3/3/2014
Friday, the 28th,
I left Arkhangai on the bus to UB for a training I applied for. The
project was called PDM (Project Design and Management). Through out
the past two months, I have conducted two surveys and a group focus
group/interview with school doctors, health teachers, Health
Department staff and hospital staff. All three assessments showed a
serious lack of health education in schools and a large problem of
drinking, smoking, weight gain and STIs in teens and young adults.
Based off of this, my idea was to create a universal health
curriculum which school doctors (each school has its own doctor here)
and teachers would teach their students every year, ages 6-16 years
old. Each grade would have its own tool kit and workbook which would
be in English and Mongolian, so that future Peace Corps volunteers
can work to help develop the curriculum and activities each year
depending on what the needs of the children are that year. The health
department put on a training for the school doctors last month, so I
took this chance to sit down with them and my counterpart (who
translated for me) to find out what they thought was a problem in
their schools and what health subjects the students need to learn
more about. The schools currently do not have a health class in
schools, which is alarming because of the quickly urbanizing culture
is becoming more and more infected with diseases that used to have no
prevalence here, especially STIs. So many people are moving to the
city, in close quarters and the western world is influencing Mongolia
so much now. They listen to American music, watch American movies and
look up to American celebrities, with this comes a culture of sexual
freeness, which Mongolia has never experienced before. More and more
young people are becoming pregnant, HIV although still not a problem
here, is rising and thought to rise even more as more and more people
move to the city and engage in more risky behaviors than they could
living in a Ger with their families. We want to keep HIV a rarity by
informing and encouraging students to use condoms and get blood
tested. Also, I am pushing for a campaign which will promote the HPV
vaccine, which Mongolia has just recently begun to offer their woman.
Currently, there are many myths surrounding it in country, so woman
are not taking advantage of the vaccine and many are dying from
preventable cervical cancer. I want to partner up with World Vision,
who is currently working on a feminine hygiene project and have them
help me develop a curriculum for girls which I hope can be be taught
by a local gynecologist or a World Vision staff member. My Peace
Corps Health Sector Manager really loves the idea, so in the future I
will ask her to help me translate some of the activities I design and
see if she can help me find grants or a company (perhaps UNFPA) to
sponsor lesson books which we can have made to give each school. PDM
training will begin on Monday.
This weekend was full
of fun. Friday night I went out for Burgers at Joe's Burgers with 5
other volunteers that were in for the weekend. I got a delicious
burger with egg and onions on it, french fries and a Sprite. I never
ate burgers or drank soda back in the States, but when I get to UB, I
crave all “American” foods, including ones I never liked before.
After Joe's, we went back to our guest house to hang out for the
night. We had all had long trips into the city and decided to watch a
movie and then go to bed. Saturday morning we dedicated to culture.
There are so many museums and arts centers in UB, that we decided to
make a list of all of them and pick out the ones that seemed most
interesting and visit them. So we all started the day off with brunch
at our favorite, Naraa's. This is the one place that sells real
machiattos, lattes and mochas. This time I opted for the Naraa Latte
and a vegetable omelet. Both delicious and satisfying! Then Marilyn,
Hannah, Hali and I began our culture day by walking to the Natural
History Museum to see the dinosaurs (Mongolia is known for their
Tyrannosaurus), but unfortunately it was closed due to unsafe
conditions. The sign on the museum said it was closed until further
notice for reconstruction and that the city had deemed it unsafe for
visitors. Apparently, the ceiling had started to cave in (I hope they
got out the dinosaur bones), so that one is still on the list and
hopefully we will be able to visit it before we leave next year.
Recently, Mongolia has been in the news about their dinosaurs,
because a looter in Florida actually smuggled Tyrannosaurus bones
from Mongolia to the US. Read the news article here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22491967.
Next, on the list was the National Art History Museum. This place was
full of artifacts from all over Mongolia. Each room was dedicated to
a different time in history. Their were 10 different halls with the
following themes.
1. Ancient history of Mongolia
This hall displays stone tools and instruments for
religious ceremonies that were used by people who inhabited the area
of modern-day Mongolia between around 800,000 BC up to the Iron and
Bronze Ages.
