On International Volunteers Day, it is worth highlighting the importance of volunteers around the world and their role in strengthening trust, solidarity, and reciprocity. And what better way to celebrate volunteers today than to tell the ordinary - yet in so many ways extraordinary - story of one particular volunteer in South Sudan.
Kweku Adoah Bassaw, a 32-year-old from Ghana, is a Volunteer Civil Engineer in Rumbek, Lakes State, with the UN Development Programme's Community Security and Arms Control (CSAC) project.
"I manage the infrastructure work component of the project's support to the government of Lakes State," he explains. "I do technical assessments, design and prepare technical specifications, prepare Bills of Quantities, and monitor contractors' performance. I also provide technical advice to government counterparts through the CSAC State Steering Committee."
Asked what impact he believes he is making to ordinary people in Lakes State, Bassaw's responds emphatically, saying: "Imagine waking up every morning to walk 12 hours to fetch unclean water to drink. Imagine living where armed attacks, killings, and violent cattle raids are commonplace. Thousands of women and children live under these unfortunate conditions. They have accepted their plight because they are in some ways powerless to change it."
"That is why I happily stepped in to volunteer," he adds. "We work with affected communities to find sustainable solutions to their security problems.
Today, people who had fled their homes have started returning to rebuild their lives, and I am happy that my contribution has helped some people to regain the peace and dignity that is associated with living in one's own home."
In Bassaw's view, there is no question about the importance of the cause that compelled him to leave his home in the Ghanaian capital of Accra for life in Rumbek, despite the uncertainties he knew he would have to face.
"The challenges are countless", he says. "Professional capacities are still in their infancy. The poor roads and insecurity associated with the remote areas where UNDP-CSAC project works can make work difficult. But the job wouldn't be fascinating without those challenges. I have weathered the storm so far, and God willing, I will continue."
Bassaw knew to expect many of these difficulties before he flew out from Ghana, but some of the sticky moments he has experienced he could never have predicted.
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Over some spicy West African 'pepe soup', Kweku recounts one of times he had to sleep in his UNDP vehicle during a field mission.
"I was in Upper Nile State at the time," he recalls. "The dry season was setting in so I seized the opportunity to visit project sites in Galachuol Payam that had been unsupervised due to inaccessibility. However, as we drove back to the state capital Malakal, the heavens opened with a heavy downpour of rain.
The entire Upper Nile State has black cotton soil, so even tractors get stuck in heavy rain. Unsurprisingly, our vehicle got stuck in a forest. At about 1 am, a hyena came to the vehicle I was sleeping in and almost made it inside! For someone like me who had never even seen a cow until I came to South Sudan, it was both fascinating and scary."
Asked whether he would recommend a voluntary assignment in South Sudan to his compatriots, Bassaw is unequivocal.
"My decision to work in an environment like South Sudan came out of my empathy with underprivileged people and the pursuit of world peace and security," he says. "Working here has been a fulfilling experience, and I would strongly recommend a UN volunteers assignment to any Ghanaian who wants to create a positive impact in disadvantaged areas."
For more information about becoming a UN Volunteer, visit http://www.unv.org/how-to-volunteer.html.
Charles Okwir is a Ugandan journalist, writer and political analyst currently based in South Sudan, where he is working as a Communications & Reports Officer for the UN Development Programme. Follow him on twitter at @COkwir.
