19 January 2011

Sana’a, Yemen: To honour volunteering as an expression of common humanity and a way to promote mutual respect, solidarity and reciprocity, International Volunteer Day (IVD) was celebrated in Yemen. This year the day was celebrated in partnership with Al-Rahma Foundation. Providing girls who are abused with a safe place to grow and learn, the foundation is an example of the vibrant volunteering attitude in Yemen. There are a number of women who give their time willingly to help these children living in the orphanage - be it as teachers, nurses or mothers.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme currently has 35 UNV volunteers, both national and international, working in Yemen with various United Nations (UN) agencies and in their free time volunteering at the grassroots level, from providing English classes to engaging in youth organizations.

The children from the orphanage were actively involved in the daylong event. National and international UNV volunteers provided games and presentations to teach the children about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how volunteerism helps to achieve them. From the eight global MDGs, three were chosen to be concentrated on throughout the day.

UNV volunteers prepared a song in Arabic for the kids to learn about the importance of universal primary education (MDG 2). In addition, the children were asked why they were going to school and what they wanted to become in the future. Then they were asked to draw what they consider to be the problems that Yemen and their communities are facing and how they can use their education to solve them.

In discussing gender equality and the empowerment of women (MDG 3), the children were asked to draw themselves in their future profession. UNV volunteers then talked with the children about how women can also be in any profession they choose. For example, if a child drew a firefighter, the facilitators would start a discussion about how women can also be firepersons.

In order to learn about environmental sustainability (MDG 7), UNV volunteers prepared a water game. The kids were separated into groups of three and had to run carrying water in little cups from one side of the field to the other. The game went on for three minutes or until the first team had finished and then the containers were measured to see which team had been able to transport the most water. After that, the UNV volunteers explained the current water situation in Yemen and the problems that the country is facing because of this issue. The children were then given crayons and colouring books entitled “Water is Life”.

As Yemen is considered unsafe due to various reasons, UNV volunteers suggested having an activity where the children were taught what to do in various disaster or unsafe situations such as floods, bomb attacks and so on. This was done by means of a board game (based on the Snakes and Ladders game), created by one of the UNDP projects.

The daylong event was very well received by both the UNV volunteers and the children, which Ms. Pratibha Mehta, the UN Resident Coordinator for Yemen and Ms.Ruqaia Al-Hajri, the Chair of Al-Rahma Foundation attended throughout. It was also a great opportunity for everyone to get to know each other, as not all UNV volunteers live and work in the same cities, but are based all over Yemen. In addition, one could see that the children had formed a great bond with the volunteers who had worked hard on preparing fun games for them to learn from.

In collaboration with staff from other UN agencies, UNV made a contribution of blankets, books, games and clothes to Al-Rahma Foundation. The children were happy to receive hats and t-shirts with the UNV Logo and theme. In addition, the volunteers and children planted trees in the new courtyard of the orphanage. The IVD celebration ended with a cake cutting ceremony with the UN Resident Coordinator and Al-Rahma Chair.