Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Welcome Back
The 4th week of Autumn:
Beautiful reasonably heavy snowfall overnight.
Good/bad news is that the snow is melting because it's too warm outside (1 degree).
Hopefully we will get a few more snowy days before it gets too cold for snow!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Why Mongolia?
During my brief visit back home I'm getting two questions popping up pretty frequently:
Firstly, why Mongolia?
And second, after seeing some photos and hearing some stories,
Are you seriously going back there?
Then I got home and saw this cool link:
photographing-native-mongolians-who-had-never-seen-a-photo-of-themselves/
Which answers both those questions, to my thinking. But to my thinking, the questions are pretty bizarre anyway!
As challenging as things are, there are plenty of wonderful experiences and beauriful people and amazing places!
Firstly, why Mongolia?
And second, after seeing some photos and hearing some stories,
Are you seriously going back there?
Then I got home and saw this cool link:
photographing-native-mongolians-who-had-never-seen-a-photo-of-themselves/
Which answers both those questions, to my thinking. But to my thinking, the questions are pretty bizarre anyway!
As challenging as things are, there are plenty of wonderful experiences and beauriful people and amazing places!
Location:Australia
Monday, September 5, 2011
Steppe Riders - Take #2
After 4 months in Mongolia I have had the opportunity to ride horses half a dozen times.
This is following 24 years with no opportunity, or desire to ride a horse.
But things change...and not being a person to become obsessed often or easily (cough, cough), I am just as surpised as you are to read that I am now all but obsessed with the brilliant experience that is riding a horse!
This weekend we spent a night and day out at Steppe Riders - a horse riding ger camp about 45 minutes south-west of Ulaanbaatar.
The location is stunning. We were treated to a handful of shooting stars across the amazing clear night sky - my first clear night in the countryside, seriously, in four months. Truly stunning. The forecast rain arrived about 3am, so by 8am it was a beautiful, clear, crisp day.
It was a great ride, my horse wasn't as amazing as in Terelj (see earlier posts...), but he was OK. The whole group moved at pace and we weren't bothered by the usual frequent stops for adjustments or problems you expect with a dozen newbie jockeys.
After the ride, this gorgeous little boy found a plastic bag...the most amazing toy ever invented, he would have said. He was cackling away running up and down this little hill with the bag for wings...for over an hour, and still going when we left.
The Steppe Riders ger camp:
The bathroom at Steppe Riders:
(there is actually a decent pit toilet as well, a luxury in these kinds of places)
On my horse:
An example of the countryside....
After the ride, this gorgeous little boy found a plastic bag...the most amazing toy ever invented, he would have said. He was cackling away running up and down this little hill with the bag for wings...for over an hour, and still going when we left.
On my horse:
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Rain....
Although a sprawling, "modern" city of 1.5 million people, Ulaanbaatar is yet to discover the benefits of drainage. I suppose that considering half the people live in gers with no water, power or sewerage, drainage for roads is not a priority...
So, when it rains, which this year has been an awful lot - in the "land of the eternal blue sky" - the city becomes one massive puddle of muddy water, easily half a metre deep in most places.
Given the rain and mud and puddles of water I caught a taxi to work this morning, and hit jackpot with a friendly driver!
"Does it rain in Australia?" (tiiii)
He excitedly scrambles around to find a certain CD, races to find the track he wants....
With an enormous grin, he asks
"Do you like Madonna?"
And plays:
These are the awesome, unique, often bizarre kinds of moments that make this such a beautiful country...
So, when it rains, which this year has been an awful lot - in the "land of the eternal blue sky" - the city becomes one massive puddle of muddy water, easily half a metre deep in most places.
Given the rain and mud and puddles of water I caught a taxi to work this morning, and hit jackpot with a friendly driver!
"Does it rain in Australia?" (tiiii)
He excitedly scrambles around to find a certain CD, races to find the track he wants....
With an enormous grin, he asks
"Do you like Madonna?"
And plays:
These are the awesome, unique, often bizarre kinds of moments that make this such a beautiful country...
Monday, August 29, 2011
There Goes Summer....
Today is the first day of the first week of Spring.
O bugger, not quite! I'm in the northern hemisphere....
Of course, there should still be 2 days of official summer left, but not in Mongolia.
To be fair, we have been blessed with an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous summer - the kind of summer that leaves you wondering how on earth there aren't more people here enjoying the truly splendid country Mongolia can be.
The kind of summer that has passed before you've blinked, and now it's easy to see why there aren't more people here!
The first day of the first week of Autumn is panning out thus: woke up to rain, temperature 10 degrees outside. Yesterday was 30 degrees! Now noon, it has warmed up to a staggering 11 degrees!
Over the last week and a half the change from summer to autumn has been gradual but definitely visible. Everything is kind of bleak and grey, the leaves are starting to drop, the flowers are starting to droop - and the vibe of the city is becoming resigned to the awful truth that winter is most definitely coming soon, too soon.
I've been a bit down with this change, feeling a deep, but strong, fear of the cold weather and pollution that will be here before I know it...
September 1 is the start of the school year.
Back in June, there was excitement in the air- most children were shipped off to the countryside, if not for the entire summer than at least for a few weeks,to spend time with those lucky family or friends who live in the land of clean air and wild strawberries. Most of my colleagues had some kind of summer house - a family home or ger around 10km out of the city where they relocated for summer. Now everyone is moving back, so the traffic is worse and the mood is low. The kids are getting ready for the school year ahead, the teachers among the expat group are back to work...
Worst of all, that long list of things to do, people to visit, places to see in summer is still a long list...with barely a dent, even though almost every weekend has been a successful attempt to make the most of the great weather.
I've definitely had a marvelous summer. It has been much warmer than I expected - mid 30s at times (with no air conditioning). Nothing beats Mongolia in summer. If I could have my way I'd switch a Canberra winter for a Mongolian summer every year, and hurry back to Australia in time to switch the first week of Autumn for the first week of Spring every year too!
O bugger, not quite! I'm in the northern hemisphere....
Of course, there should still be 2 days of official summer left, but not in Mongolia.
To be fair, we have been blessed with an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous summer - the kind of summer that leaves you wondering how on earth there aren't more people here enjoying the truly splendid country Mongolia can be.
The kind of summer that has passed before you've blinked, and now it's easy to see why there aren't more people here!
The first day of the first week of Autumn is panning out thus: woke up to rain, temperature 10 degrees outside. Yesterday was 30 degrees! Now noon, it has warmed up to a staggering 11 degrees!
Over the last week and a half the change from summer to autumn has been gradual but definitely visible. Everything is kind of bleak and grey, the leaves are starting to drop, the flowers are starting to droop - and the vibe of the city is becoming resigned to the awful truth that winter is most definitely coming soon, too soon.
I've been a bit down with this change, feeling a deep, but strong, fear of the cold weather and pollution that will be here before I know it...
September 1 is the start of the school year.
Back in June, there was excitement in the air- most children were shipped off to the countryside, if not for the entire summer than at least for a few weeks,to spend time with those lucky family or friends who live in the land of clean air and wild strawberries. Most of my colleagues had some kind of summer house - a family home or ger around 10km out of the city where they relocated for summer. Now everyone is moving back, so the traffic is worse and the mood is low. The kids are getting ready for the school year ahead, the teachers among the expat group are back to work...
Worst of all, that long list of things to do, people to visit, places to see in summer is still a long list...with barely a dent, even though almost every weekend has been a successful attempt to make the most of the great weather.
I've definitely had a marvelous summer. It has been much warmer than I expected - mid 30s at times (with no air conditioning). Nothing beats Mongolia in summer. If I could have my way I'd switch a Canberra winter for a Mongolian summer every year, and hurry back to Australia in time to switch the first week of Autumn for the first week of Spring every year too!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
More Bayan Olgii Stories
Stories from Tsagaannuur - poor village located by the Mongolian/Russian border crossing.
And a dombre-maker - the traditional Kazakh instrument. Couldn't resist getting one of Tilek's instruments, not sure I'll ever learn to use it!
