International Volunteers Day is an annual event, celebrated every December 5 to acknowledge the contributions volunteers and volunteer-led organizations make to communities and the actualization of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.

This year’s theme was ‘Together we can through volunteering’. The mandate was to bring to the fore the resilience and innovativeness which volunteers and organizations had employed to function and cope this year, bearing in mind that the pandemic has literally lasted throughout the year and is still on.

Doctors Health Initiative (DHI) was very excited to join in this year’s celebrations for the first time. Our International Volunteers Day (IVD) team made up of Pelumi, Ihioma, Margaret and Chidera set to work planning a Zoom presentation which held on the day.

The IVD presentation started at 4pm with Ihioma, a DHI volunteer anchoring the event. Our DHI president, Dr. Nkechi Asogwa was on hand to talk about the main focus and achievements of DHI. Chinenye Nzom, the executive director of Volunteers Hub Africa was our guest speaker. Her passion for the cause of volunteering was evident as she spoke about how she discovered volunteerism, starting a volunteer organization and the many benefits of volunteering. Chidera, another volunteer, rounded up the event with a brief discussion on future DHI activities and events to look forward to.

It was a short, impactful session which left everyone wanting more. The DHI team was delighted with the outcome and hope to replicate it next year.