World Humanitarian Day is observed annually on 19 August. As we pay tribute to and and salute the courage of humanitarians around the world, we bring you a story of three UN Volunteers, Elena Mansour, Lama Sheta, and Mohamed Moursy whose volunteer actions underpin the crucial support needed on the ground for one of the deadliest conflicts — Gaza.
The war continues unabated in its eleventh month. In this backdrop, Elena Mansour, from the Netherlands, serves as a UN Volunteer in Security Analysis and Training with the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Bureau in Egypt. She reports on security and political developments regarding food security. This reporting is vital to forecast potential risks for famine. And based on these forecasts, Elena facilitates proactive security measures, directly contributing to the safety and effectiveness of WFP’s field operations in the region.
Simultaneously, volunteering has enabled Elena to acquire and hone skills for operating in the dynamic political, security, and humanitarian settings of the region.
To volunteer is to wholeheartedly embrace an existential reality: volunteers accept and rise to the challenges of their roles with modesty, passion, and courage.” Elena Mansour, UN Volunteer with WFP Regional Bureau, Egypt.
Staying with the operations of the same UN entity, we have another UN Volunteer, Lama Sheta, a Media Coordinator. She creates daily reports on the developments in the region and monitors the media for reputational risks. Lama manages WFP’s Arabic website in her native home town, Cairo. She analyzes media reports and knows how important is to have the pulse of the crisis-affected regions through a user-friendly platform in the local language — Arabic.
For Lama, her biggest challenge is her greatest lesson. At the beginning of her journey, she struggled to manage the emotional toll of getting graphic content of the war and stories of hardship and pain. However, seeing the resilience of people — and their ability to cope with death and destruction taught her to channel her emotions into a stronger commitment — volunteering. And through this, find the strength to continue supporting the locally-led efforts on the ground.
Volunteering is an incredibly enriching experience. Every day, I am inspired by the people who go through the struggles, especially the women. Seeing their courage and resilience pushes me to do better and to continue to support the humanitarian actions.” Lama Sheta, UN Volunteer with WFP Regional Bureau, Egypt.
As a Humanitarian Affairs Officer, Mohamed Moursy supports the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (ROMENA). He is on a Special Voluntary Fund UN Volunteer assignment.
A native of Egypt, Mohamed is responsible for reporting on the humanitarian response and raising awareness of the regional context. His volunteering is essential for creating partnerships and making sure humanitarian assistance reaches the people in dire need of it.
Being a part of the Gaza response team has made me confident that I am on the right path to spreading the humanitarian message and helping alleviate human suffering. Volunteering has enabled me to be a part of the change that I would like to see in the world and has taught to me be persistent, knowing that our work saves lives — literally.” Mohamed Moursy, UN Volunteer with UNOCHA ROMENA, Egypt.
Coping with the constant and sudden changes in the Gaza crisis and emergency context is the biggest challenge he has had to face.
Some of these changes affect coordination efforts and the volume of work, which is taxing. His assignment requires him to adapt to how things evolve on the ground and this means his personal commitments also need to be moved around and without much notice. His greatest lesson has been accepting that unexpected changes occur — an attitude of resilience, he demonstrates, with passion while advocating for volunteering.
In line with the UN pillar of peace, UNV's Special Voluntary Fund is a clear and strategic response to the crisis and emergency efforts of UN initiatives around the world. The SVF-funded UN Volunteers support the humanitarian assistance for Gaza and are deployed in the neighboring countries — Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. At the end of 2023, 18 SVF-funded UN Volunteers were recruited with six UN entities to support the Gaza crisis response.
As the war continues, and with that so do the humanitarian efforts of the United Nations, the service of UN Volunteer humanitarians — Elena, Lama, Mohamed, and many others like them reflects courage, perseverance, strength — and most of all empathy.
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To find out more information about the United Nations Volunteers' Gaza response, please click on UNV's Special Voluntary Fund and Emergency Response to the crisis in Gaza.