05 July 2003

Bonn, Germany: People are looking forward to better times in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where years of armed conflict have taken their toll. Relief supply will remain a reality for some time to come. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is among the international partners on the ground, taking action for peace and development.

Currently, there are 252 UN Volunteers serving in DRC, 212 of whom are attached to the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). The remaining 40 work with other UN agencies supporting relief and development initiatives. Coming from 64 countries, they bring expertise in relief, development, food distribution, peacekeeping and assistance to the displaced. Together, these global volunteers serve as the backbone of the United Nations' presence and the peacekeeping mission in the country.

UN Volunteers around the country work all day, and often during weekends, to support positive change.

" UNV in DRC comes as a helping hand, assisting the Congolese in their efforts to carry out daily tasks and providing the basics to people after infrastructure had collapsed and almost all social support systems had ceased to exist," says Paulin Djomo, the UNV Programme Manager based in the capital Kinshasa.

" Basungi", which means "those who are helping others" in the local Lingala language, is a volunteering programme of MONUC. More than 80 UN Volunteers and a number of staff from international partners devote their time after normal working hours or give financial support to help community members strengthen health and education infrastructures with the goal of improving the quality of life for vulnerable children. Most of the projects are concentrated in rural areas often not reached by development programmes and services.

Building partnerships with local communities, 35 Basungi volunteers in Kisangani helped secure spare parts to repair the only ambulance that transports patients from rural health facilities to the district hospital in Kisangani. The project also supports the town's Maternity Care Unit; UN Volunteers provided 50 beds and mattresses for the ward, connected water from the city distribution system tank and fixed mosquito nets on doors and windows.

According to chief physician, Dr. Soky Um-Lay, Basungi is highly appreciated by doctors, women patients and the community. "Infant mortality rate has gone down as better services are introduced," says unit nurse Gongwa Maguy.

In Goma, a city in eastern DRC, Dr. Nazar Abdulla, an Iraqi UN Volunteer working at the UN Clinic, has donated his free time after work to help develop a training programme on the use of an electrocardiography (EKG) machine at the Doctors on Call for Service hospital. Prior to Dr. Abdulla's instruction, young physicians had not received any EKG training.

"Most of the doctors do not know what EKG is all about," said Dr. Kasereka M. Lusi, an orthopedic surgeon in Goma. "With the training from Dr. Nazar we now have better skills and see more patients than other hospitals in eastern Congo."

Orphaned by HIV/AIDS, many Congolese children in Kinshasa stopped going to school because they no longer had enough money for uniforms and basic materials. The Basungi project initiated fund-raising activities to assist the families and organizations caring for the HIV/AIDS orphans. The project also generated income to buy necessary drugs for HIV-positive children in the city.

UN Volunteers and local volunteers worked together at a Basungi food distribution activity at the Kinshasa pediatric hospital, targeting abandoned and deprived children as young as five years of age and also residents of a home for the elderly in Kinshasa.

As part of Basungi activities in eastern Kindu province, UN Volunteers worked with parents, community volunteers, the local government and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to renovate classrooms at Mikelenge Nursery School and supply benches, blackboards, tables and chairs purchased with UNV MONUC country office funds. Educational materials were provided by UNICEF and distributed to the 260 children by UN Volunteers.

In Kalemie, an eastern town near Lake Tanganika, the Basungi project funded the rehabilitation of Ephaphata School for the deaf and mute. The 15 UN Volunteers in the area assisted a group of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide education for these internally displaced children. The volunteers provided year-round water for the school, and also built pit latrines.

" The impact the Basungi project has left on the quality of education is reflected through the high attendance rate and school ranking in the area, and the faces of the schoolchildren expressing appreciation through giggles and meaningful smiles," says Paulin Djomo.

*Jordanian UN Volunteer and Public Information Officer with MONUC's Gender Office