 Caring beyond borders
By Alexis Hooi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-05 07:46 She has much experience in HIV/AIDS research and prevention, playing leading roles in helping others battle the disease in her home region of Xinjiang. But none of these had fully prepared Canaria Gaffar for working among HIV-positive colleagues on a daily basis in the past six months. "It was very challenging at first. The only contact I had when I first started was with my colleagues and I was living in a social vacuum," Gaffar, 28, told China Daily yesterday. Gaffar was sent from her hometown of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, as a member of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program. Her assignment, as part of her one-year contract, was to observe and gather information on how nongovernmental organization (NGO) AIDS Care China successfully carried out its mission of providing support to those dealing with HIV, the virus behind the deadly disease.
Other obstacles that Gaffar had to face included daily needs like food - it was virtually impossible to find places that served halal food to a Muslim like herself and she had to cook almost all of her meals. Still, she said these minor inconveniences could not compare with the invaluable experiences she gained. "What I found most impressive working with my colleagues and others on the ground was the amazing amount of tolerance they have for people," Gaffar, who is now based in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, said. "These are people who face those marginalized in society such as drug addicts it's not easy, but they're not judgmental and they're really providing significant care and support." Gaffar is one of the 18 Chinese volunteers under the UNV program in China and part of a growing number of young Chinese who are playing a role in the UN's development projects countrywide. "We've been seeing an increasing number of Chinese nationals in the program in the last three years," John Floretta, 30, the UNV program manager in China, said yesterday. The UNV program itself is active in 140 countries and represented through the offices of the United Nations Development Programme, with the aim of "contributing to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide", its website states. All of about 7,500 UN volunteers worldwide receive allowances that cover their food, living and daily expenses, with contracts typically lasting one to two years, Floretta said. Since the introduction of the UNV program in China in 1981, Floretta said the UN volunteers' involvement has evolved from areas such as language skills training to development expertise like agricultural and healthcare management. "We certainly want more Chinese volunteers," Floretta said. "The development experience of China in the past few decades mean there are specific skills and services that Chinese volunteers will be able to bring to our program." The UNV office in China is also working on programs beyond their own volunteers to include joint development projects with government or groups such as the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League, to build and expand capacity for beneficiaries. A project involving university student volunteers tutoring and mentoring migrant workers' children in schools is already in the pipeline, Floretta said. "The number of volunteers under the UNV program is really just a drop in the bucket We're aiming to expand cooperation with government agencies and NGOs as part of the larger UN development objectives," Floretta said. (China Daily 12/05/2008 page7) |
