Mio Nozoe, Part 1

Delivering aid in Somalia brings fulfillment

Mio Nozoe (middle) monitors a school lunch program in Buale, Somalia. (May 2009)

Mio Nozoe

Born in Tokyo in 1975. While a university student, she served as an emergency aid volunteer in Kobe after a major earthquake struck the city in 1995 as well as in Iran, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, and the former Yugoslavia. She earned an MA in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. After passing an examination conducted by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for international work, she began working in support of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka in 2003. She has also been posted in Sudan and took on her current position in Somalia in 2008.

My current position is director of the Somalia Office for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). I have to be a "jack of all trades" in this role.

The WFP is one of the UN entities providing food to the hungry in developing countries. Because Somalia is suffering from conflict, the Somalia Office is actually located in the city of Nairobi, in neighboring Kenya.

I maintain a base in Buale, in southwestern Somalia, and from here I can contact the office in Nairobi and direct such matters as food distribution, support programs, financial concerns, logistics involving procurement and transportation of supplies, personnel matters, and the whole range of office activities.

I'm also in charge of evaluating the activities of local NGOs in the field and training their staff. For aid work, it's essential to gain the understanding and cooperation of the local people, and build good relations with them, so I meet with local representatives wherever I go.

To communicate, I'm studying the Somali language. Each day I have to deal with a range of things, from petty complaints to more serious concerns. I may have to handle a grievance or choose people to supervise aid activities in field, oversee the construction of a new bathroom in our accommodations or compile a bid for the purchase of a large amount of supplies.

This is an Islamic area so I normally wear a long veil, like the Somali women. When I go on a trip into the field, I have to travel on unpaved roads for hours, accompanied by more than ten guards in front and in the rear.

Danger is a part of this environment and working with people who have very different values can also be hard. Still, since almost half the population of 3.6 million people is suffering from hunger, I contend with the many challenges, one by one, in order to deliver food to them.

In the field, it's very hard to relax, even on weekends, but the advantages of working in the field include seeing things I can't normally see, going to places I can't normally go to, and doing things I can't normally do. Out here I'm in the heart of the conditions we're working to address, where I can see the faces of the recipients. It's a full and fulfilling life, being able to provide a solution to the problem at hand and working in solidarity, 24 hours a day, with other aid workers.

Expanding my limits in this role, finding a solution to a tough problem when things don't go as I had hoped, and seeing the smiles of the people when they receive food from us...these are the things that give me the energy to press on each day.

Though my impact may be limited, I feel fortunate to be able to make a contribution to creating a better life for the people here. While I'm young, such a place gives me the opportunity to find the deeper meaning and beauty in the darker side of the world.

Since everything requires the same energy to live, I thought I would use my energy for more challenging work and so I started my UN career six years ago. My work involves people--working for people, with people, and among people. I have a curious and lively mind and I don't think I've really changed much since I was a university student and longed to be an actress.