United Nations Online Volunteering Service, 2004

Blandina applied with the Mgbala Agwa Youth Forum to research donors that would fund the establishment of a library on HIV/AIDS in a small Nigerian city. Since then, the Nigerian organization has been on her mind, inspiring her creativity, and accompanying her throughout her daily life.

When choosing the assignment to search for donors for Mgbala Agwa, she thought it was a good fit, as she could make use of her network of contacts around the world that she had created by living in various places. Her application was accepted within two days, and she got started immediately.

Blandina started telling her friends about her new involvement with Mgbala Agwa – and was surprised to encounter a lot of prejudice. Why of all places had she picked to support Nigeria, they commented, where so many Email-scams have their origin, and where corruption is so prevalent? She realized that if people around her had their doubts about the value of investing time in a small Nigerian organization, it would be most difficult to convince donors to invest money.

A website would be a good place to refer donors to and would add credibility and transparency to the organization, Blandina thought. She started talking to anyone she knew about her website idea, until eventually, through a friend of a friend of a friend, she found an online volunteer to configure Mgbala Agwa’s website.

The website was soon followed by more projects that Blandina came up with in support of Mgbala Agwa. Currently, she is writing a self-help manual for new online volunteers to the organization, based on her own experience and that of the other online volunteers – who are in regular contact with each other via email and online forums.

“When I signed in, it was 5 hours a week, but with time I realized that you can’t really put time to anything but just do the work and try to make a difference.”