Diary Entry
Building Dignity, One Pallet at a Time – From a Desk in Port Sudan
One App,
Many Uses
Sometimes, the most urgent calls for change come in the quietest moments. I sit here in Port Sudan, at a modest desk, the hum of my day job in the background, staring at a blueprint on my screen: a women’s restroom made from discarded wooden pallets. The contrast almost makes me smile, it feels worlds apart from my daily routine. And yet, it is everything.
My name is Mohamed Elnazir, a certified UPG Sustainability Leader. That title is not just a credential; it is a lens that reshaped the way I look at my own community. Instead of only seeing problems, I now see puzzles, pieces that, if fitted together, could create solutions. Here, I saw two: the lack of safe, dignified sanitation facilities for women in industrial zones, and the stacks of wooden pallets rotting away in factory yards.
The thought was simple, but powerful: what if one problem could solve the other?
The project grew quickly. I drafted a detailed plan, complete with SMART goals, SDG alignments (5, 6, 11, 12, 13), a theory of change, and a phased timeline. On paper, it is more than an idea, it is a blueprint for dignity, a community-led effort to transform waste into infrastructure that matters. I have facilitated meetings, delegated roles, and even mapped out awareness campaigns. Everything is ready.
And yet, here I am, still at this desk.
This diary entry is not about a finished restroom standing proudly in the community. It is about the space in between, the waiting, the planning, the holding on to hope while the path forward is still taking shape.
What UPG gave me was not just project tools; it gave me conviction. Conviction that ideas are valid, even before they are realized. Conviction that change starts with perspective, not position. I am learning that being a changemaker isn’t about how far you’ve gone, but about the direction you are facing.
For now, my role is in the sketches, the conversations, the patient pursuit of partnerships. It is in persuading others to see the vision, in gathering small commitments that will one day make the first groundbreaking possible. This stage may not look like action, but it is the foundation on which action stands.
So I make this promise, written here for accountability: this plan will not remain a forgotten document on a computer. With the facilitation skills, project planning tools, and stakeholder engagement lessons UPG equipped me with, I will keep pushing, finding the first step, then the next, and the one after that.
And to my future self, reading this after the restroom has been built: remember this moment. Remember the determination that grew not in celebration, but in uncertainty. Remember that change rarely begins with bulldozers or ribbon-cuttings. It begins with an idea too compelling to ignore, drafted at a desk, nurtured in quiet conviction.
To anyone reading this who feels stuck where they are: know this, change is not measured only by the physical results you can point to today. It begins with your willingness to plan, to dream, and to commit. Your vision is valid, even if the path forward is not yet clear. Start where you are. Use what you have. And trust that the seed you plant today will one day grow.
Mohamed Elnazir Gadalla Mohamed