90 Minutes to help (by Zeid Al-Khail Kassouha)
Since I started working with refugees in August 2007, I have had many wonderful and touching experiences that have made a real change in my life and how I see things.
One such experience was participating in the World Refugee Day fundraising concert organized by UNHCR at the Opera House in Damascus on 16 June 2008. Before 1300 spectators, the Iraqi musician and Oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma played some of his most moving compositions about Iraq, in support of his compatriots, many now refugees in Syria.
Two hours before the start of the concert, we met at the Opera House: there were around 20 volunteers, UNVs mostly, from UNHCR Registration, Field Operations, Community Services and the Protection Unit, and some UNICEF volunteers too. None of us knew exactly what to expect but despite the Germany vs. Austria football game on that evening, and the thousand other things we could have been doing that night, being a volunteer then and there made sense.
We were put in charge of transparent boxes to collect donations before, during and after the concert. Dotted around the Opera next to our donation boxes, we knew that the cash donations as well as the money from ticket sales would go towards helping UNHCR's financial assistance scheme for the most vulnerable Iraqi families living in Syria.
As a UNV-Registration Clerk working with UNHCR, I daily meet Iraqi refugees who have sold everything they own to flee their country and have nothing to live on by the time I speak to them. This daily contact made me and all my volunteer colleagues deeply conscious of the importance of our assignment on World Refugee Day. We know how even a small amount of money can help an entire refugee family: to pay rent, to cover the expenses of their every-day life while prices continue to rise.
The volunteers were motivated and donations from concert-goers came with explanations of UNHCR's work and the needs of Iraqi families.
There wasn't much time: donations could only be made upon arrival and departure of spectators, and during a 15 minute-break in-between; 90 minutes altogether. As Jihan Taha, a UNV volunteer, commented: "It is my hope that by bringing these donations to Iraqi refugees, we will set an example that no matter how small a volunteer group, we can help erase some of the suffering of these people".
Encouraged by the general atmosphere, Naseer Shamma's entrancing music and his words of encouragement for the future of all refugees, the audience passed by our boxes, giving money and trying to find out more about refugees. All to one end, and for the first time at such an event: to provide help to people in dire need of assistance.
After 5 hours in the Opera House, our assignment came to an end. As the last concert-goers trickled out, not knowing how much money had been raised, we went away feeling that volunteering for this event was part of our mission to help refugees, in a different way from what we do every day as UNVs.
The ticket sales and the donations collected at the concert came to a total of over SYP1,000,000, enough to provide financial assistance to close to 20 refugee families for at least a year.
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A volunteer’s voice: MICHAEL ELIAS ARIED
I started my job as a UN National Volunteer in Zeyzon Project in July 2004. A project which aims to support and rehabilitate Zeyzoun disaster area. The project started after the disaster of Zeyzon`s dam. The number of people who live there and was affected exceeds 700,000 inhabitants.
The area is divided into five agricultural sectors and agriculture is the main resource for those people. When the dam collapsed, which was considered the main resource of water supply, the fertile fields were changed into dry farming: this changed people’s life into a very poor one.
The disaster was tremendous, within a few hours, people lost everything they owned and they fled for their lives from the overwhelming water. The nearby villages were strongly affected by the flooding, especially Zeyzon, which disappeared completely. Only the minaret of the mosque emerged from the floods, as a clear evidence of the calamity.
Villages like Al-Mushek, Mazraat Al-Asi, Al-Zeara and others were strongly affected: the Syrian government dealt with the crisis immediately, as possible as it could.
The project was established with the help and support of the Italian Government and UNDP in Syria.
Five targets of the project were assigned as basic procedures which were necessary to start the project:
To build up a data for socio-economic development in the project area as base line studies and policy purposes of the project management, local government and the donors’ community.
To build up a data for technical, economical and social studies to the mostly affected areas.
The establishment of small projects to increase the income of the people who live in this area.
To enhance the local capacity and skills by the co-operation of the international organizations.
