2013

We had a wonderful trip to Mongolia. Our programs are changing lives of many children in poverty.  We'll be posting new pictures here very soon. 

2012

HI! MY NAME IS NARA THOMPSON. I'M ON A MISSION TO HELP CHILDREN IN MONGOLIA TO ATTEND SCHOOL. IT  COSTS LESS THAN A $1 A DAY TO SEND A CHILD TO SCHOOL! SUPPORT THIS PROGRAM BY DONATING TO MY CHARITY CARE 4 KIDS WORLDWIDE: 

WWW.CARE4KIDSWORLDWIDE.ORG

MONGOLIA 2011

September 1st is one of the happiest and brightest celebrations in Mongolia. This is the day when children start school. The streets swell up with color of uniforms, flowers, and balloons. The faces of children on this day portray Kodak Moments! I was very privileged to participate in an opening ceremony of one of our partner schools where we implement "Send Children 2 School" program. The ceremony was one of music, dance and song. There were many visible tears on faces of parents, mostly moms. These mothers braved to trust their children into the hands of people who will teach them reach their potential and someday graduate with honors and go on to be teachers, doctors, and lawyers.

The first day of school is an exciting and nerve-racking day for children. I remember my first day as a 1^st grader in Russian school. My parents were so thrilled to have their oldest in school that they went over board with school materials. I remember waiting until the dawn to break to put on my brand new, beautiful school dress and walk over to the nearest garden to get some beautiful flowers for my teacher. My first teacher was Olga Vladimirovna. She was tall and beautiful with a happy smile. I remember her warm, welcoming words and hugs that she freely bestowed on me that day!

We all have memories of our first school days. However, it is not a secret that there are children in Mongolia who don’t get to have these memories. They don’t go to school. They never get to attend and learn their ABCs due to poverty. Last year, we unveiled a program where we sponsor some of these children to go to school. This year we have received many requests to enroll children into this program. We are very happy to announce that this year we again sponsored 10 children.  These children will now have  an opportunity to learn to read and write, make friends, and start dreaming of better future. 

The children we sponsored this year are:

1.   Tugs-Erdene

2.   Bayrjavkhlan

3.   Arioonaa

4.   Gan-Ochir

5.   Badrakh

6.   Munkhbat

7.   Dagvadorj

8.   Enkhbold

9.   Osokhbayar

10. Erkhembayar

Let me introduce some of these wonderful children to you. They all have amazing dreams, different personalities, and different ways of understanding the world around them.  However, all of them come from extreme poverty. These wonderful children have learned to cope with their lots in life differently. Some of them are very shy; their eyes hardly met mine during my visits.  I had to ask them to look up so I can see their beautiful dark eyes. There was so much pain, worry, and hunger for love, and yes, for food also. Others shined like stars on a clear night. They spoke clearly and knew exactly what they wanted out of their experience in school this year. Most of them have made new friends in their classes just in the first few days of school and spoke proudly about it. 

This is Arioonaa. She is 7 years old. 

Arioonaa is a beautiful, smart, and happy child. She has the most confident and happy smile I have seen during my trip this year. 

She has a very curious mind and let me know about it freely. She was chatty, asked many questions about America.  When I asked her about her family she told me that she lives with her mother and two older sisters. When I asked her about her father her eyes became sad and she turned around to hide her tears. I learned that her father passed when Arioonaa was 1 years old he passed away in car accident.

Arioonaa’s mother works hard to support her children. When I spoke with Arioonaa she mentioned her mother many times. It was clear that she loves her mother and wishes to help her. Arioonaa likes dumplings. Her favorite color is green.

When she grows up she wants to be a CEO of a large company because she promised to help her mom to buy groceries. She also wants to be an actor.

This is Gan-Ochir. He is 8 years old.

Gan-Ochir is an orphan. There are 7 people in his family. He lives with his elderly grandfather and 5 other siblings.  He was very intense and serious, so pulled out my secret weapon: jokes I heard from my children at home in Colorado.  He started to focus on my jokes and I started to laugh at some of them.

All of the sudden he became alive and alert. He asked me many mature questions. During our conversation it became clear that he works after school. He gets paid  $4 for 20 heavy bricks he carries to the construction site. Carrying the same bricks gan-Ochir’s older brother was hurt recently. Gan-Ochir washes himself in cold water once a week. 

He wants to be a policeman, because policemen get medals for their bravery. He wants to make $100. He will never buy toys if he has money. He will only buy food and matting for his floor (his dwelling is on a dirt). His favorite item in a whole world is his small car toy that our children get in kids meals. Gan-Ochir wants to have a large family with 5 children. 

This is Dagvadorj. He is a first grader.

Dagvadorj was smiling nonstop. I think that he hides his pain behind his charming smile.  Dagvadorj is very popular with girls in his class. He is a true gentleman. He is very soft spoken and has great manners.

Dagvadorj lives with his grandmother and an older sister. His grandmother takes care of the children on her meager pension. He loves his grandmother very much. He spoke of her with pride. He told me that he made tons of new friends at his school, most of which were girls of course! His favorite color is red because it’s the brightest of colors. 

After thinking a bit he said that it would take 8 hours to travel to America. Dagvadorj wasn’t sure what he would do in America if ever visited America. His favorite food was a warm vegetable soup. He thought that Americans were very rich and very kind at the same time.

