The Most Important Road in South Sudan Isn't a Road

United Nations Volunteers
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When flights to Panyijiar County stop because of flooding, Morris Charumbira has to keep moving. The UN Volunteer Civil Affairs Officer, originally from Zimbabwe, serves with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Over the years, he has built relationships across southern Unity State that keep information flowing and conversations alive, even when floodwaters swallow the roads and ground the planes.

Panyijiar is the southernmost county in Unity State, sitting on its lowest ground, so flights there are often cancelled due to changing weather conditions. But the concerns facing its communities do not pause for the weather: people still need to share what they know about security, flooding, and whether aid workers and supplies can get through. 

When a visiting team cannot travel, relationships become the way in.

The Day New York Chose Solidarity

Author

  • Flavia Pansieri
    Flavia Pansieri Former Executive Coordinator, UNV
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Twenty-five years ago today, the 9/11 terrorist attacks hit the two World Trade Center Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, with a fourth plane falling over Pennsylvania. I was working at the United Nations headquarters in New York at the time. From my office window, I could see flames pouring from the first tower. 

Then, we were evacuated from the building. 

Some of us regrouped in a nearby cafe—watching in disbelief live footage from the event, not even realizing, when the second tower fell—that it was live and not a replay.

Then, some of us thought that such an emergency would call for blood and decided to rush to the nearest blood donation station, where the line was already around the block. 

So many people had volunteered, as soon as the news spread, that the nurses could not cope and had to send the majority away, accepting only 0- blood donors, since 0- was in short supply and could be used for all negative blood types. 

Where Streetlights Become Tools for Peace

United Nations Volunteers
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As of July 2025, at least 510,182 people were internally displaced across Benue State, according to Amnesty International Nigeria. Behind this figure are families seeking safety while trying to rebuild their lives. For them, peace can mean walking through a well-lit public space after dark, receiving an early warning about danger or finding a way to earn a living again.

This is the context in which Gakuto Han serves as an international UN Volunteer Associate Protection Officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Makurdi, the capital of Benue State in north-central Nigeria.

Originally from Japan, Gakuto began his assignment in February 2026. Funded by the Government of Japan, he supports UNHCR’s work with people affected by displacement, in line with Benue State's Internally Displaced Persons Policy.

Sailing Through Bayelsa's Waters of Peace

United Nations Volunteers
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As the waters flow through Bayelsa and a boat sails along its winding creeks, the story of a community unfolds. Long before the documentary began, Rafiat Atanda was already part of that story. A UN Volunteer Communications Specialist with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Nigeria, she supported the Youth Peace Champions in the Niger Delta. Having contributed to the initiative's development in Borno State, she later led its first rollout in Bayelsa, building a connection to the community long before the camera started rolling. 

Let's hear more in her own words.

"As our boat moved through the creeks of Bayelsa State, I found myself confronting my own assumptions. Before I began visiting Bayelsa regularly, most of the stories I encountered about the state focused on militancy, oil, insecurity and environmental degradation. These issues are real, but they are not the whole story. I rarely heard about communities preserving their Ijaw heritage, young people creating opportunities, or families sustaining generations through fishing and farming. The Bayelsa I encountered was far more layered than the one often portrayed in the headlines.

As part of my volunteer assignment, I travelled to five communities—Otuan, Ayamasa, Ikebiri 1, Ekowe and Ekeremor—to help produce a documentary about UNODC’s work. Some require hours of travel by road, while others are accessible only by water. Ikebiri 1, I was told, lies close to the Atlantic Ocean.

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