To promote and enhance women activities in order to allow women to be more involved in economic activities and decision-making on the local level.
We started our job by visiting the affected villages. We met the people and explained them about the nature of our mission, while listening to their points of view about the projects, finding out what they may find more beneficial to improve their income. We began to establish local committees, composed by local leaders, mayors and teachers.
Firstly, nine committees were founded. We focused our attention on the poorest families in nine villages, depending on the survey that included about 520 families of the total number which counted 1,135 families. This was done in one of the five sector affected by the disaster.
Once the survey was completed and the poorest families assigned, we began to distribute the survey table divided into four main categories (A, B, C and D):
Category A consisted of those who lost everything they owned.
Category B consisted of people who own only a house.
Category C consisted of people who own a house and one resource (tractor, harvest machine, car, animals or others).
Category D consisted of those who own fields in addition to a house or others.
After the committees’ approval on the accuracy and truth of all information, a group of candidates was chosen and provided with loans. All candidates selected were mentioned under category A.
In the fifth day of every month, the local committees present a monthly report to show how their work runs and to show the new changes of the debtor’s project.
The committees provide us with these reports to keep us updated on all the projects in the area. We continuously visit these families to make sure that those debtors settled in their villages and quitted the idea of leaving and seeking new jobs somewhere else. During our several meetings with the local villagers everybody showed great happiness for such projects which urge individuals to improve their families` life.
All villagers were grateful to the continuous supervision carried out by the administration of the project, hoping that this supervision lasts till all poor villagers take benefit of the project.
We highly noticed the greatness of the positive effects of those small projects on the villagers` life.
This was my first Volunteer mission and also the first field-job I carried out. It’s a great opportunity for me to increase and enhance my ability and experience about Volunteer’s life.
Living with people, listening to their problems and giving them a helping hand offers me a great feeling of happiness and adds a big value to everything I do!
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11,000 VOLUNTEERS TO CLEAN THE SYRIAN COAST! (by Sara Dominoni)
Last 22-23 July, thousands of volunteers trooped to the Syrian coast – from Lattakia to Tartous – and took part in a national campaign on environmental awareness, starting with cleaning up its 175-kilometre beach.
Organized by the MAS Economic Group, a business company dedicated to the advancement and improvement of Syria, in cooperation with local government of Damascus and other volunteer-involving organizations from all around the country, the event is considered as the most extensive environmental campaign because it ranges from Syria’s borders to Lebanon on the north to Turkey, on the south.
When the campaign was first presented to me, I was a little skeptical, especially because the plan was to leave very early in the morning, a daunting task especially on a weekend. But I thought it would be a good occasion to meet other volunteers and witness volunteerism in my host country. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I made in a long time.
We started moving very early in the morning, travelling some 360 kilometers to Lattakia from Damascus.
Once in Lattakia, I was really surprised to see all those buses parked -- at least 100 of them! Indeed a lot of people have decided to join the campaign. I felt immediately excited to be part of it. Soon the coordinators assigned a particular beach in the city surroundings to be cleaned by each different group. Our UNV bus, followed by another group, travelled to Al-Sanaubar beach, another 20 kilometres.
By the time we reached our destination, we were all ready and impatient to start the job. However, a surprise was waiting for us: the beach was huge, at least 4 to 5 km, and completely filled with rubbish. T-shirts and caps with the campaign logo, in addition to plastic bags and plastic gloves were then provided to everyone before we embarked in our tasks.
I hadn’t realized until that moment how long the day would be and how hard it would be working in the increasing heat. We all exchanged meaningful glances: the job was tough to accomplish but nothing would have stopped us!
Exhausted but happy, after many hours of work under the hot Syrian sun, at about 3 p.m., we were led back to the stadium, where we finally pulled ourselves together and relaxed for a while, thanks to a delicious packet-lunch and cold drinks. On the way back to Damascus we were all very tired but I could breath the lovely atmosphere of complicity that we built up during the day.
Looking back to that day I remember all the friendly faces I’ve met, conversations and opinions we shared about the great importance of volunteering to sustain the environment.
