UN volunteers working with UNHCR to support Afghan refugees

Bikram Chand Thakuri, 39, a Nepali by nationality, is a UN volunteer working for Afghan refugees in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Thakuri is among the eight UN Volunteers (UNVs) who have been working with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since late 2001 when a flow of some 300,000 Afghans began towards the Pakistani border due to the conflict in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, the eight UNVs attended the first ever conference on the role of volunteering in helping achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) being held in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "This [conference] has highlighted the role of volunteering - it is a good working ground - and I think it's really a positive way to recognise volunteer services in their various forms, in cash or in kind," Thakuri told IRIN. The UNV programme has been a vital source of professional staff for UNHCR, comprising about 10 percent of all staff at any given time. About 600 UN volunteers have worked with UNHCR this year alone, while some 450 are still working at the moment. Thakuri had worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) before joining UNHCR as a volunteer in Georgia in December 2000. He worked with Chechen refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. "I was travelling extensively in Abkhazia, which is still a frozen conflict area, mostly through anti-landmine vehicles. I remember, once one of my friends got into a landmine incident. Fortunately, the vehicle was protected against landmines so he survived," Thakuri said, adding, "The job is challenging and risky." "When I don't have money to donate, I should donate myself - so I joined the UNV," Aselefetch Mengesha, a German citizen working with the UNHCR as a water and sanitation engineer in the southern city of Quetta, told IRIN. Before joining UNV earlier this year, Mengesha, an architect and civil engineer by education, worked in a court as a volunteer. In her spare time, she used to help the Afro-Asian people, who were not familiar with the German language, during their interviews. She was also helping them in preparing their legal documentation. "This is my first experience as a UNV - I started in April this year. I am ready to join anywhere else if the UNV programme needs me after this," Megesha said. Her colleague Thakuri was asked to join the UNHCR emergency team in Pakistan in late 2001, as more technical staff were needed to handle the refugee emergency. "I was very much focused on establishing three camps in Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan in NWFP, to house about 27,000 refugees. The camps were to provide shelter, places of community services, proper water supply, a sanitation network, places of market and administrative areas," Thakuri said. A civil engineer with extensive work experience related to water and sanitation infrastructure development and community services, Thakuri also had the experience of working in refugee and conflict situations. Having heard so much about the Afghan caseload, the difficult situation and also the past history of the Afghan conflict, Thakuri said, "I really wanted to be here." "When I first came to Pakistan - the media headlines were so scary and my family was reluctant to let me come over here. However, the opportunity was challenging for me and I too wanted to work in a new place after having worked in Georgia for three years," Thakuri said. The UNVs with UNHCR have been crucial to the agency's operations worldwide. "These highly qualified professionals work as volunteers on remunerations far less than regular staff, this way they make a huge contribution to UNHCR and also the global UN system," Jack Redden, a UNHCR spokesman, told IRIN. Revealing the experience of working in Pakistan, particularly in the deeply conservative tribal society of NWFP, Thakuri noted: "Initially, I was scared but slowly as I worked here I came to know that there is a sense of honour and respect for guests in the Pathan culture." Meanwhile, Mengesha said the culture of Balochistan, where she was currently working, was very much like her homeland - Ethiopia. "I am happy while working with Afghan refugees and also I like Balochistan very much. I've decided that I'll come back and do my doctorate degree on Baloch culture and economy," Mengesha added.