Assembling a GER in -10 degrees F! Wish you were here!

This is a family we told you about earlier.  The father needed to get his taxi license renewed, but because he could not afford it, the fines grew. He would drive his taxi without a license so he could provide for his family, but was stopped several times by the police and ticketed. Some donors outside of Mongolia donated the money needed to pay the fees. When we got to the License Office they wanted to charge additional fines but the RS President negotiated and  the father got his license. He was so happy when we left the building.  His wife told us he cried when he got home. Funds were also donated to help with winter clothes for the kids.

The City has funding to help people buy Gers. They were given 1.2 million tugriks.  They found a used one for 450,000 tugs. The rest of the money was used to buy more insulation, stove, ger cover and other supplies needed to set up a home. They are required to show receipts for all purchases related to the home. It takes about 6 to 8 people to set up a ger. I had the privilege of helping put it together. Four of the missionaries helped, along with one of the Old Darkhan members, two neighbors and the Relief Society President. It was quite an experience and it was the coldest day of the season! It was COLD.  It took 6 hours, but it was just in time for our first major snow storm last evening! We got about 3 inches that will now be here until May.

As you can see they use a shovel and a big scraper to level the ground.

Then they start with lashing the lattice work together, called khana, for the walls.

Next the roof ring (looks like a wheel) and two pillars are tied together in what is now called the Toono. It is placed facing South to allow them to follow the Sun through the open hole in the roof.

One person holds the Toono in place while the poles, called Uni, are installed . At the end of each Uni is a small rope loop. It is twisted until it can fit tightly on the top of a wall rung to make it all stable.






Then multiple layers of felt or arkh are placed along the walls and secured with rope. Then the roof is covered with 3 to 4 layers of deever made of camel hair, yak hair or wool. In this case they added lightweight, modern insulation material, that looked like brown paper on one side and some kind of thick plastic material on the other side.

See the video on our Facebook page showing how they get the roof materials in place.

The outer white cover is shaped so that there are openings where the door and roof will be. The white cover must be arranged so that these are in the appropriate places and then stretched over the entire yurt so that there are not any creases visible. This white cover is made of water-proof material which hasn't been available until recently.



The outer straps, khoshlon, are then drawn around.  These straps are very important because it actually "strengthens" the entire ger! Two or three straps should be used at different heights in order to provide equally distributed stability.
Inside the ger they line the inner walls with rugs most of the time. Here they bought beautiful blue material to go all the way around the inside. The two new owners of the ger are on the left. That is Selengee and her husband, Tururtogoo.

The others are Elder Murat, Brother Nyamsuren, Elder Palmer, Sister Tsevelmaa RS President, and Elder Cannell. Elder Batsaikan missed out and I took the picture.

Children's Rehabilitation Center Open House

We worked with Deseret International Charities to acquire rehabilitation equipment.  The building and room they were originally in was too small for all the new items. The Director found a new location with two large rooms. One room for the children to learn and play in and the other room was for the rehab center.  We were invited to attend.  When we arrived the City Manager was there, the Director of Handicapped Children from the government's Social Services Division and many of the mothers with special needs kids some of which we met at the children's camp this summer. Erdene Chuluun, the Director Teacher from Sun Child School where we teach, also attended. They were told the Capital Ulaanbaatar does not have the facilities for special needs kids as this rehab offers.

 Altenchimeg, center, is a retired nurse and, now a licensed massage therapist, does all this volunteer work for these children.
Boya, on my right, is a member of the Church, attends school in Japan and interpreted for us this week. She is Mongolian and is fluent in English and Japanese. What a great job she did while our regular interpreter was out of town.

After a tour and describing all the equipment and how it is used, the City Manager promised to get funding for the teachers, to enlarge the building and hire additional staff to accommodate more  Darkhan special needs children.