Go here to see a Dombra in action:
Dombra Maker - Tilek
With the help of a bank loan, secured through Mercy Corps' Loan Guarantee Mechanism, Tilek is the proud owner of a successful local business, with two employees and strong local reputation for quality products. Since securing his loan, Tilek has also become a proud husband and father to two young children.
Before starting his own business the younger Tilek worked long hours based in the countryside for weeks at a time as a soldier in the army. The lifestyle was not great, and not at all suitable for a family man, but it was the only work available in the region and Tilek believes in earning his keep and providing for his family.
Tilek longed to start a family and was increasingly unable to cope with the stress of his army commitments. He wanted to start his own business making dombre - the Kazakh national instrument. He had been learning how to make the instrument since he was a small boy observing his father, and has a passion for crafting quality instruments. But to start a business he needed capital - to purchase equipment, and materials, and space to work. Tilek had no assets of value to secure a bank loan, and he was uneasy about getting into debt.
With the help of Mercy Corps, Tilek has been able to learn about running a business successfully and can see the advantages of the bank loan. He is steadily paying of his debt while making a healthy profit. When he began his business he had no idea about keeping records. After attending training with Mercy Corps staff Tilek is a vocal convert to the benefits of keeping financial records and budgeting. He proudly shows his books, with figures balanced and his budget, with savings for various stages of the future - savings for winter when sales go down, savings for building a new home, and savings for his children's education.
The benefits of the business are not limited to just Tilek and his family. With strong demand for his products Tilek has been able to hire two employees - one full time and one throughout summer. His employees are now earning an income and also learning how to make the instruments from Tilek.
Tsagaannuur - Mongol Rally Grants:
Tsagaannuur is a small village in far western Mongolia, right by the Mongolian-Russian border crossing. In times past the village was a thriving strategic base for Soviet - Mongolian trade.
Today, the village is home to 357 households, with a total of 3500 residents. This number has been rapidly decreasing in recent years as struggling families relocate to the aimag centre, or Ulaanbaatar, seeking better opportunities. There is no local industry and unemployment sits at 70%.
From time to time the village comes under the national Government radar for economic development. Currently just to the north of the village is a huge, barren area enclosed by a high security fence. Around a decade ago talk of a special economic zone began. A few years late the fence was built, and a few years on nothing else has changed.
The residents here are strategically located between the Russian border and aimag centre. They constantly feel like they are on the brink of change - if the economic zone was to take off, if the new road was to be finished, too many "ifs".
Tired of waiting for economic change, while more and more families are forced to leave ,local groups have applied for Mongol Rally grants to stimulate both their local economy, and more importantly, their local community.
The people of Tsagaannuur are hoping that these Mongol Rally funded grants will be just the start. Building on the foundation established through these community mobilisation projects, the residents can envisage a strong community with enough economic activity to sustain its families.
Children's Playground
In the yard of the Tsagaannuur school are a few scraps of metal, painted blue, forming some recognisable and some not-so-recognisable structures. There is clearly a slippery dip - too hot to use in summer, too cold in winter! And a broken see-saw.
Meanwhile, in the homes of Tsagaannuur there is a ready and waiting workforce of parents, currently unemployed. Some have skills in welding, carpentry and construction they have gained from stints in the aimag centre. Others have no had the opportunity to learn a trade, but they are willing to learn and keen to work.
A local group has applied for a Mongol Rally grant to pair these two seemingly unrelated groups in an effort to stimulate the local community as a means to stimulating the local economy.
By mobilising the community to plan, build and then maintain a playground for their children, a local community group is hoping to stimulate social cohesion, provide a service to the region's children, and lay a foundation for further economic development to combat the declining population and increasing unemployment.
The benefits of a project such as this go beyond the obvious benefits of somewhere for children to play and develop. Time formerly spent just with family members at home becomes time spent building, maintaining and enjoying a communal resource - building friendships and learning new skills. Communities develop pride in their public areas and through working with others are stimulated to move on to new ventures in the future.
Sewing Cooperative
The second grant application from Tsagaannuur is from a group of women hoping to establish a sewing and handcraft cooperative. Currently these women sew household items and clothing in their spare time meeting orders for local and nearby residents.
Zauresh is a mother of three grown up daughters. Her daughters all attend university; they return during the summer holidays, but during the long winter months Zauresh has many hours home alone. Zauresh works part time at the local hospital helping keep the books and with some other odd jobs as needed, but with long nights home alone she began meeting orders for sewn household items from her community to fill the time and earn some much needed extra income.
Zauresh can see big potential to expand her own sewing activities and as a result bring about many benefits for the wider community. She hopes to form a sewing cooperative comprised of local unemployed women to produce traditional Kazakh household items and handcrafts for tourists. Beyond the obvious economic benefits of an income source, Zauresh can see many more benefits. By working together the women can share their skills and learn from each other and also create a wider variety of products than they could working individually. Other benefits from working in a group include sharing resources, and very importantly for Zauresh, keeping each other company while forming strong social bonds.
With no business experience the group has applied for a grant to receive training from a successful sewing business in the aimag centre to teach them how to run a business, how to market their products, and improve their skills in production.
And a dombre-maker - the traditional Kazakh instrument. Couldn't resist getting one of Tilek's instruments, not sure I'll ever learn to use it!
Go here to see a Dombra in action:
Dombra Maker - Tilek
With the help of a bank loan, secured through Mercy Corps' Loan Guarantee Mechanism, Tilek is the proud owner of a successful local business, with two employees and strong local reputation for quality products. Since securing his loan, Tilek has also become a proud husband and father to two young children.
Before starting his own business the younger Tilek worked long hours based in the countryside for weeks at a time as a soldier in the army. The lifestyle was not great, and not at all suitable for a family man, but it was the only work available in the region and Tilek believes in earning his keep and providing for his family.
Tilek longed to start a family and was increasingly unable to cope with the stress of his army commitments. He wanted to start his own business making dombre - the Kazakh national instrument. He had been learning how to make the instrument since he was a small boy observing his father, and has a passion for crafting quality instruments. But to start a business he needed capital - to purchase equipment, and materials, and space to work. Tilek had no assets of value to secure a bank loan, and he was uneasy about getting into debt.
With the help of Mercy Corps, Tilek has been able to learn about running a business successfully and can see the advantages of the bank loan. He is steadily paying of his debt while making a healthy profit. When he began his business he had no idea about keeping records. After attending training with Mercy Corps staff Tilek is a vocal convert to the benefits of keeping financial records and budgeting. He proudly shows his books, with figures balanced and his budget, with savings for various stages of the future - savings for winter when sales go down, savings for building a new home, and savings for his children's education.
The benefits of the business are not limited to just Tilek and his family. With strong demand for his products Tilek has been able to hire two employees - one full time and one throughout summer. His employees are now earning an income and also learning how to make the instruments from Tilek.
Tsagaannuur - Mongol Rally Grants:
Tsagaannuur is a small village in far western Mongolia, right by the Mongolian-Russian border crossing. In times past the village was a thriving strategic base for Soviet - Mongolian trade.
Today, the village is home to 357 households, with a total of 3500 residents. This number has been rapidly decreasing in recent years as struggling families relocate to the aimag centre, or Ulaanbaatar, seeking better opportunities. There is no local industry and unemployment sits at 70%.
From time to time the village comes under the national Government radar for economic development. Currently just to the north of the village is a huge, barren area enclosed by a high security fence. Around a decade ago talk of a special economic zone began. A few years late the fence was built, and a few years on nothing else has changed.
The residents here are strategically located between the Russian border and aimag centre. They constantly feel like they are on the brink of change - if the economic zone was to take off, if the new road was to be finished, too many "ifs".
Tired of waiting for economic change, while more and more families are forced to leave ,local groups have applied for Mongol Rally grants to stimulate both their local economy, and more importantly, their local community.
The people of Tsagaannuur are hoping that these Mongol Rally funded grants will be just the start. Building on the foundation established through these community mobilisation projects, the residents can envisage a strong community with enough economic activity to sustain its families.
Children's Playground
In the yard of the Tsagaannuur school are a few scraps of metal, painted blue, forming some recognisable and some not-so-recognisable structures. There is clearly a slippery dip - too hot to use in summer, too cold in winter! And a broken see-saw.