2. History of ancient states
The archeological artifacts of this hall relate to
the history and culture of the political entities that were
established from the 3rd century BC onwards. The first powerful
empire was established by the Hunnu (3rd century BC – 1st century
AD), which was succeeded by the Turk, Uigur and later the Kidan
empires (6th – 12th century AD).
3. Traditional clothing and jewelry
On display here are the costumes of Mongolia’s
ethnic groups together with state ceremonial attire, seasonal dress,
jewelry and accessories. Mongolia has more than 20 ethnic groups. The
origins of many ethnic groups can be traced back to the 13th century.
4. The Mongolian Empire
This hall is divided into two periods: the earlier
Mongolian State and the Mongolian Empire. The latter section displays
objects relating to the time of Chinggis Khan and his successors,
which include a state banner, military equipment and tools. The
artifacts include those excavated from the ruins of Kharakhorum city.
5. Traditional culture of Mongolia
The many facets of traditional Mongolian culture
are represented in this hall by artifacts associated with music,
literature, traditional forms of entertainment, and religion.
6. Traditional life of Mongolia
Mongolians have been living as pastoral nomads for
many centuries. This hall examines the particularities of the nomadic
lifestyle through displays such as a fully-furnished ger, tools for
livestock herding, and hunting and agriculture tools.
7. Mongolia under Manchu rule
For about 200 years, from the 17th century to the
beginning of the 20th century, Mongolia was under Manchu rule. Seals,
coins, instruments of torture, and other historical materials
document this period.
8. The Bogd Khan State
The beginning of the 20th century saw Mongolia
struggling for her independence from Manchu rule, which resulted in a
declaration of independence in 1911. The consequent theocratic
monarchy headed by the Bogd Khan lasted until the early 1920s.
Exhibits in this hall describe the military and political struggle
for Mongolia’s self-determination.
9. The Communist era
With the revolution of 1921, Mongolia became a
country driven by communist ideology. The communist period lasted
until 1989. During the period between 1921 and 1989 there were major
changes in Mongolia’s political system, society, economy and
culture. These changes, negative and positive, are explored through
historical photography and exhibits.
10. Democratic Mongolia
In 1990, Mongolia’s peaceful revolution ushered
in democratic reforms and transformed Mongolia into a democratic
state with a constitution, a multiparty system and parliament. Since
then Mongolians have enjoyed, once more, the right to private
property. Foreign relations were expanded and Mongolia’s position
in the international arena was strengthened. Since embracing
democracy, pluralism has become firmly established and Mongolian
traditional culture has been revived. This hall exhibits objects
relating to the changes that have taken place over the past 20 years.
My favorite room by far
was the room that was full of traditional Mongolian clothing. Each
ethnic group in Mongolia has their own take on the Mongolian Dell.
Each one slightly different than the others. The dells were so
colorful and full of texture and patterns. Many were deep greens and
royal blues. The female ones were more detailed with intricate
patterns and design woven into the fabric. In this room, there was
also a display of old jewelery and shoes, which once again was dived
by ethnic groups. In Mongolia there are over 20 different ethnic
groups living across the country. You can see the clothing style and
some interesting facts about each ethnic group here:
http://www.discovermongolia.mn/country/mongolia_ethnic.html
The jewelery section
was filled with snuff bottles, pipes, necklaces and earrings. The
most interesting of the accessories were the 5 part chains that
could be fasten to a belt. They are called Chatelaines (French word,
not sure what they are called in Mongolian) Each chain is mounted
with a useful household appendage such as scissors, thimble, needle,
ear pick, perfume, etc. They were all made of silver and adorned with
beautiful jewles. Next, we went to the Zanzabaar Art Gallery,
which was amazing. Visiting art galleries is one of my favorite
things to do. The minute I walk in, the calmness and silence of the
room casts a peace over me. Staring at each picture is therapeutic in
a way. You can just get lost in the image and forget the days
stresses. The details and colors in some of them were so vivid and
beautiful. My favorite was the painting of the White Tara. The White
Tara is a buddhist “god” known for compassion, long life,
healing and serenity. The painting was striking. Rich blues, reds,
yellows, greens and gold detailed the background and she was pure
white in the middle. The painting although bright in color was so
calming to look at. I sat on the bench in front of it for a good ten
minutes just taking it all in.
