'Volunteers always seem to go the extra mile'.

FOR 17 YEARS, I HAVE DEVOTED MYSELF to the practice of journalism in my home country, Chad. What motivated me to work as a UNV volunteer was to take advantage of all of this experience and share it with others to whom it could be of service. Chad has been perpetually war-stricken, and it has never been easy for us journalists to work in a country at war. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, unfortunately, has also been experiencing a similar situation for nearly a decade. I felt that there would be similarities in the approach to the job in both places.

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In a peacekeeping mission like the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), any contribution, no matter how small, helps advance the peace process. My contribution as a UNV volunteer is to help make the Mission's efforts towards peace more visible to the Congolese people, so that they understand the importance of its presence in the country. Many do not understand why MONUC is here and, in the context of the elections, parts of the population mistakenly assume that the international community explicitly favours one side. This is not the case since the Mission's role is limited to supporting the peace process. This message needs to be driven home continuously--and that is my job. My experience with restrictions on the freedom of the press in my country has made me aware of how easily rumours can spread and become dangerous. I take my job of conveying accurate information very seriously.

I am delighted to be a UNV volunteer, because I feel that I am constantly learning new things that I would not have been privy to in my home country. Being a volunteer is a very unique engagement, a conscious commitment to serve. My vision of my job revolves around the idea of volunteerism for development, and I am working with other volunteers to promote this idea. We volunteer after office hours and we are getting ready to use the International Volunteer Day to spread the message. I have the impression that volunteers always seem to go the extra mile--it is in their nature.

Sy Koumbo Singa Gali is one of 700 UNV volunteers supporting MONUC, where she is serving as public information officer. A well-known journalist in Chad, she was formerly Managing Director of the independent weekly L'Observateur and a vigorous defender of a free press.