Fayas Mohamed
3 March 2020
Fayas Mohamed is an environmentalist. He is a passionate believer of the 2030 Agenda in finding solutions for issues plaguing the world. He is currently exploring how GIS could be utilized effectively in the process of sustainable development. He is a skilled photographer and is very passionate about table tennis.
This was back in 2018. I had just got myself a camera. Nothing fancy but good enough to indulge in my new-found passion for photography. I had registered with UN V-force, so I would get to know about volunteering opportunities. And then came one for photography at the upcoming food festival celebrating International Refugees Day. Since I have always taken a serious interest in the refugee cause, this seemed like the perfect thing for me. Luckily enough, I got selected to be one of the photographers.
Now, it might seem like a straight forward affair, but for someone who wasn’t surefooted about what skill he could bring to the table, for someone who isn’t exactly the most peoples-sy person, for someone who had just got settled in Colombo and started working, it was anything but one. So I am going to talk about those sort of people in this piece.
Ever since I joined UN V-Force, I have done one thing more than volunteering itself: inviting people to join UN V-Force. Family, friends, and even work colleagues. Though an impressive 10,000+ volunteers are registered with V-Force, there are loads of people unaware of it and the opportunities it presents. Then there are ones who feel quite passionate about volunteer work but find it difficult to accommodate such a commitment for some reason or the other.
I am going to present succinct accounts of conversations I have had with 3 such people who got to know about V Force through me. I asked them 3 questions, and those were:
If the people who volunteer are representative of the people and the causes they volunteer for, it would, in my humble opinion, only help volunteering be much more effective in achieving its goals.