 This is Meggie. We met her at camp this summer and helped give massage and physical therapy to her. She had a few seizures when younger. In Mongolia they do a spinal tap on each person with seizures. Many end up paralyzed or with other physical damage. Meggie was losing strength and capability on the left side. She could hardly squeeze our hand and her left leg was getting weak too. We taught her a number of muscle building exercises while at camp for the week and made her promise to do them every day, multiple times a day, at home. That evening she gripped our hand and showed us how she could stand on her left leg. This was the best part of the evening.









They surprised us with this plaque. Many kind words were offered. They even had the local TV station tape the event and interview us. Refreshments followed. The lady, between Debbie and I is a Doctor that volunteers her time to give the kids regular checkups and oversees some of their care.





 

We were so pleased to hear from the City Manager that they would be adding additional teachers. The classroom is definitely under staffed. It is physically demanding on the teachers.

We are so grateful for all those who came out to support these children. Many have worked so hard to try and help meet the needs of these precious kids. 

It was a wonderful evening!!

Climbing Mt. New York on Sept 11th (US time) Darkhan, Mongolia

This is about the tallest mountain around Darkhan and they call it Mt. New York.  Funny!  We enjoyed the 4 mile hike to the mountain and a pretty good climb. The view was great! The weather was beautiful and a strong wind.

We're going there! :)

 

We had some guests waiting for us near the top.

 

The City of New Darkhan is on the left and just past that is the City of Old Darkhan. To the right and behind my head is the Ger District. As you can see they placed it far from the city area to keep the smog down from each Ger heating with coal and wood and lots of smoke.  In UB the city is surrounded by Gers right up to the city. Ulaanbaatar (UB) is one of the most polluted cities in the world. In the winter there are times you cannot see a stop light 50 feet away.

 

 

Just in Time for the First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school for all of Mongolia. School 15 was the recipient of some brand new equipment for one of their classes. The project was finished just in time.  We have been working on this for about 5 months.  This is a public school, but one class is for homeless kids which the city does not support.  The Director at Sun Child School where we teach asked the city for a room for these kids and she helps pay the cost for teachers, materials, food, etc. through fund raising projects. Many times as we arrive to teach, we smell delicious rolls baking in the kitchen, and find out that they are to raise funds either for the kindergarten or maybe for the graduates from Sun Child who are attending college.  Other people also help to cover the cost of the kindergarten.


Each Monday they pick up the homeless kids or those that are extremely poor.  They bring them to the school, bathe them, wash their clothes, feed them and teach them. The teachers there are really committed and do amazing work. They sleep there for the week too, but on Friday they are required to take them back to where they came from.


The kindergarten needed a cabinet for the children to put clothes, coats, shoes, etc.  They also needed new bedding (stuffed mattress pads and blankets), new tables and chairs for the 36 kids they are allowed to care for.  We worked with Deseret International Charities and were able to have a local manufacturer make the bedding and blankets with camel hair and wool.  A local carpenter made the closets, 6 tables and 36 chairs.  We got everything delivered and in place last Friday.  .


We were so happy to see this in place before the new school year started. We hope to see the kids later this week enjoying the new surroundings. You see the example of the bedding but when the kids are ready for bed there are 36 sets on that floor.

Sea Buckthorn Time!!!!

One member of our branch and his wife have an incredible garden. There are many vegetables, fruit bushes, trees, etc. He has some serious health issues from working in a Russian fiberglass factory for many years. He struggles to take care of his beloved garden and with the good rains we've had there is a bumper crop this year. A group of us helped them harvest the Sea Buckthorn berries. They are small, golden yellow when ripe, somewhat sour, but not as sour as gooseberries. Sea Buckthorn is used to make drinks from the juice. The juice offers 10-15 times more vitamin C than orange juice. The oil from the plant has a number of medicinal uses, for sun burns,  acne,reduce blood pressure and cholesterol and many more.

Sea Buckthorn juice is a traditional Mongolian drink that is served in most homes on special occasions and when guests arrive. It is delicious! We even enjoy it when there is no sugar added.      It is very healthful.

