16 September 2011

“The biggest challenge is when I have to put on big shoes and walk the same way I do with my normal size shoes,” says UN Volunteer Elisha Laizer. By this I mean: “When my clients expect quality service regardless of the in­adequate resources I have on the ground.”

Laizer is Tanzanian and has worked as a Vehi­cle Mechanic for MONUSCO since 2006. Be­fore this, he worked with Toyota Motors in Tanzania as a Master Diagnostic Technician. He dreams of running a Technical Training School in his hometown of Arusha, Tanza­nia in the future, “to help youth help them­selves,” he says.

Today, however, he works to ensure that vehicles and other UN owned equipment operate as designed and are maintained regularly in his duty station of Kamina. “The biggest challenge is when I have to use the small resources available to run my day-to-day work,” he says.

The daily challenges of living in Kamina also make Laizer’s work all the more difficult, es­pecially what he calls, “the unavailability of basic needs like MONUSCO medical facili­ties, reliable electricity, and clean water.”

But Laizer was drawn to UNV by the desire to give back. “I wanted to help improve the lives of a community that is marginalized by war and other human calamities.”

That contribution comes with rewards, says Laizer. “One of the great successes achieved by MONUC, now MONUSCO, was the organization of an outstanding democratic election in 2006, during which I was among the team of UN Volunteers in service.”

Hailing from Tanzania, the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo hits close to home for Laizer, who sees the country’s biggest challenges as the “lack of good governance and stability, and good hospitals with enough medicine and other essential facilities to meet the needs of its people.”

Still, Laizer continues to tackle his transport duties with a positive vision of things to come, saying, “I see war and other human calamities coming to an end, and Congolese starting to enjoy the fruits of their country.”