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.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Arrived, Travelled, Applied to Graduate Schools, Back in Asia

I write to you jet lagged and sleepy from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I arrived the day before yesterday. This is the first time I've been back to Vietnam since I immigrated to the States in 1985. Busier than I remember, the city has grown 10x the size I left it swelling to 10 million. Let me back track a few months. I returned to the States in July and proceeded to travel stateside for 2.5 months visiting friends and family in Philadelphia, PA; NYC, NY; Orange County, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Puerto Penasco, Mexico; Omaha, NE; Sioux City, IA; Chicago, IL; St. Louis, MO; Las Vegas, Montezuma and Ghost Ranch, NM; Miami and West Palm Beach, FL and roadtrip from Miami-DC stopping by Savannah, GA; Charleston, SC; and the Outer Banks, NC. I was feed, spoiled, showed off, and decorated in new American apparel. I return to DC in mid-Sept pre-occupied and focused on applications to graduate schools for a Masters in International Relations with concentration in Development and/or Southeast Asia. The latter took longer than I expected and I didn't end up heading back to Asia for another 1.5 months.

I'm currently back in Asia, specifically Southeast Asia to do short-term international development projects with grassroots organizations in the area. I had emailed out a cold-cover letters to hand-picked organizations detailing my background and skills set in development especially in the area of vulnerable women and children. I highlighted my recent Peace Corps experience in Mongolia, my application to MA IR programs in Development with focus in SE Asia, and expressed the desire to witness first-hand the development issues that are affecting the local people in the region rather than just learn the economic theories behind development while in school. I asked if I could volunteer my time to their organization for a short period of 30 days (pre-determined by most visas). Let me just note that this request turned out more difficult to fulfill then I had thought. Piggybacking on ecotourism, the notion of paid volunteerism has grown popular. International to grassroots organizations are profiting on the fad to charge, on the average $1000/week for “volunteer” work. Needless to say, coming from a recent Peace Corps salary, I was not the ideal target. However, I was not about to be falter. My remedy to this situation was to harp on my networking skills. This paid off; I received direct recommendations to grassroots organizations that people I knew either volunteered at, knew someone who did, or knew the person in the organization. I can’t tell you how much this saved my plans.

I am in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam until next week when I will travel to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to assist the Sao Sary Foundation (SSF) with their Child Abuse Prevention week from November 13-19. I will be assisting with their Child Protection Program as well as assist in grant writing for the 2010 fiscal year. I will be volunteering with
them Nov-13-Dec 4. Details: Sao Sary Foundation in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Child Protection Program
http://ssfcambodia.org/index.php?page=child-protection-program

Dec 7-Jan 4, I will be in Chang Mai, Thailand assisting the Children's Organization of Southeast Asia (COSA) with their recently built Bann Yuu Suk shelter for sexually exploited, abused and at-risk girls. There, I will be assisting them with implementing vocational and Life Skills training. They also want me to counsel the girls and assist
with mental health training programs for the shelter as well as the community in Chang Mai. Details: COSA in Chang Mai, Thailand http://www.cosasia.org/shelter2009.htm

Additionally, I am currently considering a position at VOICE in Siem Reap, Cambodia at their new shelter for trafficking Vietnamese girls into Cambodia to begin Jan 2010. Additional information can be found at: http://www.vietnamvoice.org/Cambodia.html. It’s a fantastic opportunity this early in my development career. However, there are a few issues that I have to mull over before I can accept the position:

1) safety in terms of the subject matter and country location;

2) the pay is local standards not expat; and 3) I will have to defer from
graduate school for a year (VOICE feels that 8 mos commitment is not enough time to start a shelter and build the relationships ties that it would take to make it successful). I will be looking at a 1.5 year commitment until July 2011.

Any thoughts and/or advice?


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