7 December 2010 – UN Volunteers (UNVs) based in Juba, Wau and Khartoum cleaned up university grounds, donated food to an orphanage and renovated hospital rooms on International Volunteer Day (IVD), observed worldwide on 5 December.

Students from Juba and Bridge universities joined UNVs in a clean-up exercise at the Juba University compound to mark IVD on 6 December.

"The youth should take the lead in the society in maintaining a clean environment," said Pinyjiok Akol, director general of youth in the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) Ministry of Youth, Sports and Recreation, while addressing some 150 participants volunteering their time and energy.

University students said the IVD project was a good way for them to begin carrying out sensitization activities among residents of Juba in keeping the city clean and safe.

"I am inspired by the initiative taken today and I will carry the message to fellow students and beyond," said Chan Boul Dout, president of the Southern Sudan Private Universities Students Union.

The UNV support office, which donated 10 garbage cans to Juba University, also conducted a youth forum on 1 December, bringing together Southern Sudanese youth to discuss their role in achieving the millennium development goals in the region.

Volunteers in Wau, Western Bahr El-Ghazal State, observed IVD by donating food and other basic materials to El-Shadai Children's Home, which shelters 24 street children, on 4 December.

"Today's donation and visit by the UN Volunteers will have a far reaching impact on the future of the children," said the home's project manager David Tombe, calling the visit "motivational and encouraging" for the children.

"I am happy to see all volunteers coming to visit my home," 15-years-old Albino Akol said, adding "I understood from their speeches the meaning of volunteerism and I hope one day I will be a volunteer as well to help my people."

In North Sudan, UNVs, joined by civilians from UNMIS and other UN agencies as well as military personnel, gathered on 4 December to renovate three rooms of a cancer hospital in downtown Khartoum.

"I have (had) less chance to volunteer (for the community) ... because I have had a busy year," said Eva Gutjahr, a German UNV working with the UN Development Programme's elections section. She added that volunteering opened up possibilities for one to get to know people and professional areas that she otherwise might not have experienced.