Meanwhile, in the homes of Tsagaannuur there is a ready and waiting workforce of parents, currently unemployed. Some have skills in welding, carpentry and construction they have gained from stints in the aimag centre. Others have no had the opportunity to learn a trade, but they are willing to learn and keen to work.
A local group has applied for a Mongol Rally grant to pair these two seemingly unrelated groups in an effort to stimulate the local community as a means to stimulating the local economy.
By mobilising the community to plan, build and then maintain a playground for their children, a local community group is hoping to stimulate social cohesion, provide a service to the region's children, and lay a foundation for further economic development to combat the declining population and increasing unemployment.
The benefits of a project such as this go beyond the obvious benefits of somewhere for children to play and develop. Time formerly spent just with family members at home becomes time spent building, maintaining and enjoying a communal resource - building friendships and learning new skills. Communities develop pride in their public areas and through working with others are stimulated to move on to new ventures in the future.
Sewing Cooperative
The second grant application from Tsagaannuur is from a group of women hoping to establish a sewing and handcraft cooperative. Currently these women sew household items and clothing in their spare time meeting orders for local and nearby residents.
Zauresh is a mother of three grown up daughters. Her daughters all attend university; they return during the summer holidays, but during the long winter months Zauresh has many hours home alone. Zauresh works part time at the local hospital helping keep the books and with some other odd jobs as needed, but with long nights home alone she began meeting orders for sewn household items from her community to fill the time and earn some much needed extra income.
Zauresh can see big potential to expand her own sewing activities and as a result bring about many benefits for the wider community. She hopes to form a sewing cooperative comprised of local unemployed women to produce traditional Kazakh household items and handcrafts for tourists. Beyond the obvious economic benefits of an income source, Zauresh can see many more benefits. By working together the women can share their skills and learn from each other and also create a wider variety of products than they could working individually. Other benefits from working in a group include sharing resources, and very importantly for Zauresh, keeping each other company while forming strong social bonds.
With no business experience the group has applied for a grant to receive training from a successful sewing business in the aimag centre to teach them how to run a business, how to market their products, and improve their skills in production.
Bayan Olgii
The most western province of Mongolia, the Kazakh region. I was lucky enough to get a gig visiting here in preparation for the Mongol Rally teams passing through, and to visit Mongol Rally grant receipients/potential recipients, and visit some other Mercy Corps projects. It was a flying visit, in multiple ways - being a good 4 days non-stop drive on "roads", Mercy Corps flies staff out here, and being peak tourist season, flights were hard to come by. I flew out super early on a Tuesday morning, and returned mid-morning the next Thursday. I flew out with a Reader's Digest writer who was hoping to grab a ride back to Ulaanbaatar, or at least for a few days, with a Mongol Rally team bringing a fire engine from England to Mongolia! I had a brilliant time with the local Mercy Corps officer, great english skills and a lovely lady. We visited Mongol Rally grant sites in the village closest to the Russian/Mongolian border crossing. A very poor place, no jobs, 70% unemployment, and no water...the ground water is frozen year-round, so the town has no way to access water - which means no showers, no running water for homes etc. Mercy Corps are going to provide grants for building a children's playground - to mobilise the community to work together, and provide something for the local kids; and a grant for a group of women to form a sewing cooperative, get some training in making and running a Kazakh handcraft business - idea is they'll market their products to travelers passing by in summer, fresh into Mongolia after spending numerous hours/days at the border crossing...should be gold mine (relatively speaking) for the locals.
Being the Kazakh region there are big differences, and also alot of similarities. Families live in gers just in summer, the Kazakh gers are huge - lots of space, but a terrible idea come winter, they are too big to heat! The gers are richly decorated with wonderful colourful embroidery. Kazakhs are known for their hospitality - a spread of snacks is constantly maintained around the table, in case visitors drop by.
This is where I got my first taste of "airag" - fermemed mare's milk. The highlight of a Mongolian's summer...and the dread of any visitor's! My stuff tasted like yoghurt at first, followed by a strong hit of something completely unpalatable - fermented, slightly alcoholic, your gut reaction being to spit it out and wash out your mouth. Of course that would be the worst possible thing to do at that moment, so I obligingly swallowed...I got through 4 sips...while my companions devoured their entire bowls happily. Although risking offending my hosts there was no way I was going to get any more of that stuff down..luckily they were more amused at my 8/9ths filled bowl then offended...phew.
A few of the stories of the people I visited in Bayan Olgii. These are from the Social Safety Nets project being funding by USAID. The project has three parts - building communities, building employable skills and creating jobs, and Psycho Social Support training - training designed by the Red Cross, all targeted at rural Mongolians struggling after losing their livelihood due to the dzud (terrible combination of dry, hot summer and extremely cold winter with heavy snow-fall, resulting in an overall loss of 25% of livestock in Mongolia...much higher percentages in some areas) and the global financial crisis (yes, impact even here)...........
SSN - Psycho Social Support Training Participant
Zoya
Unfortunately Zoya's story is not an uncommon one. Her family used to be herders in rural Bayan Olgii, in far-western Mongolia. Following the severe weather conditions of the 'dzud' they lost most of their livestock and were forced to pack up and move to the aimag centre.
This new lifestyle was hard for Zoya. High regional unemployment and a lack of employable skills made it difficult for her or her husband to earn any income. Although surrounded by other families Zoya felt lonely and isolated, desperately missing the life she knew.
In her search for employment and support opportunities Zoya heard about Mercy Corps' Psycho Social Support Training. Since enrolling her life has changed dramatically. She has many friends from her class and feels connected to her community. She now has a job at a local wool-processing factory, after attending a training course in this field.
Now equipped with the self-confidence to proudly share her story, Zoya is brimming with enthusiasm for the benefits the classes have bought her. Impressed by the change in his wife, Zoya's husband has attended a few of the classes - when his work schedule allows, as he has now also found a job after attending training on construction building.
After losing her livelihood and all she knew, Zoya has found hope and much more through Psycho Social Support training. Beyond the despair she was buried in following her loss, she can now see there are many benefits for her children living in town. Zoya and her husband are able to cope with the struggles of life while holding on to hope of a better future for their family.
"I'm really happy to learn new skills from the classes. I found it very useful to learn how to deal with stress and skills for communicating with other people." Zoya
Ger Kindergarten Project
As part of the Social Safety Nets project Mercy Corps has established ger kindergartens for children living in the disadvantaged communities targeted by the project.
Guljayiina is an assistant at the kindergarten created in Bayan Olgii. Eight months since classes began, she can see an amazing improvement in all aspects of the children's lives.
"At first the children only wanted to play noisy, outdoor games - mostly pretending to be farm animals or dogs. Now they play in groups with their friends, using toys or making drawings. Adapting the children to a schedule with times for eating, playing, sleeping and learning also proved challenging."
Before the kindergarten began, none of the children had spent any time in a structured environment, spending their time at home with their families. All children have come from disadvantaged households where money and a lack of knowledge meant that hygiene and access to healthy food was very limited.
Now the children are excited to perform their daily hygiene tasks - brushing their hair and teeth, washing their hands and faces. They also have learnt to enjoy eating the strange food - at first unidentifiable - featuring lots of vegetables and healthy dairy products. Before the children would not eat the food at kindergarten, not knowing what it was. Now when they eat meals at home they ask their parents where the vegetables are.
This is one of the best parts of the ger kindergarten program. It's not only the children attending the kindergarten who benefit, but entire families. Children take their newly gained knowledge and skills home, where they enthusiastically share with their brothers, sisters and parents.
Aisanbat, Kindergarten Attendee
Aisanbat, a 5-year-old girl in Bayan Olgii, is glad her parents were forced to leave their herding lifestyle in the countryside and move to the aimag centre, where they now live in one of the most disadvantaged areas of the town. She is glad because, if this had not happened, she would not be attending the Ger Kindergarten - established as part of the Social Safety Nets project.
Since attending Kindergarten she has learnt a lot about hygiene and healthy eating. And she has made many new friends. Living in the countryside she would have no opportunity for interaction with other children beyond her brother and sister. But now, when her mother suggested she stay home one day, Aisanbat protests:
"If I miss kindergarten my friend will cry!"
