5 June 2009
We left the provincial capital earl this morning to visit two southern soums – the two I have visited (and written about) in earlier postings. The southern soums are semi-gobi areas, with flat expanses of land stretching from horizon to horizon, with a chain of large mountains in the distance. Another vehicle was driving a similar direction to us, just using a different track. We were both driving at about 90km. The dust was streaming out behind our vehicles like steam from a train, leaving a long trail in an environment that otherwise looked static due to the lack of trees and plants. We arrived in Jinst soum and found out just how strong the wind was. While walking to the toilets the wind was so strong in my face that it was hard to step forwards.
We visited two gers where participants from youth enterprise programs were operating small businesses. The first was a tailoring business that made traditional Mongolian clothing. The second was a bread baking business. This soum has electricity, so in the second ger the tv was on showing an angst-ridden Korean soap opera. School is finished now, and two school-aged children were sitting on the floor watching tv. The girl held a 1 month old baby, rocking him instinctively. The wind was roaring outside, bouncing and flexing the roof poles in the ger. We timed our arrival well, a batch of sweet bread rolls had just come out of the oven. I am finally hungry again after being sick, so for 60 cents I brought a bag of fresh warm bread rolls and promptly ate three of them. We only spent an hour or so in Jinst (I slept in the hospital here last visit). The dust and wind were bad and everyone seemed to be hunkered down in their gers. We have food security gardens here. I can’t imagine gardening in this wind.
The next stop was Bogd soum, which was a little less windy. ADRA has three projects operating here: micro-enterprise self-help groups, food security gardens and youth enterprise training. We had lunch at a new café opened by three women in the micro-enterprise program – they made me an excellent vegetarian meal. Afterwards we visited graduates of the youth enterprise training program at the local highschool. They had spread out samples of their work. We all played dress-ups in the traditional costumes they have sewn. They also learned how to process and spin camel wool. I purchased a great hat and scarf knitted from home-spun local camel wool. Joakim brought almost 2 kilograms of the wool – all that was available at the time. I put in another order for later.
After the presentation they wanted to put on a small concert. A small older man with leathery skin carried a key-board into the room. One of the ladies put on a traditional dell and started singing. I was settling in to listen to what I thought would be a traditional song when suddenly the keyboard launched into a drum-roll and the song turned pop-techno. Everyone got into the groove and started to sing along (except those of us there that don’t sing Mongolian). The keyboardist remained stoic, concentrating on getting the drum fills in the right places. He only smiles slightly at the end of each song. The faces of the woman participants are rough and weathered from hard work outside in the sun and wind. Throughout the performance mobile phones ring with brash tones. Tungaa says that they have all used the extra income from their new vocational skills to buy mobile phones.
Partway through the performance a drunk man opens the door. The women try to turn him around but he slams the door violently. The two trainers and another woman, maybe his wife, get up and force him out of the room. So many families here are living on the edge and alcohol usually pushes things over into violence. Later the same drunk man appears outside the café where we have dinner. He is accompanied by a small boy. He has sobered up slightly, and chats to our driver in the overly friendly way that drunks all around the world seem to have. Our driver listens for a few minutes and then moves the man on. As we drive away the drunk man climbs onto a motorbike, the boy sitting on the engine in front of him. Neither have helmets. Sometimes there is so much potential tragedy everywhere that I have to close my eyes and not think about it.
Joakim wants a camel wool pullover. There is one lady in Bogd who is the main wool producer. We pay a call to her ger. There are seven of us in the ADRA car and we all file into the ger under the astonished eyes of the lady and her two daughters. The woman is not well and has lost her voice but she gets out her spinning wheel and other equipment to demonstrate how she processes the camel wool. Joakim is satisfied and starts negotiations on size, style, price, etc. We will either send the completed pullover to him in