After visiting those
two museums, we went back to the guesthouse for a nap. Being in UB is
really exhausting. I think it is a combination of the really poor air
quality, cars and people everywhere (not used to worrying about
crosswalks and running into people living) and having to walk
everywhere we go. Its weird how much visual stimulation can exhaust
you when you are not used to them. For the past 9 months, I have
lived in a tiny village with barely any cars and a handful of people
walking around at any given time. Then you go to the city and it is
jam packed traffic and you are bumping into people left and right. It
takes energy to just stay alive on the streets of UB. Also, breathing
through a mask as you power walk around the city is not fun or easy.
Sometimes I wish I was placed in UB because the volunteers there have
so many options for food and so many resources at their fingertips,
but then after a week of being there, I am so glad I was not placed
there. The pollution is just awful and there is no way you could go
running on the streets even if the air was clean. Outdoors activities
are non-existent in the city if you are an Expat living there.
Mongolians may be used to the air quality but for people who haven't
lived there for their whole life it is really hard to breathe the
smog. The air literally smells like coal. You walk outside for 5
minutes and your clothes reek of smoke and dirt. Hopefully, in the
near future they will be able to come up a technology/new way of
heating all the gers and building that does not involve giant piles
of coal and mile high smoke stacks. Currently, there is research
going on regarding that. The World Bank is helping lead research and
take action on the current Ger stove problem:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/04/25/curbing-air-pollution-in-mongolia-capital
.
Saturday night, we all
went to a party at the head of The World Bank-Mongolia Branch. The
World. The World Bank is one of the world’s largest
sources of funding and knowledge to support governments of developing
countries in their efforts to invest in schools and health centers,
provide water and electricity, fight disease and protect the
environment. This support is provided through project or policy-based
loans and grants as well as technical assistance such as advice and
studies. The goal of the World Bank is to reduce poverty and to
improve the living standards of the people in low and middle-income
countries. For more information about what The World Bank does
in Mongolia visit http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/mongolia
. We took the elevator up to the top floor of the building and
stepped off, we immediately could here blaring music and peoples
voices. We knocked on his door and were greeted by this small Asian
man (though from America), Twin, the head of The World Bank. He
hugged us all and invited us in. Immediately, we were ushered to the
bar where there was an assortment of real alcohol, no Mongolian vodka
in sight. The apartment was gorgeous, compared to American standards.
One of the nicest apartments I have ever been in actually. You walk
in and it was this big open layout with gorgeous leather couches
along one wall and cool modern paintings on the walls. On the side
opposite of the couches was a giant TV mounted on the wall and the
opposite wall behind the couches was floor to ceiling windows
overlooking the city, which at night was gorgeous. His apartment was
on the top floor of the building and had this giant balcony/deck that
stretched from one end of his apartment to the other with big
oversized wicker furniture and a bar. The kitchen and dining room
area was beautiful as was the guest bathroom. He throws parties once
a month for fellow US expats (US Embassy and Peace Corps Volunteers).
The apartment was full of people, drinking, chatting and dancing. I
actually felt as though I was back in America! I chatted with many
officers from the Embassy, they were as interested in my job as I was
in theirs. They were awesome people! I then ran into my friend Tom
who had visited a couple months ago with the Ambassador. So for most
of the night I hung out and talked with him and his friends. He was
carrying around bottles of champagne and kept refilling our group's
glasses the minute they were empty. It was so much fun and I just
loved hanging out with the staff of the embassy. We had so much in
common and it was so nice to be able to chat about America and
American things (like how Tom toured with Green Day back in the day
as part of the sound crew or how one of the women went to school at
University of Rochester), it was such a great break from life in the
countryside. It was by far the best night I have had in Mongolia. The
police ended up coming and breaking up the party due to a couple
noise complaints (don't worry mom and dad, no arrests were made and
no citations were given out and no one got in trouble). It kind of
felt like college all over again. We tried to play the we don't know
Mongolian card, but being in UB, most people know English, so the
cops than clearly told us that the music needed to be turned off and
the party needed to end. So, we all hopped in cabs around 2am wishing
the party didn't have to end and headed back to our guesthouses.
Sunday, we all met up
for lunch at the pizza. Of course it was delicious. I had pineapple
on my personal pan. Then at 430pm, I walked over to the other guest
house where other volunteers were staying to meet to go to the
ballet. The girls were still finishing showering so I sat in of the
bunks using the internet. About ten minutes after I arrived there, a
Mongolian woman came in and started to talk to me. She asked if I was
Polish, and I said, yes, how did you know? She said that I looked
like some of the girls who she had worked with for four years when
she lived in Poland and worked as a professor in one of the colleges.