MONGOLIA 2010

Children all throughout the world live in many different circumstances. I believe that an education is the only equalizer in a world full of inequality, poverty, and injustice!

Some have privileges to go to schools of their choosing, attend sport activities, and work on becoming doctors and teachers.

For some, however, these opportunities never knock at their doors. Some children wouldn't recognize these doors because they are homeless. In the capital city of Mongolia, many children now live under the streets, becoming the so-called "street children." For them, manholes are their playgrounds and other children are their only education. Many of them beg and some girls prostitute as a means of sheer survival. In a nation that prides itself in family traditions, how did these precious children end up on the streets?

In some ways, the answer is easy. The majority of these children come from poor families. On the other hand, the answer can be much more complicated. For example, many children were left unsupervised, kicked out, or ran away from their homes to escape harsh poverty or abuse. In some circumstances, grandmothers were left to raise these children on their meager pensions.

Despite these differences, those at greatest risk of becoming tomorrow's street children are poverty-stricken children. Although public schools are free in Mongolia, other costly school requirements prevent these children from attending and forces them to drop out. For them, poverty means no school uniforms, P.E. class uniforms, school supplies, book fees, or backpacks. Poverty means destitution.

I have been thinking about working on preventative measures for a while. Due to a lack of statistics and an organized-welfare system, it has been tough to identify children at risk of becoming the next street children. All of last year, I focused on building relationships with local government officials and schools in order to identify 10 children who need help to continue going to school. With that in mind, I created a program entitled, "Send Children 2 School" that sponsored ten children who recently dropped out of school to go back. Specifically, I asked school administrators, along with school district officials, to identify children that recently dropped out because they didn't have the money for uniforms, books, or basic school supplies. To verify these requests, school officials visited the homes of every child and submitted a list of names that filled three to four pages. In a heart-wrenching decision, I had to pick ten lucky children but hope to sponsor many more children in the years to come.

I was so excited to go visit these children and hear their stories. They were so inspiring that I decided to introduce them to you in a more personal way. As part of my visit, they individually expressed their gratitude and wrote wonderful letters to their sponsors. Accordingly, these children include the following:

1. Misheel

2. Purevchuluun

3. Munkh-Orgil

4. Otgontsetseg

5. Osokhbayar

6. Tugsjargal

7. Otgonjargal

8. Enkhzul

9. Batkhorloo

10. Lkhamaa

When the children were identified, I prayed for people like you whose generosity and kind hearts made this project a reality. I have sent their photos, including their sweet letters, to all of you who donated to this program.

Here, I'm only introducing some of the children who were given the opportunity to attend school, thus opening doors to possibilities of realizing their dreams.

This is Misheel. She is 7 years old. Her father passed away and left her mom to take care of Misheel and her three brothers. Her mom struggles to find employment and has little money. She recently started selling fruit on the street corners. Misheel loves her new uniform and loves to attend school where she is making new friends.

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This is Purevchuluun. He is 7 years old. He is one of many children who his parents are trying to support. His mom is disabled, and his father works odd jobs at construction sites. His father's monthly salary is $120. To give you an idea how much money that is in Mongolia, imagine that a one bedroom apartment costs $400-600 to rent.

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This is Munkh-Orgil. His name means "Eternal Peak." He is 8 years old and attends 3rd grade. Munk-Orgil lives with his grandparents who have raised him since he was an infant. His grandmother is severely disabled. Munkh-Orgil and his grandparents live on his grandfather's small pension. When I was visiting with him at his school, many of Munkh-Orgil's friends came around to investigate this strange lady who was taking his pictures. I overheard Munk-Orgil explain my presence in a very boastful manner, "I'm gonna be famous in America!"

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This is Otgontsetseg. She is 8 years old. Her name means "little flower." She lives with her older sister and mom. Her mother works as a janitor/doorman and makes $80 a month. Otgontsetseg loves her sister and lets her sister carry her new backpack to school sometimes. She explained her act to me with these words, "I let her shine sometimes at school by letting her carry my American backpack. My sister tells me that when she has my backpack many of her classmates want to be her friend."

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These handsome boys are brothers Otgonjargal and Tugsjargal. They love their new uniforms and new backpacks. They kept telling their parents, "These backpacks are from America. Only cool children in America carry these backpacks!" Although these brothers look a lot alike, they are very different in personality and in interests. Tugsjargal (to the left) loves sports and has won a silver medal in a sports competition at school recently. He is very outgoing and curious. His brother Otgonjargal, to the contrary, is very sweet and cordial. He lets his younger brother talk most of the time while I visited them in their home.

This is their one room home with no plumbing and no running water. It's a 4-feet-by-9-feet room that is shared by 9 people! Their home is smaller than most of our master bathrooms and it broke my heart to see them in such circumstances.

Here is Otgonjargal posing in his new uniform in front of the poster of an Olympian gold medalist from Mongolia. Oh, how high do children's dreams soar! Otgonjargal asked me to take his picture in front of this famous Mongolian wrestler's poster because he dreams of becoming an important person when he grows up! Although we may only see the challenges he faces, he still dreams and believes that he has a fighting chance.

Thank you for supporting the amazing dreams of children like Otgonjargal. We can make his dreams - and myriad dreams like his - come true!

This project clearly shows that miracles are happening in Mongolia and that you can make a difference. I'm so grateful for your generosity and look forward to our continued partnership!

Sponsor a child today!