Of course, the aim of the campaign was to minimize the negative effect of garbage on marine life, by cleaning up the trash the effects of such efforts are not sustainable. In fact, proposal was to promote public’s awareness on the various environmental problems.
I believe that the campaign was particularly successful as it promoted the spirit of volunteerism, revitalized interaction amongst young people and stressed the necessity of protecting the environment from pollution.
Nobody will easily forget this event that perfectly matched commitment and solidarity with good fun!
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A VOLUNTEER’S VOICE: Shaza Hajali
Shaza Hajali is a Syrian professional lawyer holder of BA in Law. After almost 7 years of work in a private law office, in July 2003, she decided to join the UNV Programme: a turning point in her professional and personal life. As a UNV she’s now working for UNHCR, United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugee agency, in Damascus where she faces the dramatic destinies of refugees coming from all over the world, helping them by providing humanitarian and legal support. She is the Focal Person for legal aid and she’s also working as Protection Assistant.
She kindly dedicated us a bit of her precious time and we took that chance to ask her few questions about her interesting job:
1. What is exactly your responsibility as UNV?
I have studied law and now as a UNV I’m able to use my education: my work with UNHCR is to provide legal and humanitarian support to refugees who seek protection in Syria. I conduct interviews with asylum-seekers and prepare written legal assessments. As Syria has not ratified the 1951 Convention related to the status of refugees, every refugee needs to be resettled into another country, therefore we prepare exit visas, we help refugees in detention by conducting objective legal assessments and we work on family union issues and register new born refugee children. To achieve all this I communicate with the governmental institutions on a daily basic as a lawyer, representing UNHCR. UNHCR in Damascus works in close cooperation with our Headquarter in Geneva.
2. What makes your job interesting and what are the challenges you are facing?
As a UNV in UNHCR I have experienced great challenges but at the same time enjoyed the fruits of rewarding work. Refugees and asylum seekers in Syria belong to various countries and come from different continents of the world. It is a great challenge for them to be in a new country and different culture. Most of the them come from Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Libya, Morocco, Afghanistan, Eritrea and they all need to be resettled.
I feel that we’re helping people in real need, poor and victims that are experiencing the worst aspects of the human tragedy. It is so fulfilling when one of these people is saved and begins a decent new life, all this while doing an incredibly interesting job. I know I will never want to quit this kind of job!
3. What are the main difficulties that you encounter in your work?
We continuously face difficulties, whether with administration issues or other procedures, sometimes even the refugees can be hard to deal with, but I’m lucky to work with such a great team within a helping environment, where everybody is working really hard to achieve things in the shortest time possible. During my work as a UNV I have seen that many Syrian institutions, including the government, are very helpful and keen to cooperate with the UNHCR and with all UN agencies. UNV programme people from various sectors of society, such as non-governmental organizations, governments, the private sector, academia and the media, are brought together to provide support and relief to those in need. I experience examples of such efforts every day. Everybody understands the importance of what we’re doing: we cannot quit and it’s mandatory that we proceed and reach our aims because we’re doing it for people who are really suffering. Nothing is impossible to achieve.
4. To which extent do you feel that working as a UN Volunteer contribute to your personal and professional growth?
Being a UN volunteer allows me to develop my professional knowledge and skills while helping to build my country. I never stop learning in this job: from all the professional experience I get both within and outside the office, from all the people I get to know on a daily basis, from all my colleagues, from the collaboration with international organizations and least but not last from all the refugees. It is very dramatic and sad to see many women, children, young and old people experiencing terrible situations such as social exclusion, war, violence, discrimination and poverty. Due to their tragic experiences many are traumatized and many have lost their families and support. Dealing with such individuals is not easy, but it develops your compassion and sensitiveness. However, just being sad does not help, therefore one has to develop the ability to respond. I have learned how to respond and be able to conduct objective legal assessments of the refugees’ claims.
