Natasa (in middle) with her friendsWords alone are simply insufficient to describe an extraordinary experience of living and working in Afghanistan, says the UN Volunteer Natasa Mitrovic who joined the United Nations Assistance Mission in this country (UNAMA) several months ago.

Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Natasa has spent many years working with international organizations in her country. In 1996, she got a job with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) where she worked on the first municipal and general elections in BiH in the aftermath of the 1992-95 war. Two years later, she transferred to the United Nations Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), carrying out language interpretation and personnel duties in several locations in the country. When UNMIBH ceased operations in BiH in 2002, she joined the EU Police Mission where she spent another seven years.

One thing that particularly attracts Natasa to the United Nations is its diversity - the international working environment created by people of all social, economic and national backgrounds. This was one of the reasons she became a UN Volunteer and gladly accepted the assignment in Afghanistan.

“The reason why I accepted this job is an opportunity to gain new and precious experience, to travel and meet new people. (…) I work with people of so many nationalities and this is something I like about UN in general. It really gives unique opportunity to work with people from all over the world, learn about new cultures, taste new dishes, and become familiar with new customs.”

Natasa works as an Administration Assistant in Facility Management Unit in UNAMA Headquarters in Kabul. Everything from working and living in the UN compound to an exposure to radically different culture is priceless, says Natasa. “I am in the heart of the Mission,” she adds with an obvious sense of pride.

Facility Management Unit takes care to ensure that the UN Compound in Kabul is running smoothly. Natasa and her colleagues are in charge of maintenance of all facilities and numerous housing units accommodating UNAMA personnel, as well as staff of other UN agencies operating in Afghanistan and mission staff from field offices passing through the capital. The Unit’s plumbers, carpenters, painters, gardeners, electricians, etc. all work hard to ensure that living conditions in compound are as comfortable as possible, which certainly mitigates much of pressure on staff posed by restricted movement and dire security conditions.

So far, Natasa has been coping very well with a life in the compound. What helps her to prevent accumulating too much stress is the fact that she truly enjoys her work and opportunities for further professional growth. “I learn something new all the time. I’ve never worked in the FMU administration before and UNAMA is one of few missions where UN staff members live inside the compound. I also learn how other sections work. I’ve attended several trainings already, such as training in procurement, communications, customers-oriented service provision, etc.”

The key, Natasa says, is to carefully maintain a balance between work and private life, which is certainly not easy thing to achieve when both occur in same location. Natasa spends weekends with her friends, many of whom are from the Balkans, and after little over three months, she feels as a part of a community.

Back in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Natasa has a family and it is the separation from them that she finds the hardest. “Working in the field means separation from your family, home, everything you know and everything that is familiar to you. It is a big sacrifice I’ve made, but I believe I am doing the right thing by helping others and helping myself too. What I’ve experienced so far is something very special and very difficult to explain."

Always driven by a sense of great worth of working with the UN peacekeeping, Natasa says that it is something you either like or not, at the same time both special and hard to handle. “I think any UN mission is a serious commitment, but once you start working for UN it is not easy to stop. As you know Afghanistan is not a safe place to be in, so pressure is much stronger. (…) On the other hand you feel as a part of great UN family, you share your life with people from all over the world and you get surprised how well you can get along with people of such drastically different cultural backgrounds. UN connects people in specific way and gives you great feeling of appreciation.“