She then began speaking Polish to me! I told her I did not understand
but I listed all the words I did know in Polish, that I had learned
from my DziaDzi (Polish for grandfather). This is the third time
since being in Mongolia that I have met someone who spoke Polish and
I can't help but think that it is my DziaDzi looking over me and
proving that he is always with me. What are the chances of meeting
three people in 9 months who were either from Poland or lived in
Poland for a number of years in Mongolia, of all places!?!? I loved
hearing her stories about Poland and she told me that I must visit
their on my way home to the States.
Once
everyone was ready, we (Marilyn, Hale, Hannah, Tucker and I) walked
over to the Opera House where the ballet was being put on. We saw THE
FOUNTAIN OF BAKHCHISARAI ballet by A.Asafyev, which was an
interpretation of a Russian poem by Alexander Pushkin. The costumes
were gorgeous and the dancing was pretty good, nothing like the NYC
Ballet, but still very beautiful and entertaining. The orchestra was
amazing! In one of the first scenes, there was a large fight among
all the male dancers and it left everyone but one dead. The dancers
jumped around with swords and knives, moving in unison and then in
complete chaos as the fight broke out and then more and more small
fights broke out across the stage until they were all dancing sharply
and aggressively and killing one another. It was a very exciting
scene, but my favorite part of the ballet is when all the women were
dancing around the fountain in the courtyard. They had these bright
colored costumes on that looked as if they were all Princess Jasmine
in Aladdin. They were so detailed and sparkly! They then partnered
off with men and danced a sassy dance. If you want to know more about
the ballet, Wikipedia does a wonderful job summarizing it.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountain_of_Bakhchisarai_%28ballet%29)
After the ballet, we went to an Indian
restaurant called Namaste. We ordered butter Naan and onion garlic
naan with shahi paneer and palak paneer and Hariyali chicken. To
drink we had different flavor lassis. All were absolutely delicious.
It is so nice to have so many options for food and to have meals with
spices and flavor!
3/6/2014
Monday-Wednesday was
spent in the countryside outside of Ulaanbaatar in the PDM training.
We worked with our counterparts and with other volunteers. The
trainings we had were: Steps in Project Planning, Project Design,
Action Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating (MRE), Budgeting, Proposal
Writing and Outside Funding. The sessions were extremely helpful and
informational. I now have some great skills to bring back to the
Health Department and back to the US at a future job. We also had two
sessions of Mongolian Language Training, which were very helpful. I
learned some great new phrases and verb tenses that will help me when
working on projects with my coworkers. As time goes on, the language
classes and topics we learn in them begin to make more and more
sense. Now that I have a solid foundation to build on, it is not as
hard to learn new vocabulary and verb tenses like it was in the
beginning.
3/10/2014
Thursday four other
health volunteers and I had a meeting with the Mongolian Branch of
WHO (World Health Organization). The meeting was incredible. First,
all the WHO staff introduced themselves and what they were
responsible for. We then introduced ourselves and gave a brief
summary of what were are each working on in our Providences. After
that, the Mongolian WHO representative, Dr. Soe, introduced us to
what WHO does in Mongolia and how Peace Corps can work with them to
help meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The eight
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving
extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing
universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form
a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the
world’s leading development institutions. Dr. Soe, who was born
and raised in Burma, was a UN volunteer when he was younger. UN
volunteers are like more experienced Peace Corps Volunteers. In order
to be a UN volunteer you must be at least 25 years old, hold a
Master's Degree and have 5-10 years working experience in whatever
field you will volunteer in. A unique thing about UN Volunteers is
that 75% of them come from developing countries themselves and 30%
volunteer within their own country. While a UN volunteer, Dr. Soe
worked with Peace Corps volunteers in his host country (Sierra Leone)
and build great working relationships with them. So now that he
became WHO representative last year he wants to build a working
relationship with the PCVs in Mongolia, which is very exciting! Once
he introduced the main ideas, each staff member gave a power point
presentation on their specialty and the goals for this year. I
learned so much information about where Mongolia stands when it comes
to the MDGs and overall health of its citizens. At then end of the
presentations, we discussed projects and training ideas that we had
that would aid in meeting WHO goals and what other problems we see in
our communities. Due to time constraints, we set up another meeting
next month to discuss in detail our new partnership and WHO is going
to come to our MST (mid-service training), along with UNICEF (United
Nation's Childrens Fund) and UNDP (United Nations Development
Program) in August to set up specific projects in our aimags. This is
so exciting because all three organizations are ones that I would
really like to work at once I get my masters. It is so nice to have
these contacts and will be especially great to have in the future!