A large part of the curriculum in the kindergarten includes personal hygiene. Aisanbat has embraced the benefits of keeping herself clean - she now teaches her little sister how to care for herself as well: how to brush their hair, how to clean their hands and face, how to brush their teeth and so on.
Aisanbat's mother, Anargul, can see a huge difference in the development in her daughter when compared to her older brother who had no opportunity to attend kindergarten. Before kindergarten began both mother and daughter were a little scared - none of her children had spent a day away from her before! But eight months later, she is thrilled with the benefits and looking forward to sending her youngest daughter to kindergarten as well.
***PS: Word was out that the Mercy Corps representative was visiting the Kindergarten. These lovely older Kazakh gentleman had wandered down and strategically placed themselves where we coudln't miss them. Turns out their grand kids go to the Kindergarten, and love it, and tell their grandpas all about it. Problem is the kindergarten is only funded til September (as part of the SSN project), so they wanted to know if it would be continued.
Good news is it will be, the local education department has found some funding to take it through until a Canadian government funded project will build a permanent building and take it over.
This kind of spontaneous display is great proof that the projects are meeting genuine needs in the community, creating positive change...!
Being the Kazakh region there are big differences, and also alot of similarities. Families live in gers just in summer, the Kazakh gers are huge - lots of space, but a terrible idea come winter, they are too big to heat! The gers are richly decorated with wonderful colourful embroidery. Kazakhs are known for their hospitality - a spread of snacks is constantly maintained around the table, in case visitors drop by.
This is where I got my first taste of "airag" - fermemed mare's milk. The highlight of a Mongolian's summer...and the dread of any visitor's! My stuff tasted like yoghurt at first, followed by a strong hit of something completely unpalatable - fermented, slightly alcoholic, your gut reaction being to spit it out and wash out your mouth. Of course that would be the worst possible thing to do at that moment, so I obligingly swallowed...I got through 4 sips...while my companions devoured their entire bowls happily. Although risking offending my hosts there was no way I was going to get any more of that stuff down..luckily they were more amused at my 8/9ths filled bowl then offended...phew.
A few of the stories of the people I visited in Bayan Olgii. These are from the Social Safety Nets project being funding by USAID. The project has three parts - building communities, building employable skills and creating jobs, and Psycho Social Support training - training designed by the Red Cross, all targeted at rural Mongolians struggling after losing their livelihood due to the dzud (terrible combination of dry, hot summer and extremely cold winter with heavy snow-fall, resulting in an overall loss of 25% of livestock in Mongolia...much higher percentages in some areas) and the global financial crisis (yes, impact even here)...........
SSN - Psycho Social Support Training Participant
Zoya
Unfortunately Zoya's story is not an uncommon one. Her family used to be herders in rural Bayan Olgii, in far-western Mongolia. Following the severe weather conditions of the 'dzud' they lost most of their livestock and were forced to pack up and move to the aimag centre.
This new lifestyle was hard for Zoya. High regional unemployment and a lack of employable skills made it difficult for her or her husband to earn any income. Although surrounded by other families Zoya felt lonely and isolated, desperately missing the life she knew.
In her search for employment and support opportunities Zoya heard about Mercy Corps' Psycho Social Support Training. Since enrolling her life has changed dramatically. She has many friends from her class and feels connected to her community. She now has a job at a local wool-processing factory, after attending a training course in this field.
Now equipped with the self-confidence to proudly share her story, Zoya is brimming with enthusiasm for the benefits the classes have bought her. Impressed by the change in his wife, Zoya's husband has attended a few of the classes - when his work schedule allows, as he has now also found a job after attending training on construction building.
After losing her livelihood and all she knew, Zoya has found hope and much more through Psycho Social Support training. Beyond the despair she was buried in following her loss, she can now see there are many benefits for her children living in town. Zoya and her husband are able to cope with the struggles of life while holding on to hope of a better future for their family.
"I'm really happy to learn new skills from the classes. I found it very useful to learn how to deal with stress and skills for communicating with other people." Zoya
Ger Kindergarten Project
As part of the Social Safety Nets project Mercy Corps has established ger kindergartens for children living in the disadvantaged communities targeted by the project.
Guljayiina is an assistant at the kindergarten created in Bayan Olgii. Eight months since classes began, she can see an amazing improvement in all aspects of the children's lives.
"At first the children only wanted to play noisy, outdoor games - mostly pretending to be farm animals or dogs. Now they play in groups with their friends, using toys or making drawings. Adapting the children to a schedule with times for eating, playing, sleeping and learning also proved challenging."
Before the kindergarten began, none of the children had spent any time in a structured environment, spending their time at home with their families. All children have come from disadvantaged households where money and a lack of knowledge meant that hygiene and access to healthy food was very limited.
Now the children are excited to perform their daily hygiene tasks - brushing their hair and teeth, washing their hands and faces. They also have learnt to enjoy eating the strange food - at first unidentifiable - featuring lots of vegetables and healthy dairy products. Before the children would not eat the food at kindergarten, not knowing what it was. Now when they eat meals at home they ask their parents where the vegetables are.
This is one of the best parts of the ger kindergarten program. It's not only the children attending the kindergarten who benefit, but entire families. Children take their newly gained knowledge and skills home, where they enthusiastically share with their brothers, sisters and parents.
Aisanbat, Kindergarten Attendee
Aisanbat, a 5-year-old girl in Bayan Olgii, is glad her parents were forced to leave their herding lifestyle in the countryside and move to the aimag centre, where they now live in one of the most disadvantaged areas of the town. She is glad because, if this had not happened, she would not be attending the Ger Kindergarten - established as part of the Social Safety Nets project.
Since attending Kindergarten she has learnt a lot about hygiene and healthy eating. And she has made many new friends. Living in the countryside she would have no opportunity for interaction with other children beyond her brother and sister. But now, when her mother suggested she stay home one day, Aisanbat protests:
"If I miss kindergarten my friend will cry!"
A large part of the curriculum in the kindergarten includes personal hygiene. Aisanbat has embraced the benefits of keeping herself clean - she now teaches her little sister how to care for herself as well: how to brush their hair, how to clean their hands and face, how to brush their teeth and so on.
Aisanbat's mother, Anargul, can see a huge difference in the development in her daughter when compared to her older brother who had no opportunity to attend kindergarten. Before kindergarten began both mother and daughter were a little scared - none of her children had spent a day away from her before! But eight months later, she is thrilled with the benefits and looking forward to sending her youngest daughter to kindergarten as well.
***PS: Word was out that the Mercy Corps representative was visiting the Kindergarten. These lovely older Kazakh gentleman had wandered down and strategically placed themselves where we coudln't miss them. Turns out their grand kids go to the Kindergarten, and love it, and tell their grandpas all about it. Problem is the kindergarten is only funded til September (as part of the SSN project), so they wanted to know if it would be continued.
Good news is it will be, the local education department has found some funding to take it through until a Canadian government funded project will build a permanent building and take it over.
This kind of spontaneous display is great proof that the projects are meeting genuine needs in the community, creating positive change...!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Mongol Derby Funded Projects Map
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Mercy Corps' Mongol Derby Projects Promo Video
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Hunting Strawberries
Today I went to my colleague's country house about a half hour outside of UB to meet her family and hike in the forest for wild strawberries! After a slow start we eventually found hundreds of these delicious delicacies. The weather was perfect - the sun was shining, nice and warm but not ridiculously hot. The kids were beautiful and very entertaining company.
Following the hike we came back to town and visited the Children's Park - an amusement park with an interesting selection of rides and the usual things. The kids had fun on a big slippery dip and we all ate ice-cream, then it was time to come home :D
Following the hike we came back to town and visited the Children's Park - an amusement park with an interesting selection of rides and the usual things. The kids had fun on a big slippery dip and we all ate ice-cream, then it was time to come home :D
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Home
After two weeks in Russia (beautiful!) and a week for work in the western aimag of Hovd (amazing!), I am glad to be "home" for a bit, even if there is NO water, still, a week after being back!
