This principle, ascribed 75 years ago in the preamble of the UN Charter, symbolized a global conviction towards a new world. With a common aspiration to prevent the recurrence of the 'untold sorrow to mankind' experienced in the decades prior, the signatories committed to a restored faith in humanity. The principle permeates through all of the UN’s work, be that in humanitarian assistance, development or peacekeeping.

I joined the UN in Lesotho in 2019 to lead the drought emergency coordination efforts in the country. The country had just been devastated by drought at the time, leaving more than half a million people (about a quarter of the total population of Lesotho), mostly women and children, experiencing severe food shortages. Tens of thousands were ‘one step away from famine’. While farmers experienced droughts, rising temperatures, and extreme weather, the changing weather condition was forcing people to migrate.

Since October 2019, Lebanon has been witnessing a grim economic crisis that was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. The national currency has lost 80 per cent of its value, driving the price of a monthly food basket – that is a selection of staple food items a family needs – to more than the double over the past six months. With one million people living below the poverty line, many families were already struggling to make ends meet.

With a background in architecture, urban design, planning and sustainable development, I have worked with many international organizations on emergency to long-term development projects across East Africa, Middle East, Asia, North America and Europe. I was grateful to join the UNHCR Burundi operation as a UN Volunteer and apply my over eight years of experience, working in fast paced multicultural environments to provide the technical expertise that was needed from the national to community level.

Law school seemed to be a logical choice for me as I was an avid reader of history and early on in life, I became transfixed by how every positive social change, whether in my own country, India, or the world at large, could be traced to much-needed amendments in legal frameworks.

Over the course of the past five years, the UNMM has mobilized a cumulative total of 18 UN Volunteers to support the delivery of its mandate at the border between Turkey and Syria. UN Volunteer Thevanathan Nadesapillai (Sri Lanka) joined the UNMM in Turkey in June 2018 as a UN Volunteer Monitoring Officer. His assignment is to inspect the relief consignments that are loaded at the border and monitor their passage across the border.

Across the Arab States, humanitarians have been making real change in peoples’ lives, whether on the frontlines in conflict-ridden contexts or within their own communities.

It takes two hours to cover the 60 kilometers between Batouri, the capital of the Kadey department to the Lolo refugee site. Near the border with the Central African Republic (CAR) in the commune of Kentzou, the camp hosts a population of over 13,000 refugees from CAR. Fleeing a war-torn country, these vulnerable communities, predominately Muslims, settled at the site from the beginning of 2014.

The day the cyclone hit, we accommodated five neighbour families who sought refuge after the cyclone winds destroyed their houses. A total of 33 people sat in our small sitting room and I had to climb up the roof to place stone blocks to prevent the roof of being swept away.

I quickly discovered that the mission is a mosaic of diverse characters facing unique challenges and chasing different dreams. For example, in my role as UN Volunteer Public Information Officer, I hoped to use my writing to highlight the collective challenges, as well as accomplishments, of a nascent nation like South Sudan to a global audience. But I never really considered what I was doing as humanitarian work.