The family served breakfast with, of course, fresh Sea Buckthorn juice, bread and homemade blackberry jam with whole berries. Now, the blackberries are different than the typical ones in the states. It looks more like a blueberry only black. It's even more tart than those back home.

It is time consuming to pick these berries. The whole group picked this amount in about 3 and 1/2 hours. After this picture was taken we picked for another 30 minutes. You can only pick one at a time.

This is our interpreter, Munguntuya, and her beautiful family Their boys, Aidan and Mason, are so cute. They come up with the funniest comments! Munguntuya served a mission in Russia. Her husband serves in the Branch Presidency. They lived in the U.S. for 7 years and her English is great! She is wonderful to work with and so fun to be around. Always smiling.

If you look closely you can see all of the sea buckthorn berries at the tops of the bushes (that look like trees). Unfortunately, they are too hard to harvest so the birds get to feast on these.

This is Zoloo from our Branch and the Sister Missionaries. They are such hard workers.

This is the wonderful, faithful couple, Galmagna and Oyunstetseg and their granddaughters. It is a pleasure to be their Home Teachers and have the opportunity to visit them each month. They have a great spirit and really want to understand the scriptures.  He serves in the Branch Presidency too. What a relaxing and enjoyable day picking berries and visiting.


 

LIAHONA CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION

Liahona Children's Foundation

We were contacted by this group to coordinate getting children 6 months old to 5 1/2 years old to be measured and weighed to determine if they were under nourished. Those that fall into a percentile range will be offered vitamins and supplements to help them achieve normal growth potential. We jumped at the chance to help the poor here. Other locations were getting 8 children up to 30 children evaluated. We had 84 and a number left because the group was almost two hours late getting here. It was very hot with a lot of crying babies. We felt so bad. We are hoping a large percentage will qualify. We also had a number of the handicapped kids we work with attend. Another great day in Mongolia.

 

At the Baby River Camp for Special Needs Children

Last year we spent a day at the camp and fell in love with these kids. This year we spent 4 days/3 nights at the Baby River Camp for Special Needs Kids. It was a humbling, rewarding and wonderful experience. The camp is surrounded by trees in a beautiful valley about 20 miles Northeast of Darkhan. We enjoyed the trees because there are not very many around Darkhan. It is our understanding that the hills are full of chalk, which is the reason for the many chalk mines in the area.

The ball was a big hit and helps them to put pressure on their arms and then roll the other way and plant their feet on the floor. The ball also helps with adjusting the spine and relaxing muscles.

Debbie is helping with massage and strengthening the leg muscles. The lady on the left  is the mother. On the right is the Physical Therapist who also founded the organization for parents of special needs kids. It is the group we and Deseret International Charities helped get all of the rehab equipment for their center.

Our interpreter, Munguntuya, accompanied us and helped with all the kids too. She is an amazing person and a wonderful friend.

With the long winters, children do not get a lot of sun which means they might be deficient in Vitamin D, so the therapist encourages the moms and grandmas to have the children outside. They were out on the lawn every day sunning and  massaging the children with yogurt which we were told protects them from sunburn and is also good for their skin. We used sheep tail oil to massage them inside and outside. I was entertaining the kids (and Moms) with bubbles.

We brought a number of activities for the older kids and some of their friends they met at camp.  Some of the games were dodge ball, Twister and Hula Hoop relay. 

They loved Twister.

The Mom's wanted to play too!!!

 Below are the mothers and grandmas who came to camp and made it possible for these children to attend! These children are so loved!!! We believe this group included children with Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Cystic Fibrosis, Autism, Encephalitis and some had multiple disabilities. We will be visiting with each one of them in their homes over the next two weeks.

It was a great week. We are so happy we could participate and we learned a lot! It was so sweet and tender to watch the moms and grandmas tend to their children. Everyone of the caregivers reached out and helped one another. We all left with many new friends!