The UN on Thursday marked International Volunteer Day by celebrating and recognising volunteers worldwide who make a difference everyday in their communities.
More than 1 billion people globally are estimated to volunteer, making contributions worth 2.4 per cent of the global GDP, according to a statement from UN Volunteers.
In a remote area of South Sudan, Mary, an experienced midwife from Tanzania, delivers a baby as the first rays of sun stream into a UN clinic. Mary is a UN Volunteer dedicated to keeping mothers and newborns healthy.
On the bustling streets of New York, Amari, a student in social justice from Iraq, urges an elderly man to seek shelter as the temperatures drop below zero. Amari volunteers 10 hours a week, committed to the local hypothermia prevention programme.
“In so many areas of our lives we take volunteers for granted,” read the statement.
When a natural disaster occurs, local volunteers are always the first ones to respond, risking their own lives to reduce the impact for others, the statement said.
