24 July 2009

Wau, Sudan: As a UNV volunteer Building Project Manager with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), Febe Chang gets involved with every aspect of the mission’s engineering needs – but despite the tough conditions is never too busy to share her knowledge with others.

A graduate of civil engineering in her native Philippines, Ms. Chang learnt about UNV through a friend who encouraged her to fill in her personal details via the UNV website. A year later, she was assigned to the UNMIS engineering section in ‘Sector II’, South Sudan.

As a UNV volunteer Building Project Manager, she is responsible for ensuring that the peacekeeping mission is properly accommodated and has the infrastructure it needs to operate. “In a typical day,” she explains, “I do project site visits, receive work requests from other sections, prepare projects (either projects in the planning stage or proposed ones subject to the approval of the Sector Engineer), monitor assets in Sector II, and anything else as mandated by my direct supervisor.”

On top of this, the engineer can be called in to manage any engineering-related problems from checking over UNMIS staff accommodation areas, to dealing with local labourers, UN national staff or Chinese army engineers. In addition, she may manage the selection and ensure the quality of building materials from contractors and suppliers before delivery date.

As well as serving UNMIS and working on the UN compound, she has further experience in local authority development projects such as road improvement, opening of roads for the Presidential Residence and erecting electrical poles with the Chinese transport section.

Ms. Chang sees her mission in life as contributing to peace, and she believes that her 15 years of engineering experience can be shared in several ways. “I see many people here who’ve had less chance to study than me, so I try to help them when possible,” she says. “For example, I add and improve the knowledge of some local labourers and local staff by showing them the simple technical skills.”

Though there are memorable moments – such as celebrating Chinese New Year to its fullest with the Chinese military engineer detachment – Febe Chang emphasizes how tough conditions with UNMIS can be. “There are only a few UNMIS engineers here, so there’s a lot of work... I have to multitask,” she says. Living with colleagues from many different cultures definitely requires open-mindedness and a sense of humour too.

“Sometimes it’s a struggle,” she concludes, “but the difficulties we encounter must be treated as challenges we need to face... We’re not prima donnas – we’re here on a UN peacekeeping mission.”