Here is a little video tour of what I like to call home, a lovely oasis in the hectic, dirty, dusty, generally delapidated streetscapes of UB:
Here is a little video tour of what I like to call home, a lovely oasis in the hectic, dirty, dusty, generally delapidated streetscapes of UB:
Chain Spotting
While I might groan and grumble about the developing aspects of Mongolia - no hot water, no water at all currently, no toilets, no showers, entire blocks of main streets closed for weeks...ahm, yep, plenty to whinge about - there are *some* things I like about being in a developing country.
One of these is the lack of chain restaurants and stores. Mongolia is one of the few places on earth where there is no McDonalds. No KFC or Burger King or anything of that nature.
The closest they get is Loving Hut - Mongolia, the land of people that exist entirely on animal products - meat and dairy - is also the land where the only chain is a vegan, yes vegan, restaurant. That kind of logic is exactly what makes Mongolia beautiful!
In Russia for two weeks for a summer holiday there was a little bit of chain spotting.
First was Subway, in Ulan Ude
Second was Baskin & Robins, in Irkutsk.
It seems the Russians have good taste!
One of these is the lack of chain restaurants and stores. Mongolia is one of the few places on earth where there is no McDonalds. No KFC or Burger King or anything of that nature.
The closest they get is Loving Hut - Mongolia, the land of people that exist entirely on animal products - meat and dairy - is also the land where the only chain is a vegan, yes vegan, restaurant. That kind of logic is exactly what makes Mongolia beautiful!
In Russia for two weeks for a summer holiday there was a little bit of chain spotting.
First was Subway, in Ulan Ude
Second was Baskin & Robins, in Irkutsk.
It seems the Russians have good taste!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Russia pics
Without my laptop I am limited in putting up only pics on my iPod for the moment.
Here is some pretty lake shots:
Amazing pirate ship playground
Our homestay:
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Here is some pretty lake shots:
Amazing pirate ship playground
Our homestay:
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Two weeks in Russia
My "year in Mongolia" is presently on holiday, as is most of Mongolia - think christmas time, summer holidays. With a whole week of public holidays and some mighty fine weather it seemed like heading north to lake baikal in siberia was the sensible thing to do.
Everyone has heard of siberia - where freedom-fighting contentious russians, poles and other europeans are sent as punishment by governments enforcing peace. Being a punishment, the experience should be unpleasant - freezing weather, no infrastructure, isolation etc etc.
We arrived in a heat wave, with high 30s and stunning days. The cities we have seen are massive by mongolian standards, small by russian standards, but big enough in reality. Beautiful parks and many fountains, intresting statues, lots of friendly people. We were blown away.
We are mostly around lake baikal, the deepest lake in the world, holding 20% of the worlds fresh water. The lake is stunning, and freezing at around 15 degrees. In winter it freezes over, making transport easier as you just drive across it. For us, we had to resort to trains and ferries.
Russia in general is entirely developed. This makes sense if you think about it, but was not what i was expecting. Coming from Mongolia, where things are literally just as they were when the soviet union collapsed (no dusting, no painting etc has occurred since, it seems) i was expecting something similar, especially in out of the way sibera.
Instead we have a wonderfully beautiful place, civilised the point of this gorgeous coffee spot on the seventh floor looking over the lake - the perfect place to read a weekend paper.
The lake is huge, and frequently covered in thick fog. The water is very clear, and is the most beautiful colours at different depths - blues and greens, with the steep rising mountains behind it.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Everyone has heard of siberia - where freedom-fighting contentious russians, poles and other europeans are sent as punishment by governments enforcing peace. Being a punishment, the experience should be unpleasant - freezing weather, no infrastructure, isolation etc etc.
We arrived in a heat wave, with high 30s and stunning days. The cities we have seen are massive by mongolian standards, small by russian standards, but big enough in reality. Beautiful parks and many fountains, intresting statues, lots of friendly people. We were blown away.
We are mostly around lake baikal, the deepest lake in the world, holding 20% of the worlds fresh water. The lake is stunning, and freezing at around 15 degrees. In winter it freezes over, making transport easier as you just drive across it. For us, we had to resort to trains and ferries.
Russia in general is entirely developed. This makes sense if you think about it, but was not what i was expecting. Coming from Mongolia, where things are literally just as they were when the soviet union collapsed (no dusting, no painting etc has occurred since, it seems) i was expecting something similar, especially in out of the way sibera.
Instead we have a wonderfully beautiful place, civilised the point of this gorgeous coffee spot on the seventh floor looking over the lake - the perfect place to read a weekend paper.
The lake is huge, and frequently covered in thick fog. The water is very clear, and is the most beautiful colours at different depths - blues and greens, with the steep rising mountains behind it.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Siberia
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
No News is Good News
To pull out another cliche, time certainly does fly when you're having fun!
Actually, it flies when you're not having a whole lot of fun as well!
The last three weeks can be summed up as amazing - I have travelled 10 hours west on a 5 day trip, I have travelled 12 hours east for 5 days for work's annual meeting, I have visited training for Children with a Disability, I have celebrated a Mongolian birthday with wonderful friends in UB. I have made lots of plans for exciting projects at work, and even acheived a couple of things already, including a poster that has been printed and distributed!
In the "not so much fun" department are all of the above as well - travelling anywhere is tough in Mongolia, travelling 12 hours crammed between a metal rod and a drunk old Mongolian guy is not nearly as pleasant as it sounds. Celebrating a birthday with no mobile, internet and barely an english speaker has it's frustrations. Attending a work conference with a huge amount of interesting information and presentations, all in Mongolian, is frustrating. Working with people from a different culture, in fact across cultures (US, Macedonian and Mongolian) is very challenging.
Looking forward there are more trips in the works - heading west for a work trip, no details known, but should be next week - to the Kazakh region of Mongolia; then Naadam in early July - the Mongolian equivalent of Christmas, with wrestling, horse riding and archery; then hopefully off to Russia for 10 days or so!
Work is super-busy. Mongolians are notorious for leaving things til the last minute, and there are some pressing deadlines coming up. I am discovering, at least in my workplace, the last-minute thing is because they only just finished meeting another deadline, not because they were twiddling their fingers. With Naadam coming up there is a week of office shutdown, and most people, including me, are taking leave either side - the equivalent of trying to do something between mid December and mid January - but worse, because this is the only 12 weeks or so of the year that you can go outside! The catch is that, this is the only time of year you can do stuff outside - so there are lots of community events to plan and hold, lots of travelling to the provinces to work on projects, and lots of foreign visitors and events including the Rally and the Derby coming in!
Actually, it flies when you're not having a whole lot of fun as well!
The last three weeks can be summed up as amazing - I have travelled 10 hours west on a 5 day trip, I have travelled 12 hours east for 5 days for work's annual meeting, I have visited training for Children with a Disability, I have celebrated a Mongolian birthday with wonderful friends in UB. I have made lots of plans for exciting projects at work, and even acheived a couple of things already, including a poster that has been printed and distributed!
In the "not so much fun" department are all of the above as well - travelling anywhere is tough in Mongolia, travelling 12 hours crammed between a metal rod and a drunk old Mongolian guy is not nearly as pleasant as it sounds. Celebrating a birthday with no mobile, internet and barely an english speaker has it's frustrations. Attending a work conference with a huge amount of interesting information and presentations, all in Mongolian, is frustrating. Working with people from a different culture, in fact across cultures (US, Macedonian and Mongolian) is very challenging.
Looking forward there are more trips in the works - heading west for a work trip, no details known, but should be next week - to the Kazakh region of Mongolia; then Naadam in early July - the Mongolian equivalent of Christmas, with wrestling, horse riding and archery; then hopefully off to Russia for 10 days or so!
Work is super-busy. Mongolians are notorious for leaving things til the last minute, and there are some pressing deadlines coming up. I am discovering, at least in my workplace, the last-minute thing is because they only just finished meeting another deadline, not because they were twiddling their fingers. With Naadam coming up there is a week of office shutdown, and most people, including me, are taking leave either side - the equivalent of trying to do something between mid December and mid January - but worse, because this is the only 12 weeks or so of the year that you can go outside! The catch is that, this is the only time of year you can do stuff outside - so there are lots of community events to plan and hold, lots of travelling to the provinces to work on projects, and lots of foreign visitors and events including the Rally and the Derby coming in!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Children's Day - June 1
June 1 is a public holiday in Mongolia - Children's Day.
