1 June 2009
I had set my alarm for 3:50am. Urnaa (our microfinance project coordinator) sent me a text message at 3:30am – she must have been concerned that I wouldn’t be ready when the taxi arrived at 4am. I was downstairs waiting at 4am, the taxi arrived at about 4:10am. There was already light on the horizon. We loaded up the taxi, went to leave and discovered a flat tire. Another taxi was called and arrived about five minutes later. Urnaa was getting concerned, as our flight was at 5:10am. The second taxi raced out the road to the airport, then pulled into a service station for fuel. Urnaa got a bit more fidgety. Finally the taxi pulled up in front of the airport, Urnaa grabbed our passports and ran into the terminal while we unloaded the bags. We were the last passengers to check in, but we made it to the plane with plenty of time. At 6:30am we landed in Bayankhonger, starting eight days visiting ADRA project sites.
Bayankhonger fashion
My ordeal began five minutes after I sat down in the plane. It was Monday. On Saturday Chris and Alesia had come down with a virus – Chris had diahorrea and a fever, Alesia just had the fever. Alesia’s fever had broken during Sunday night. As the plane taxied down the runway my body gave me the familiar signs of the battle to come. On landing I rushed for the toilets. When my bag was unloaded I gulped down the imodium. The next six hours were a hell of stomach cramps, bouncing in a hot car with no ventilation (the air conditioning isn’t working, the back windows don’t work and the driver didn’t want the front windows down as it would let dust in the car), and dashing for pit toilets or behind rocks by the road. We eventually reached Zag Soum. We were sleeping in the school dormitory. I found the school pit toilets and then collapsed into my sleeping bag. The fever part of the virus had started. I downed some stronger tablets for the diahorrea and went to sleep.
As I write now it is 5:30pm. I have been in my sleeping bag since we arrived at about midday, except for trudging down the hall, down the stairs, down another hall and across the road to the pit toilets (an extreme exercise in will power). Several times while I was asleep the door to the room opened (very noisy hinges) and someone would look in. A group of school boys all had a go, one after the other (very very noisy hinges). My fever has gone down a little, but I feel like I have been hit by a truck. I have taken so many tablets that I won’t be using a toilet properly for the rest of the week. It seems that every trip into the countryside brings on tummy troubles. I think I am getting too old for this. I remember arriving in
2 June 2009
I spent over 18 hours in bed. Today after breakfast we left Zag soum (of which I only know the school dorm room and the pit toilet) and drove to Gurvanbulag Soum. Except for general weakness I am pretty much recovered. The purpose of my visit to Bayankhonger province is to travel with Joakim, our ADRA Switzerland donor representative, to visit microfinance and youth education projects that are funded through ADRA Switzerland. The first three days of our trip is to soums (villages) where microfinance self-help groups are operating.
The ADRA car making sure to park correctly
Gurvanbulag Soum welcomed us with an exhibition of the products they make in their small businesses: goat skin coats (which felt amazingly soft but I didn’t want to wear one!), cow’s milk vodka, various dairy products (at least five different things – how much can you make from milk?), and home-made clothing. I brought a pink traditional jacket for Keira. We visited the local bank branch to talk about how the group loans were going. The way our project works is that we spend time with ultra poor people, teaching them about savings, planning and operating small businesses, etc. Then we make an arrangement with the bank where we provide a loan guarantee fund for specific loan products designed for our groups (low interest, easier qualification requirements, no need for collateral) and the bank does all the actual work in processing loans and repayments. So far the system is working well, with the groups keeping up with their repayments. The only problem we have to address in the future is that at the moment the bank partner is not that keen on continuing the loan products we have established after we pull out our guarantee fund – they still see our clients as too high risk, despite the excellent repayment rates that have been established over the past two years.
In Gurvanbulag Soum the bank was crowded. A small generator was running outside. Inside we stood around the manager’s desk (no chairs) and I noticed a pile of mobile phones being charged on an overloaded powerboard. Electricity should come to this soum in the next few months. Everyone is keen for the power to arrive. Another challenge facing our micro-business clients is finding and paying for assets to improve their businesses – such as small scale industrial sewing machines, or bread baking ovens, etc. We have prepared a catalogue of business machinery that we can source in the capital city. Everyone is hungry to have a look at it, coveting the overlockers, automatic food processors and power tools. We are working on ways to fund a business asset loan or leasing program so the micro-businesses can produce more of their products for sale to the local market.
Our project works through “self-help groups” – these are groups formed by community members to help each other with savings, skills sharing and small business advice. The groups are going well. In Gurvanbulag each group had drawn a poster of their goals over the next five years. One of the posters showed a dairy operation, sourcing raw materials from the herders, then a processing factory complete with customers. Another poster showed a tailoring business, with future expansion to several tailors. On the back of each plan the group has written an action table showing who, what, and when things will be done to achieve their goals. This soum is six hours from the provincial capital and won’t have electricity for at least another 12 months. Many family members are risking their lives doing ‘ninja’ mining for gold. I admire their energy and pride. This is the oldest soum in Bayankhonger and they want to build on the respect of the Gurvanbulag name.
BAYANBULAG SOUM….
Tonight we are sleeping in the temple grounds. We are in an old building behind two temples – maybe it used to house monks. The toilet is a hike across the temple complex, through a side gate, across the road, through another gate and across another yard. On the drive here we saw many falcons, eagles and marmots. I know the falcons and eagles eat desert mice, but what do the marmots eat? There is no power in this soum either (third soum without electricity) but mobile reception for my provider so I could call Chris. The loudest noise is birdsong and the wind. Occasionally a motorbike goes past. I wandered around the soum just before sunset. Some kids came to say hello, full of shy smiles. I couldn’t talk to them, so just took some photos to show them. My bed is an old saggy spring thing – the opposite of the usual rock hard beds. When I lie in it I feel like my bottom is going to hit the ground, and my feet may get pins and needles from being so far up in the air.
