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.