It goes without saying that the stories of many refugees have a great impact on me and I can vividly remember the traumatic experiences many of them have gone through. The strength they demonstrate continuing their struggle for a better life taught me to be optimistic and also work in a way that gives hope to others. It is so rewarding when a life is saved! I remember two Congolese children that were found alone without their family, probably victims of trafficking. UNHCR found their mother in another country and we struggled to provide them with passports and all documents required. The Syrian government understood the difficult situation and simplified the processes by cooperating. With the help of the Red Cross they were finally reunited with their mother.
5. In which way do you think that the UNV Programme could be improved and better promoted?
By being a UNV I have been inspired to follow the traditions of engagement, trust, solidarity and reciprocity that exist in every society and I have realized that many young Syrians and people from other countries are very enthusiastic to take part in development of the social, educational, cultural and economic life of their people. Working as a UNV is incredibly fulfilling but at the same time incredibly demanding.
Some times I just wish we had more time and space to engage into other activities that could be helpful to refugees and to our job as UNVs.
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A VOLUNTEER’S VOICE: Hesham Al-Naggar
On the 25th of April 2002 he decided to develop his working experience by becoming an International UNV and giving his service of expertise in a new country. That is how he became a UNV in our country office in Damascus. At the beginning of his assignment he was working as IT specialist, IT Support Focal Point and Policy Advisor for IT.
Currently he’s working as an Information Management Team Leader.
1. What specific projects/tasks are you working on currently?
At the moment I’m an advisor for all ICT support, and as Information Management Team Leader I deal with the broadcast electronically of all information in the office.
2. What makes your job interesting?
It is definitely the team work that makes my job pleasant and interesting at the same time. I strongly believe that a good job starts with building up a good feeling and relationship within the team, therefore I work on the personal relationships with my colleagues and I can see the good results of everybody efforts in this way! I have the chance to work in a wonderful team, with 4 other outstanding people and thanks to the great atmosphere of trust and friendship it is easy to share the daily tasks in perfect harmony.
When I first moved to UNDP Syria in 2002 the staff was moving into a new office and I was responsible of all arrangements for the new accommodation, beginning from the furniture to all IT materials and connection plus the security system of the building. So now the office feels like home to me and this makes my work even more pleasant!
3. What are the main difficulties that you encounter as UNV in your work?
I admit that what make my job sometimes quite difficult are all the interruptions that I face continuously, numerous meetings, but it’s a part of my duties too, so I consider it a challenge. On the other side, the demanding atmosphere requires a lot of works which results in decreasing the level of professionalism.
4. To which extent do you feel that working as a UNV volunteer contribute to your personal and professional growth?
When I was working in TACCs in Egypt I gained a lot of experience on the field. I was daily breathing the volunteer spirit and nothing is as rewarding as helping another human being and bringing knowledge and hope for a better future in the others’ life. I’m so proud to be a UN volunteer. On a daily basis I gain more patience, my mind opens to new ideas and new perspectives. I learnt how to send a clear message even in a difficult situation and to deal with people in a tense atmosphere.
On a professional level I’ve been growing a lot during the years of assignment, but recently in my current work I’ve reached a saturation level. I feel very confident on my daily tasks, but I’m always looking for new challenges and job experience which leads to the professional growth I’m constantly looking for.
5. In which way do you think that the UNV Programme could be improved and better promoted?
What is fundamental in the UNV Programme is the deep volunteer spirit in each one of us. Objectives and perspectives are great in the Programme itself but I think that, especially due to the language barriers, many times the message doesn’t reach the community as sharp and clear as it should. The theory is far more developed than the practical side; I’m talking about real connection with the community we’re working for.
To avoid all misunderstanding a Department for Advocacy should be settled in order to convey the message we bring directly and clearly in all different languages needed then another department for follow up should take care of messages implementation.
In addition our UNV report to the Head Quarter should be better shared and discussed so that everyone could benefit from it. The introduction of a proper rating criteria, not only on a team scale, would help to compare everybody’s work and create even a bit of competition, essential in the aim of always improving and reaching a higher level of work quality.