Burengiin Nuruu Mountain Range

Burengiin Nuruu Mountain Range

History of the Peace Corps Program in Mongolia

Peace Corps began its program in Mongolia in 1991, the same year the US Embassy opened in Ulaanbaatar, the nation’s capital city. Since then, over 600 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Mongolia as English language teachers trainers, English teachers, community economic developers, environmental educators, and health educators. I will be a member of the 18th group of Volunteers to serve in Mongolia and the 3rd group of Community Youth Development Volunteers (the 1st CYD Trainees came to Mongolia in June of 2005).

Country Assignment

  • Country: Mongolia (Outter)
  • Program: Youth Development
  • Job Title: Life Skills Trainer (also: English teacher, Child Caretaker, Fund Raiser, Events Organizer, and IT Trainer)
  • Orientation (Staging in Atlanta, GA): May 31-June 2, 2007
  • Pre-Service Training (in Darkhan and Sukhbaatar, Mongolia): June 3-August 18, 2007
  • Dates of Service (in Darkhan at Sun Children formerly "Asian Child Foundation" - a non-profit, non-government Japanese funded orphanage of 37 Mongolian children opened since 8/25/2005): August 19, 2007- August 18, 2009

Location and Nature of the Job

CYD Volunteers are placed in provincial centers with population between 15,000 and 70,000. A few CYD Volunteers are placed in Ulaanbaatar, where the population is reaching 1 million. I will work with youth-focused NGOs, children’s centers, schools, and civil society organizations to address major challenges confronting Mongolian youth today, such as education, life skills, employability, and leadership. In addition, the work will involve workshops and presentations at schools and community agencies and will entail traveling to other outlying communities that have less access to information and training. Given the vast distances in Mongolia, these visits will often require overnight stays.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Rewind and Review: Host Agency Description

I apologize for the lengthy disappearance. The first few weeks at site was very busy, adjusting and settling-in. Then just when the hecticness died down, my laptop caught a nasty virus from a flash drive and preceded to take over all my programs and Windows operating system. I was in a state of near hysterics at this point; broken laptop is one thing but broken laptop in Mongolia when you speak Mongolian badly is a totally scary place to be. After six weeks and some bribing, happy to report that the laptop is up and running and, thus, resumes the blog postings (and pictures). Let me backtrack and rewind:

After swearing-in mid-August, I was sited to Darkhan, my Site Community (2nd largest city in Mongolia; there are only three cities) and assigned to the Asian Child Foundation, my Host Agency (www.happychild.mn only the Mongolian portion is up and running; the English version is still in the works via me). The ACF was founded in August 2005 and operates four programs, two in which I am directly involved with. The 1st is an orphanage that houses 35 children ages 7-19 years old. The hashaa compound (fenced-in area) consists of three buildings, two being the living quarters and the third the arts/language school where traditional Mongolian song and dance, Japanese, and English are taught. Here, I am an English teacher. I am also a child psychologist; I work alongside two other child psychologists. There is also big garden where the children grow their own vegetables, an outhouse, a hashaa dog and dog house, and a basketball court. Soon there will be a sports field (soccer filed, volleyball court, handle bars and swing area); an approved project/grant proposal (written by me within the first three weeks at site; an act of dumb luck, an opportunity taken at the right moment) in conjunction with the US Marines/US Embassy. The materials were brought with US Embassy money and labor provided by the 330rd Mongolian Army.

The 2nd program is the Kindergarten Program. This program provides funding for venerable 60 children ages 1-6 years old to attend the best kindergarten school in Darkhan. In addition to the tradition kindergarten programs that we have in the States, Mongolian kindergarten also acts as nursery; the children are schooled and housed there Monday-Fridays during the day and overnight as well and then are returned to their caretakers on the weekends. These children come from single parent families or families that are in hard financial and extreme living restrains.

That's currently my job, my care and for the first time, I have a job
in which I truly feel satisfied. Below are pictures of my kids from the orphanage.





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Recommended Books on Mongolia

  • “Dateline: An American Journalist in Nomad’s Land” by Michael Kohn, 2006.
  • "Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World” by Jack Weatherford, 2004.
  • “Riding Windhorses” by Sarangerel, 2000.
  • “Twentieth Century Mongolia” by Baabar, 1999.

Recommended Mongolian Movies

  • The Story of the Weeping Camel (2004), Die Geschichte vom Weinenden Kamel
  • Mongolian Ping Pong (2005), Lü cao di