After the
presentations, WHO took us out to lunch at a Korean Restaurant in the
Blue Sky Building. I had a spicy fish soup which was really hot and
spicy. I had such a great time chatting with Dr. Soe, about his life.
He is such an interesting and intelligent man. He has two Masters
Degrees, one in Public Health Administration and another in Political
Science and also has a M.D. He told me that he recommends getting a
dual MS in Public Health and Business/Political Science if we aspire
to work for WHO, the UN or a large Health Department. I was excited
to see when I looked up Masters Programs that it is possible at many
schools to get a dual degree in Public Health and Business, so as of
right now that is what it looks like I will be doing when I get back
to the States. He also talked about his son and daughter who both go
to Columbia and how he loves visiting them in NY. His son is on the
swim team there and is majoring in Environmental Studies and his
daughter is a Journalism major. He has even visited Saratoga during
Track season! He told us stories about being a volunteer in Africa
and of going to university in London. He was so down to earth, we all
had such an amazing time getting to know him and getting advice from
him.
Thursday night I spent
the night at Laura's apartment (another health volunteer from my
group). We went to the Salsa Club that night, which was soooo much
fun! They had lessons in the beginning that we joined and through out
the night they taught little routines to different songs. Mongolians
are great at Latin dancing and it was such a joy to watch them and
join in. I can not wait to go back.
Friday night, I met up
with Jen and Marc. We went out for drinks at a wine bar (expensive,
$65 bottle of mediocre white wine, which I am sure was not worth that
much, but since expats hang out there they jack up the prices), but
it's nice to treat yourself once and while when you are in the city.
Not many luxurious things to spend your money on in the countryside.
We then went to FACE nightclub for their Woman's Day celebration. UB
is like a whole other world compared to the rest of the country. The
night club was full of shirtless men with black masks on, whose job
was to just walk around the club and look good. They were not allowed
to dance or really talk to anyone. I know this because I both tried
to talk and dance with them and they told me they were not allowed
to. Haha. About and hour into the night performances began on the
dance floor. First up, were these fabulous men in tiny leather shorts
and stilettos dancing to Beyonce and other popular songs. The one
danced right up to Jen and I and pretty much did not break eye
contact with us until his performance was over. They had heavy eye
liner on and dance way better than I ever could in 6 inch heels. The
crowd went wild for them! Next, was a muscle competition. Basically
the men in no shirts stood in a line flexing different muscles for
the ladies. Not sure why, because they were not judged and no one
won, but for a good ten minutes we watched them flex their biceps,
abs, backs and quads. Haha. The last performance was a gymnast who
did a beautiful routine on the pommel horse. He was doing all these
crazy moves and contorting his body in ways I have never seen a male
do. The whole night was so unlike traditional Mongolia and its views.
Saturday morning I
woke up early and ate breakfast at the guesthouse with some of the
other travelers. In my bunk room, there was a guy my age from
Portugal, an older man from Thailand and a father and daughter from
Sweden. The two men were on vacation and the father was in Mongolia
for the week visiting his daughter who is teaching English in the
countryside for a year through an exchange program. One of my
favorite parts about staying in the guesthouses, other than having a
shower, is getting to meet so many different types of people from
all around the world. Sitting their in the living room area everyday,
you learn so much about different countries and the people that live
there. It is so interesting to see all these people traveling to
Mongolia. Before Peace Corps, I had no idea where Mongolia was, let
alone plan a trip to visit it. I feel like other countries are a lot
more culturally aware and well traveled compared to the US. Many of
these people have gone to the coolest places that I had no idea
existed and have these magnificent adventures to talk about. I am in
awe every time I hear their stories. I just love it and I hope I get
the chance to visit all the amazing places out there in the world
while I am young and healthy. After breakfast, I decided to check out
one more gallery before I had to go to the bus station to head back
to Tsetserleg. I decided to go into the Theatre Gallery and Museum
which housed old costumes, posters, pictures and props from historic
plays, operas and ballets. It was a great way to spend my last couple
hours in the city. My last stop before I went to catch the bus was to
grab a salad and pizza from Round Table. It would be a couple months
before I could have pizza again so I wanted to make sure I got some
before I left. The bus trip was uneventful, thankfully and caught a
cab home from the bus station and fell quickly to sleep.
