Banjul, The Gambia: "Since you came, life in this village has changed."

Monrovia, Liberia:  Aktar Uddin, from Bangladesh, is a UNV Advocacy Officer with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). Although the country’s civil war is over, Liberia has to deal with the after effects of war, which involve loss of infrastructure and access to electricity, water, basic facilities or health care. Aktar, along with 250 other UN Volunteers, is working to establish and sustain peace in Liberia. I asked Aktar a few questions regarding his views of the work he and other UN Volunteers are doing in Liberia.

Duekoue, Côte d’Ivoire:  When I received the offer to serve as a UNV Electoral Advisor with the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB), all I knew about elections was that there were electoral campaigns and voting; and as for volunteering - I am speaking here of the program - I had only a vague idea. The first few years were a true apprenticeship in which I was happy to learn how to do the work I had signed on for in a multicultural and diverse environment that was at times quite hostile, with regard to both my colleagues and the local population.

Bissau, Guinea-Bissau: Having grown up in her birthplace Cuntum, Bissau, Rosilândia spends time volunteering there to help better the future of the most vulnerable women in her community. She is one of the young women in the area who is convinced that equality for women is beneficial to the whole community. Rosilândia works as a community volunteer trainer, involved with helping Cuntum’s vulnerable women learn how to read and write.

Iriba, Chad: Zo Eorintany from Madagascar is a UN Volunteer with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Iriba in Eastern Chad where she has been assigned since July 2010. Before going to Chad, she worked with WFP in her home country for eight years, and says, “I felt, I could help somewhere else, where people would be even more in need.”

Monrovia, Liberia:  I am the focal person for World Refugee Day in Liberia. As a Public Information Officer, working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) gives me the opportunity to listen and tell the stories of people torn apart by war - nursing mothers, children, pregnant women and the elderly.

The International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is on 6 February. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 120 to 140 million women have been subject to this harmful and dangerous practice and 3 million girls continue to be at risk each year. Although in many countries this practice has been radically prohibited, there are places where genital ablation is still practiced, as it is considered an ancient ritual linked to cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities.

Monrovia, Liberia: Joining the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) as a UNV Judicial Systems Monitor in 2007 has allowed me to help further development not only for the people I serve in Lofa and Montserrado Counties, but also for myself. I have monitored, advised and reported on judicial processes at the Magistrates’ Courts, Circuit Courts and Supreme Court in civil and criminal matters, sometimes in very remote areas of Liberia.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: My story I am from Burkina Faso, a West African country located on the southern edge of Africa’s Sahara desert.  Minimal rainfall makes living conditions very hard for people. In 1976, when I started primary school, less than 20 per cent of all children had access to education. Millions of children  do not attend school due to poverty. I could have suffered the same fate like these millions of children being ignored in this remote part of the world, unable to write, nor read.

Abeche, Chad: When the closure of the United Nations Mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) was announced by the UN Security Council in May, 2010, I was already posted in Abeche as a UNV Project and Advocacy Officer. “You need to experience a liquidation phase at least once,” I was told by colleagues who had.  Some said, “I did it [the liquidation], and I will not do it again.”  Others said, “This is the most stressful period of a mission.  If you can be in your unit liquidation team, you will learn a lot.”