The celebrations are quite literal - everyone, it seems absolutely everyone, hits the streets with their kids. The kids are spoilt rotten with lollies, bananas, toys, games and various events such as singing competitions.
Sukhbataar Square, a huge open space in front of the Parliament building (which my house is behind) hosted thousands of people (it felt like it, anyway).
It's a great excuse for a mid-week holiday (Wednesday); and the weather put on a perfect show for the first day of summer. Following some torrential rain early last week, and warm weather since, the city has just popped out in green - trees are covered in leaves, grass is popping up everywhere and looks overgrown in plenty of places - it was snowing two weeks ago!
Man, it was packed...and more people streaming in constantly.
It's all a bit much for some of us...at least he had his Thomas shirt on.
The French Bistro under our apartment (we're the at the top) - outdoorish eating area now open. Awnings are going up on outdoor areas all around the place now that it's warming up.
UB is so beautiful at the moment. There were definitely not leaves on these trees a month ago when we arrived.
Cool Soviet style building next to our local supermarket, with a big statue of a random guy out the front.
More roadworks around the corner from our place...the street is now just a big hole.
The celebrations are quite literal - everyone, it seems absolutely everyone, hits the streets with their kids. The kids are spoilt rotten with lollies, bananas, toys, games and various events such as singing competitions.
Sukhbataar Square, a huge open space in front of the Parliament building (which my house is behind) hosted thousands of people (it felt like it, anyway).
It's a great excuse for a mid-week holiday (Wednesday); and the weather put on a perfect show for the first day of summer. Following some torrential rain early last week, and warm weather since, the city has just popped out in green - trees are covered in leaves, grass is popping up everywhere and looks overgrown in plenty of places - it was snowing two weeks ago!
Man, it was packed...and more people streaming in constantly.
It's all a bit much for some of us...at least he had his Thomas shirt on.
The French Bistro under our apartment (we're the at the top) - outdoorish eating area now open. Awnings are going up on outdoor areas all around the place now that it's warming up.
UB is so beautiful at the moment. There were definitely not leaves on these trees a month ago when we arrived.
Cool Soviet style building next to our local supermarket, with a big statue of a random guy out the front.
More roadworks around the corner from our place...the street is now just a big hole.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Russian Jeep Blessing Photos
Here are some pics of the Russian Jeep Blessing Ceremony from my first week at work (mentioned in an earlier post). The pics are courtesy of the Mercy Corps Mongolia library.
Our country director, Jennifer, placing some milk on each tyre of the new vehicles.
Followed by the traditional exchange of blue scarves. The scarf was then tied around the rear-view mirror of each car - these scarves are everywhere - in businesses, in cars - I am guessing it's to do with safety/prosperity/success.
And now the Mercy Corps Mongolia Head Office Team shot.
My colleagues in the Civil Society Department are circled below:
Our country director, Jennifer, placing some milk on each tyre of the new vehicles.
Followed by the traditional exchange of blue scarves. The scarf was then tied around the rear-view mirror of each car - these scarves are everywhere - in businesses, in cars - I am guessing it's to do with safety/prosperity/success.
And now the Mercy Corps Mongolia Head Office Team shot.
My colleagues in the Civil Society Department are circled below:
Friday, May 27, 2011
Warming Up
Summer is coming....!
Today was the first day I have left home without a jacket. And I didn't need it! It was a beautiful mid-20s+ day outside.
The street outside that was a 2m hole a week ago opened this morning. The traffic lights, that have been redundantly running throughout the road works conveniently stopped working, causing chaos. And car accidents. UB is amazing.
The newly re-opened street is on the left. Btw, look at those green leaves! UB has burst out in green over the last few days, it's amazing!
Today was the first day I have left home without a jacket. And I didn't need it! It was a beautiful mid-20s+ day outside.
The street outside that was a 2m hole a week ago opened this morning. The traffic lights, that have been redundantly running throughout the road works conveniently stopped working, causing chaos. And car accidents. UB is amazing.
The newly re-opened street is on the left. Btw, look at those green leaves! UB has burst out in green over the last few days, it's amazing!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Ramblings on Mongolian Society
Time for something a bit more serious than chocolate and horses...a little bit of social observation to give you folks a bit more of an idea this place.
Since starting work I have heard alot about women's day to day life experience from my colleagues - families, work, child-raising etc. It dawned on my last night while talking with other volunteers that I had mostly talked to women because my colleagues were almost all women - they make up the majority of the work force, it seems. In my immediate team we have 2 men to 6 women. This ratio is the same, or slightly higher, than other teams at my workplace. Many of my AYAD peers work with only women, or perhaps a man in a senior role. And sure, we are working in the kinds of organisations that attract women etc. - but it is definitely the social norm that women will have a full-time job, while raising multiple children.
The women I am meeting all work very long hours - business hours in my office are 8.30am to 5.30pm. No one (else!) leaves at 5.30pm, on days I've worked later my colleagues are still busily working away.
This seems bad enough for work/life balance. But don't forget your commute to work. How bad could it be, in a country of 2.7 million people, with a population density of 1 person per 1.75km-squared? I have a solid half hour walk to work. In the mornings I have been piking and getting a taxi because I tend to leave the house around 8.29.
After talking with my colleagues I need to have a spoonful of concrete... - these guys spend 1-1.5 hours standing in a jam packed bus to come to work in the morning; and in the evening, with traffic, it usually takes almost 2 hours (standing the whole way)! Add on to that an hour of english class after work and that makes on super-long day. Leave home at 7am and arrive home around 10pm. The distance they are traveling is not huge, if they were going to the farthest point of suburbia it is only 15km - the problem is UB has one main road (Peave Ave) which is indescribably jam-packed with traffic the entire day - buses, cars, "taxis". The mining boom has seen a steep rise in car-ownership - Lexus 4WDs, Mercedes, Hummers...what you'd expect in a country where 1 in 3 people is living in poverty.
And sure, you're thinking young people like myself could handle that kind of lifestyle - it's not like we have family to care for? True for me, but not for Mongolians. Based on my exhaustive surveying of locals, the usual age for your first child is 21. It is very common to have a large gap between children, a gap of 10-12 years. I have not met anyone with children closer than about 6 years in age. One hypothesis for this is the practicality of the first child being old enough to care for their siblings.
Nice in theory you might say? Well, it's more than a theory here. I was amazed to hear one colleague tell me her 12 year old son does all the housework - washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking - yes, he cooks his mother dinner! And the more people I meet the more common this seems to be. This little lad goes to school from 1pm-6pm, does all the household duties and finds time to play games at the internet centre with his friends, I am assured. Like most kids, he will be shipped off to the countryside to hangout with the grandparents for a month, or two, or three in the summer holidays.
Paid maternity leave is 4 months, there is no attempt at replacing an employee who is on maternity leave which results in a fair amount of workplace pressure and/or personal responsibility to return to work asap after giving birth - usually women will stop work around 7 months and come back when their child is around 2 months old. One would assume this means breastfeeding is not common after around 2 months. In saying that, from observation there is definitely none of the ridiculous stigma attached to breastfeeding in public that is found in western cultures, nor any attempt at modesty.
Most women have 2, maybe 3 children. If you are particularly productive and have 4 children the Government awards you with a special Medal and you receive some kind of monetary gift as well.
Encouraging population growth has many motivators - a hundred years ago when the Chinese were ruling over the Mongols they were attempting to wipe out the race, and doing a nice job - there were only around 800,000 left. In the early 20th century the Mongolians got rid of the Chinese, with Russia's help. Russia then decided they would stay around and help out, alot, in much the same way they helped out central asia and eastern europe until 1990. But that complex and interesting story will wait for another day. Back to population - by 1956 the population was 845,481. Today it is estimated at over 2,700,000. Only 2.7 million Mongolians....wedged between over 1,300,000,000 Chinese (1.3 billion) and 142,905,200 Russians. Yep, I'd be worried too.
