Today started out normal enough. Put off getting up until I couldn’t wait any longer and had to expose my bottom to the icy air in the toilet. Then off to visit some client businesses. The first client bakes bread. Her big loaves sell for about T1200, small loaves T500. She used her loan to build an outdoor bakery, complete with a hand-built fire oven. The second client started out with a small shop. She now runs a boot-making and repair business next to the shop that makes more money than the shop. She works with a partner, so there is always someone to look after the orders if one of them is away. Her husband is very supportive and was very enthusiastic when it was time to set up for some photos. After some free chocolate we drove to the top of the soum to a ger surrounded by a few goats and sheep. Ganbold was very keen for me to get photos of the goats.
Inside the ger was like a sauna with the stove at full blast and something steaming in a huge pot. This was the home of the junior partner in the boot business. Her mother also makes boots, so we had come to visit her. A feast of Mongolia dairy delicacies was laid out and I started taking happy snaps of life inside a ger. I was to pay for this later! The ger is zoned into various parts of life. To the left of the door was a “bathroom” with a mirror, wash bucket and tooth brushes. To the right was the kitchen cupboards. In the centre was the stove and table (used for working, eating, parties). Around the wall furtherest from the door were three beds and assorted dressers. Everything was brightly coloured. They chatted about boot-making while we nibbled on steamed bread, milk tea, etc. They were a happy family, full of laughs and smiles. As we prepared to go they told Jon they wanted to dress us up in dells (traditional coat) and have photos of us outside tending the animals. I didn’t mind and Jon figured that we had eaten their food and taken lots of photos of them. So we were both dressed up in dells and taken outside. Jon was given a big herding stick and I was given a pot with some goat food in it. To hysterical laughter Jon and I set about tending the animals while Ganbold took photos.
Despite having full bellies from the Mongolian snacks we then went and had lunch - another outstanding vegetarian meal. Then it was off to the cultural centre for a community meeting. The meeting started at 2pm, but at that time no-one was there. Sovd, still regal in her glitter suit and white fur, had her mobile phone glued to her ear – maybe she was trying to ring up participants? By 2:35pm we had enough of an audience to start. The soum governor was there and opened his speech with some remarks about timeliness, before moving on to say nice things about ADRA. After a PowerPoint presentation about ADRA’s MED program around Mongolia a 30 minute DVD about self-help groups was shown. New people arrived all the time, especially once the movie started. I am hoping to put part of the movie on youtube soon.Observations
- Sovd on her mobile phone all day, like a very important business woman – except when she was sucking on a lollypop.
- In the crisp air the mountains are beautiful in every direction.
- I had to hold a goat.
- Young guys in full dell and cowboy hat can look intimidating
- In Mongolian pit toilets the poo piles up in a frozen mounds, like a giant stalagmite.
