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This morning I woke up early, so I could wrap up fixing this darned computer.It's a lot of work, but I just keep reminding myself that it's really a donation to the Christina Noble Children's Foundation.To get a laptop properly repaired here would be essentially impossible given the local skill.It's not to say it can't be done, but to find someone trustworthy and reliable is difficult even in the states or Australia.Here it's unheard of.Anyway, during one of the data backups the system just simply decided to erase it all.This was NOT good.I spent a few hours last night and this morning running data recovery and was able to get 90% of it back.It was just one of those freak things where it was just simply a technological failure, and being in Mongolia where everything conspires against you does not help.Fortunately, the data that couldn't be recovered wasn't too important and his book that he's writing was recovered.
Anyway, after that was done, I met up with the director for the first time in person.He and Catriona took me out to the children's gher village to have a look around.I didn't really know what to expect.We hopped into the Toyota Land Cruiser and weaved our way through dirty, crowded gher districts.We passed dumps, graveyards, burnt-down houses people still lived in, then finally rounded a corner to find a large 2.5 metre brick wall, nicely painted.We drove through the gate and it was like entering a different world.It was clean, well landscaped, and was like a miniature paradise in the middle of, sorry to say, hell!Kids were running around, playing on the brightly coloured playground equipment and some were tending to the chicken coop.A few came straight over to the car to investigate the new visitors.
The kids here are ones that are taken in by the gher village project.These kids are kids who have been orphaned, are street kids, or where the parents simply can't provide the basic needs for them.These are kids who would likely otherwise die or lead very difficult lives with no future.A few have come from the manholes, a few have been abandoned at the doorstep by their mothers at the age of 4 with a bag of belongings, and others have been found by searching those living in cardboard boxes at the local dump.The gher village houses about 54 kids in all, spread amongst about 9 ghers.In each gher is a gher mum, who is sometimes biologically parent to one or two of the kids there (no more than that allowed), and looks after all the kids in the gher. Gher mums with more than two kids are not allowed because they tend to focus too much on their own kids at the expense of the others.Most of the gher mums have no kids at all or have kids who have moved on.Usually they are from very poor backgrounds and so they too are quite glad to live here.Everyone lives here voluntarily, and the kids are free to leave whenever they want.The biological parents are also free to take their kids back at any time.However, there is also a fair degree of questioning for any such move to much sure it's in the child's best interest.For example, today a girl wanted to go live with her aunt in the countryside for the summer.The director asked questions such as, "do you want to go?", "where will you stay?", "who else will be in the gher with you?", and "will you have your own bed?".After being satisfied that there was a definite plan for her to leave to a safe place, and a plan for her to return at the end of summer, she was given the blessings of the foundation to head out on her own for the summer.She was given enough money for the journey and was assisted my her gher mum with the transport details.She was very excited to get to see her family!
The first stop in the village was the new chicken coop, just completed 2 weeks ago and measuring about 3m x 6m.It has about a dozen chickens in it and a quick glance around showed about 6 eggs ready to go to the bakery, also onsite.The chickens were rescued from some sort of chicken feather plucker and they've apparently taken a little while to settle in and feel at home.They looked quite happy now and their egg production has greatly increased this week.
Our next stop was the new greenhouse.There are actually two new greenhouses made with plastic tops and they're HUGE.In them are planted all sorts of herbs, vegetables, and fruit.Since it's just warming up now, most of the plants are small or just being planted.There's another smaller greenhouse built into the side of a hill with a glass top on it that was much warmer.It had sunflowers, nurstatiums, and all sorts of other plants as well.
In the centre of the village is a pine tree that is used at Christmas.Around the edges of the centre court are flowerboxes.Each child has a 2 m stretch of flower bed and next week they'll all be planting their flowers.This gives each child a sense of ownership in something, as well as something to show off.
We got to peek inside a few of the ghers as well.They're all very clean and tidy, and each bed sleeps two people.For kids this size, that is plenty of room and quite a luxury compared to other kids in the neighborhood.The older kids' gher had an old but working computer, and one had a TV as well.Each had a sink (no running water), a heating stove, a desk, and cabinet space.They were laid out in the traditional gher layout except they were just much cleaner.
In one of the ghers we saw the three new kids that arrived today.They had been found at the local dump and were taken to the shop to get new clothes.They had a nice shower in the new shower and toilet block, and had been looked at by the foundation's doctor.These kids were already adjusting well, but one poor girl who had come in a few days ago wasn't quite as good.She was actually 15 years old but looked about 10.She has TB and this has stunted her growth quite a bit, and both her parents recently died of TB.She was found wandering the streets aimlessly, and very sick.She was taken in but first went to the hospital and is now non-infectious on anti TB drugs.She just sat in the corner the whole time playing with blocks, as a 5 year old would.I think she'll improve, and certainly this is her best chance at a real life.This place truly save the most needy children and it is with such a mix of happiness and sadness that I look at this place.I am so happy for those who are here, and am so sad for all those who aren't here but so desperately need to be.
I asked a bit about their health care and was told that every child both in the village and on their sponsorship program (different from the village) is given completely free health care.They have regular appointments with the foundation doctor and always have the emergency phone number of their specific doctor in the event of any emergency.This is very helpful, especially for those street kids on the sponsorship program.When they get sick, they have direct access to whatever healthcare they need and are essentially taken under the wing of the people at CNCF until they've recovered.The village kids generally stay very healthy because they are regularly reviewed and they have a gher mum who sees them every day and night.
This place has many long-term residents and it turns out that one of the oldest street kids, who came about 12 years ago when she was just 6, just got accepted to medical school and will begin her doctor training at the end of summer.Congratulations!!
Elsewhere in the village is a bakery, 3 potato fields, a school, a basketball court / ice-skating rink in winter, a garage for the foundation vehicles, a community gher, and an empty lot that is having a new building constructed.
I took a quick peek inside the school and it looked well appointed.The purpose of the school is not to serve as a general school, but rather as a remedial school.Kids from either outside or inside the village who have dropped out of school can come here to get a year of education to catch up to expected levels so that they can re-enter the public school system.It also serves as a kindergarten for those kids inside the village to get them well prepared for their first year of real schooling.
All-in-all, this is an amazing place and is worth every penny that is spent on it.This foundation spends its money wisely, has dedicated and hard working employees, and is truly in it for the kids.
On the way back, director Edward Thornton told me about the give-a-gher project as well.The give-a-gher project is a project unrelated to the gher village, and provides ghers for qualified poor families for whom having a gher would be of significant help.Each gher costs about US$900, including delivery, construction, and all furniture.The ghers are sometimes delivered using the mobile street clinic during the day, and about 2/week are fully delivered and built through private donations to the project.
What a day!Catriona and I got dropped off a few km from home because traffic was miserable, but the weather was nice so the walk was pleasant.Tomorrow is going to be a big day with travelling out to the Hustai National Park so I was keen to get back and wrap up the computer.I did manage to do this, watch a Boston Legal episode, and have some couscous for the night - yum!
I was able to give Michelle a quick call too but again timing was bad so the conversation was very short.It'll be nice to finally get a chance to talk and catch up a bit on what's gong on back home.
That's about it for today.G'night!
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Dylan My dream is to visit Alaska but it s very big state and you have to use plane to get to some places, what is proabobly expensive. (I wish to visit far North) Not for a student budget so far haha