So to paint a stereotypical picture of the Mongolians I am meeting - they are female, mid 30s, with 2 children, the eldest is around 10-12 and then there is the baby, 1.5 years. They are working full-time - probably 45-50 hours a week. Dad may or may not be in the picture - rarely have the people I speak to mentioned their partners, in a way that would make me think they weren't around if I was talking to an Australian, but later evidence suggests they are around. The women I am associating with are intelligent and hard working, with strong opinions. One of the key factors in the soviet socialist system was to tap into the previously under-utilised 50% of the population - women. It seems this has had a wonderful impact on promoting their contribution to society in Mongolia.
It can't help that Mongolian children are ridiculously cute - utterly ridiculously cute. Especially when they are rugged up in super puffy star-shaped jumpsuits for winter.
It is very striking how affectionate parents are with their children - always holding them while walking down the street, carrying them around shopping centres, children sit on parents laps in the car...oh hang on, there are no strollers in this picture, or car seats (that 5 seater car is carrying 10 Mongolians anyway). While it's impossible for PWD (People with Disabilities) to get around UB, it's very hard for parents with children. Not a chance in hell of pushing a stroller. Very unlikely anyone in that car is wearing a seat belt, let alone getting a car seat for that baby.
As a disclaimer, this is based on my observations - I am not observing women living in poverty in the ger districts of the city, or women living in the countryside (I will be interacting with these women throughout the next year though, so will be interesting to compare). I am working at a fantastic workplace where people love their job (not as common as we would all like), for an organisation that does amazing work to help disadvantaged. The lifestyle I have described above falls into the more positive life experiences of city-dwelling Mongolians. And these guys are paid probably somewhere in the range of $250-450 US a month.
Since starting work I have heard alot about women's day to day life experience from my colleagues - families, work, child-raising etc. It dawned on my last night while talking with other volunteers that I had mostly talked to women because my colleagues were almost all women - they make up the majority of the work force, it seems. In my immediate team we have 2 men to 6 women. This ratio is the same, or slightly higher, than other teams at my workplace. Many of my AYAD peers work with only women, or perhaps a man in a senior role. And sure, we are working in the kinds of organisations that attract women etc. - but it is definitely the social norm that women will have a full-time job, while raising multiple children.
The women I am meeting all work very long hours - business hours in my office are 8.30am to 5.30pm. No one (else!) leaves at 5.30pm, on days I've worked later my colleagues are still busily working away.
This seems bad enough for work/life balance. But don't forget your commute to work. How bad could it be, in a country of 2.7 million people, with a population density of 1 person per 1.75km-squared? I have a solid half hour walk to work. In the mornings I have been piking and getting a taxi because I tend to leave the house around 8.29.
After talking with my colleagues I need to have a spoonful of concrete... - these guys spend 1-1.5 hours standing in a jam packed bus to come to work in the morning; and in the evening, with traffic, it usually takes almost 2 hours (standing the whole way)! Add on to that an hour of english class after work and that makes on super-long day. Leave home at 7am and arrive home around 10pm. The distance they are traveling is not huge, if they were going to the farthest point of suburbia it is only 15km - the problem is UB has one main road (Peave Ave) which is indescribably jam-packed with traffic the entire day - buses, cars, "taxis". The mining boom has seen a steep rise in car-ownership - Lexus 4WDs, Mercedes, Hummers...what you'd expect in a country where 1 in 3 people is living in poverty.
And sure, you're thinking young people like myself could handle that kind of lifestyle - it's not like we have family to care for? True for me, but not for Mongolians. Based on my exhaustive surveying of locals, the usual age for your first child is 21. It is very common to have a large gap between children, a gap of 10-12 years. I have not met anyone with children closer than about 6 years in age. One hypothesis for this is the practicality of the first child being old enough to care for their siblings.
Nice in theory you might say? Well, it's more than a theory here. I was amazed to hear one colleague tell me her 12 year old son does all the housework - washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking - yes, he cooks his mother dinner! And the more people I meet the more common this seems to be. This little lad goes to school from 1pm-6pm, does all the household duties and finds time to play games at the internet centre with his friends, I am assured. Like most kids, he will be shipped off to the countryside to hangout with the grandparents for a month, or two, or three in the summer holidays.
Paid maternity leave is 4 months, there is no attempt at replacing an employee who is on maternity leave which results in a fair amount of workplace pressure and/or personal responsibility to return to work asap after giving birth - usually women will stop work around 7 months and come back when their child is around 2 months old. One would assume this means breastfeeding is not common after around 2 months. In saying that, from observation there is definitely none of the ridiculous stigma attached to breastfeeding in public that is found in western cultures, nor any attempt at modesty.
Most women have 2, maybe 3 children. If you are particularly productive and have 4 children the Government awards you with a special Medal and you receive some kind of monetary gift as well.
Encouraging population growth has many motivators - a hundred years ago when the Chinese were ruling over the Mongols they were attempting to wipe out the race, and doing a nice job - there were only around 800,000 left. In the early 20th century the Mongolians got rid of the Chinese, with Russia's help. Russia then decided they would stay around and help out, alot, in much the same way they helped out central asia and eastern europe until 1990. But that complex and interesting story will wait for another day. Back to population - by 1956 the population was 845,481. Today it is estimated at over 2,700,000. Only 2.7 million Mongolians....wedged between over 1,300,000,000 Chinese (1.3 billion) and 142,905,200 Russians. Yep, I'd be worried too.
So to paint a stereotypical picture of the Mongolians I am meeting - they are female, mid 30s, with 2 children, the eldest is around 10-12 and then there is the baby, 1.5 years. They are working full-time - probably 45-50 hours a week. Dad may or may not be in the picture - rarely have the people I speak to mentioned their partners, in a way that would make me think they weren't around if I was talking to an Australian, but later evidence suggests they are around. The women I am associating with are intelligent and hard working, with strong opinions. One of the key factors in the soviet socialist system was to tap into the previously under-utilised 50% of the population - women. It seems this has had a wonderful impact on promoting their contribution to society in Mongolia.
It can't help that Mongolian children are ridiculously cute - utterly ridiculously cute. Especially when they are rugged up in super puffy star-shaped jumpsuits for winter.
It is very striking how affectionate parents are with their children - always holding them while walking down the street, carrying them around shopping centres, children sit on parents laps in the car...oh hang on, there are no strollers in this picture, or car seats (that 5 seater car is carrying 10 Mongolians anyway). While it's impossible for PWD (People with Disabilities) to get around UB, it's very hard for parents with children. Not a chance in hell of pushing a stroller. Very unlikely anyone in that car is wearing a seat belt, let alone getting a car seat for that baby.
As a disclaimer, this is based on my observations - I am not observing women living in poverty in the ger districts of the city, or women living in the countryside (I will be interacting with these women throughout the next year though, so will be interesting to compare). I am working at a fantastic workplace where people love their job (not as common as we would all like), for an organisation that does amazing work to help disadvantaged. The lifestyle I have described above falls into the more positive life experiences of city-dwelling Mongolians. And these guys are paid probably somewhere in the range of $250-450 US a month.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
One Month?!?!
It has come to my attention in the last few minutes that it is over one month since we left Australia!!
Time has passed incredibly quickly. Up until this weekend things had been pretty hectic - arrive and straight away we were finding somewhere to live, moved in two days later, then language lessons for two weeks, then start work!
In terms of a general wrap up - housemates and house is great, the weather has warmed up tremendously - still with the odd snow shower of a morning, but have had as warm as 27 degrees one day last week! Today I went out in shorts :) I am slowly finding things to eat, my diet doesn't have the same variety it did in Oz - gluten free is not "in" here yet (as an aside, vegetarianism definitely IS - there is almost a vego/vegan restauarant on every corner it seems - this has come up pretty quickly I'm told, so maybe gluten/dariy/soy/capsicum/olive free will be the next fad...I won't hold my breath :) My mongolian has stalled...although I am remembering more words at the rate of about one a day - today I used the words for "big", "small" and "book" - add in hello and thankyou, along with left/right/straight/stop (for taxis) and that is about my readily-available-in-brain vocabulary range at the moment.
Last week was my first week of work on Mongolia - also my first week of full time work in 5 weeks or so and the first time being in an office full time (rather than working from home) since January...so quite a shock to the system!
