for as long as it is needed."
Mr Zinsli will join Marion Picken, of Wellington, in a wave of aid workers to enter the country. Another two New Zealanders are expected to join them.
* The International Red Cross is running a phone appeal on 0900 33 100 to raise money for its work in Afghanistan.
Story archives:
Links: War against terrorism
Timeline: Major events since the Sept 11 attacks
Red Cross volunteer counts on badge in Afghanistan's war zone
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