Trip to Hutul

This week I was lucky enough to travel out to the countryside for two days, visiting a volunteer project in the small town of Hutul (about three hours away from Ulaanbaatar). My mission: to gather facts so that I can write a case study on volunteering for VSO Mongolia's annual review. I was really inspired by what I saw. Volunteers had taken it upon themselves to help those most in need in their society. And what a success they had had...

Kindergarten project - The poor ger district of the town is some 3 kilometers from the nearest kindergarten, which meant that during the very cold winters children simply didn't go to kindergarten. As a result, their education was limited, and their parents had less free time to clean the house/do part-time work. Two volunteers got together and decided something needed to be done. They didn't mess around! They managed to secure funding from the Asian Development Fund, and got assurances from the Department for Education that it would provide a teacher for the kindergarten. Then they got to work on renovating a disused building near the ger district. Now over 25 children use the kindergarten, most of which did not previously go to the central kindergarten.

Secure livilihoods training - Unemployment is a big problem in Hutul, so many people struggle to get by. Again, a group of volunteers saw this problem and decided to act. They organised some training on how to grow vegetables effectively, and how to make bags and other handcrafts. The people that were trained now produce good yields of vegetables, which not only improves their diets but also gives them an alternative source of income. The bag making also adds to families' incomes. The results have been remarkable - one family I visited had, in the space of three years, gathered enough money to buy a house! Not only had they gained financially, but many also commented that they now had a new sense of purpose in their lives.

My trip to Hutul wasn't a complete positive though, as I got quite sick. It's probably got to do with the vodka made from fermented milk that one of the volunteers gave to me. Also the lack of sleep in the freezing hotel I was staying in contributed. Whilst I'm feeling better now I was out of action for two days... It's exciting to travel to new areas and see new things, but the experience is dampened a little if you're feeling ill! Now I'm back in Ulaanbaatar, and have the weekend to completely recover, so no problems there. I hope you're all doing well and keeping yourselves healthy. Lots of love,

Robert