I am working in the Civil Society Department of Mercy Corps Mongolia - a team of 6 + me. Mercy Corps also has an Economic Development department - you should get the gist of their focusses from their titles (along with other typical organisational departments like Finance (4 pple), HR (1 person) etc). The Economic Dev Dept is much bigger (around 20 staff). The plan, I think, is that I will work where I can with each of the staffmembers on their projects - being such a small team these guys work amazingly hard, and each part of a program is pretty much handled by one person.
Projects I'll be working on include the funding we get from the UK group The Adventurists who run the amazing Mongol Rally (London to Ulaanbaatar in a tiny car) and Mongol Derby (1000km horse race across the steppe) - checkout
http://www.theadventurists.com/ to see cool pics and info about these adventures.
Other projects include enhancing social interaction of PWDs (People with Disabilities) - I am quickly becoming aware of the nightmare it is for people with a disability to get around mongolia, and especially the capital city. Over the last couple of years Mercy Corps projects got a heap of legislation passed into law...now the challenge is getting that law put into action - there is very little, generally speaking in all areas of life, effort to obey laws or penalties for not doing so.
Office culture here is a bit different to in Australia. There is not the slightest idea of work/life balance. My office hours are 8:30-5:30. Most staff are there until 6:30/7pm, and arrive around 8am. They work through lunch. I am going to try and encourage some greater efficiency/less work hours ideas, but if past AYAD volunteers experiences are anything to go by these efforts will be in vain.
The projects at work are all in the countryside - which means frequent trips to various locations, which hopefully I will be a part of. Friday afternoon saw talk of a two day trip this week for a colleague and I - fingers crossed it goes ahead!
Outside of work life is quickly being filled with the sorts of everyday things that fill life at home - housekeeping type duties, eating, finding time to exercise...also the not-so-usual activities: Mongolian language lessons will be taking up 2-3 hours from next week. Last week on Wednesday afternoon we were told it was International Museum Day 'today', so we quickly made plans to head along to Chojin Lama Temple museum that evening - one of the other AYADs from my intake is working there, so I was keen to visit her workplace, as well as see the great museum. There seems to be no lack of birthdays, house-warmings, farewells etc to celebrate come the weekend....not necessarily my scene, but a late night or two doesn't hurt occassionally :)
As the weather is warming up everyone - expats and mongols alike - are keen to head out to the countryside come the weekend. A lack of gear saw me miss out on a two day hike this weekend, but if I can help it I will be getting out there and seeing the real Mongolia as much as possible while summer lasts.
This was evident when I went along to a Mongolian church that does real-time english translations (you get a little radio and tune in to listen to the guy translating into english!). I am super keen to get involved in a church here - I am certain this will happen come winter, at the moment many church-goers are away of a weekend - as I have been too, and will be. I heard an inspiring sermon on the church in Mongolia - this year is 20 years since Christianity first came to Mongolia. It is now around 2.5% of the population and they have a goal of 10% by 2020. This was a long and involved sermon - we didn't finish the service until after 1pm...and there was no morning-tea for that boost of energy pre-message! (shout out to Lakeside :) To and from work I see a large, fancy Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) headquarters - a daily reminder of some of the challenges facing the spread of Christianity in Mongolia. In the city, there is a new Mormon Church right next door to a Buddhist worship centre, across the road from one of the seediest nightclubs...
As great as Mongolia is so far with all its interesting discoveries, I am definitely missing many things from Australia; not the least of which is all my friends and family. With life being busy here I haven't been in touch as much as I would like to - thanks for all your prayers and support, looking back on how things here have turned out I am mightily blessed!
Time has passed incredibly quickly. Up until this weekend things had been pretty hectic - arrive and straight away we were finding somewhere to live, moved in two days later, then language lessons for two weeks, then start work!
In terms of a general wrap up - housemates and house is great, the weather has warmed up tremendously - still with the odd snow shower of a morning, but have had as warm as 27 degrees one day last week! Today I went out in shorts :) I am slowly finding things to eat, my diet doesn't have the same variety it did in Oz - gluten free is not "in" here yet (as an aside, vegetarianism definitely IS - there is almost a vego/vegan restauarant on every corner it seems - this has come up pretty quickly I'm told, so maybe gluten/dariy/soy/capsicum/olive free will be the next fad...I won't hold my breath :) My mongolian has stalled...although I am remembering more words at the rate of about one a day - today I used the words for "big", "small" and "book" - add in hello and thankyou, along with left/right/straight/stop (for taxis) and that is about my readily-available-in-brain vocabulary range at the moment.
Last week was my first week of work on Mongolia - also my first week of full time work in 5 weeks or so and the first time being in an office full time (rather than working from home) since January...so quite a shock to the system!
I am working in the Civil Society Department of Mercy Corps Mongolia - a team of 6 + me. Mercy Corps also has an Economic Development department - you should get the gist of their focusses from their titles (along with other typical organisational departments like Finance (4 pple), HR (1 person) etc). The Economic Dev Dept is much bigger (around 20 staff). The plan, I think, is that I will work where I can with each of the staffmembers on their projects - being such a small team these guys work amazingly hard, and each part of a program is pretty much handled by one person.
Projects I'll be working on include the funding we get from the UK group The Adventurists who run the amazing Mongol Rally (London to Ulaanbaatar in a tiny car) and Mongol Derby (1000km horse race across the steppe) - checkout
http://www.theadventurists.com/ to see cool pics and info about these adventures.
Other projects include enhancing social interaction of PWDs (People with Disabilities) - I am quickly becoming aware of the nightmare it is for people with a disability to get around mongolia, and especially the capital city. Over the last couple of years Mercy Corps projects got a heap of legislation passed into law...now the challenge is getting that law put into action - there is very little, generally speaking in all areas of life, effort to obey laws or penalties for not doing so.
Office culture here is a bit different to in Australia. There is not the slightest idea of work/life balance. My office hours are 8:30-5:30. Most staff are there until 6:30/7pm, and arrive around 8am. They work through lunch. I am going to try and encourage some greater efficiency/less work hours ideas, but if past AYAD volunteers experiences are anything to go by these efforts will be in vain.
The projects at work are all in the countryside - which means frequent trips to various locations, which hopefully I will be a part of. Friday afternoon saw talk of a two day trip this week for a colleague and I - fingers crossed it goes ahead!
Outside of work life is quickly being filled with the sorts of everyday things that fill life at home - housekeeping type duties, eating, finding time to exercise...also the not-so-usual activities: Mongolian language lessons will be taking up 2-3 hours from next week. Last week on Wednesday afternoon we were told it was International Museum Day 'today', so we quickly made plans to head along to Chojin Lama Temple museum that evening - one of the other AYADs from my intake is working there, so I was keen to visit her workplace, as well as see the great museum. There seems to be no lack of birthdays, house-warmings, farewells etc to celebrate come the weekend....not necessarily my scene, but a late night or two doesn't hurt occassionally :)
As the weather is warming up everyone - expats and mongols alike - are keen to head out to the countryside come the weekend. A lack of gear saw me miss out on a two day hike this weekend, but if I can help it I will be getting out there and seeing the real Mongolia as much as possible while summer lasts.
This was evident when I went along to a Mongolian church that does real-time english translations (you get a little radio and tune in to listen to the guy translating into english!). I am super keen to get involved in a church here - I am certain this will happen come winter, at the moment many church-goers are away of a weekend - as I have been too, and will be. I heard an inspiring sermon on the church in Mongolia - this year is 20 years since Christianity first came to Mongolia. It is now around 2.5% of the population and they have a goal of 10% by 2020. This was a long and involved sermon - we didn't finish the service until after 1pm...and there was no morning-tea for that boost of energy pre-message! (shout out to Lakeside :) To and from work I see a large, fancy Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) headquarters - a daily reminder of some of the challenges facing the spread of Christianity in Mongolia. In the city, there is a new Mormon Church right next door to a Buddhist worship centre, across the road from one of the seediest nightclubs...
As great as Mongolia is so far with all its interesting discoveries, I am definitely missing many things from Australia; not the least of which is all my friends and family. With life being busy here I haven't been in touch as much as I would like to - thanks for all your prayers and support, looking back on how things here have turned out I am mightily blessed!
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