Sunday, Will and I
went to Lorre's Ger to start packing it up. She was officially
medically separated this week, which stinks. I am going to miss her!
After work on Monday, we finished packing it all up. Her hasha dad
and sister came into her Ger while we packed and helped and chatted
with us. My counterpart was going to come pick up the suitcases and
bring them to the bus station the next morning to send them to PC
office in UB. While we waited for him to arrive, her family invited
us in for tea and bread. They are so sweet and I hope they get a new
volunteer this summer. They told us we were welcome anytime and to
please come visit them often. Being with them makes me wish I lived
in a Ger and had a family to hang out with, but I know that I am
lucky to be in an apartment and living the Ger life isn't as easy and
lovely as it seems. But it would be nice to have a family around.
3/11/2014
Today I had my English
class with the HD staff. I taught them the past tense and we played
BINGO at the end with all the vocab we have learned so far. They
really enjoyed it. I had bought snickers bars and coffee packets
before the class to be prizes for the four games of BINGO we would
play. They were so surprised and so excited about the Snickers bars.
They told me I am the best teacher ever. As time goes on I am more
and more comfortable teaching English, so now it is more fun. I try
to keep the lessons light and enjoyable. Next week, I think I will
trying cooking with them.
3/12/2014
My English class threw
me a pizza party to thank me for teaching them English. It was a
surprise to me. One of the women came and got me from my office
saying that she needed my help and when I walked into the training
room, there were all my students with pizza,cake and hot chocolate. I
almost cried. Its these little things that make me realize how lucky
I am to be in Mongolia with these beautiful and caring people. We
practiced speaking English and they taught me some new Mongolian
words. The cake had fruit on top of it. Kiwi, pineapples and berries!
So good! They then went around in a circle and each took turns
complimenting me, which really brought tears to my eyes. It was in
Mongolian, so I could only catch parts of it. But what I did know was
that after they each complimented me they told me that they loved me.
The defining moment was when I was leaving and they all thanked me
one last time and instead of saying teacher, they called me sister,
which is a big sign of respect here. It was such a great feeling to
feel like I was finally accepted as one of them and that here I was
with 6 new sisters and a brother. That is why I love this culture so
much. Everyone is considered family and treated that way. I have
learned so much about true kindness and compassion living here, I
wish that everyone had the chance to live in Mongolia. Everyday they
make me a better person.
After the little
party, I went back to work on some things and then had a meeting
later in the afternoon with the director. My coworker who went to PDM
with me and I showed her what we worked on at PDM and what our
thoughts were on coming up with the Health Curriculum. She okayed it
all and said to start working on writing grant proposals and that she
would get me in contact with the dentist at the hospital. She also
asked if I would come up with a Stress Management seminar for the end
of this month, so that is what I will be working on for the rest of
this month, along with my oral hygiene and smoking trainings. I love
how I am being assigned things now like the rest of the staff! =)
3/16/2014
Last Wednesday night,
I took part in the Health Department Volleyball tournament. There
were 5 teams of six staff members. I was on the white team with my
director. It was so much fun. During one of the games I scored 7
points! While I was not playing, I played with my coworker's
children. Ages 2-12 years old. I played soccer with the older ones
and then played monster with the little ones, which involved running
after each other making roaring sounds and trying to tag each other.
At one point I lead an exercise class with the 2-5 year olds. We did
jumping jacks, lunges, crab walk, monster walk and then one 5 year
old suggested we do situps and pushups! Haha I nearly died when he
showed me what he thought our next exercise should be. We also ran
laps around the gym. All the staff were taking pictures, because here
I was running around the gym with 7 babies running after me. It was
so much fun! That is what I pictured Peace Corps would be like when I
first applied. Me, running around with little children (although in
my mind I thought they would be little African children) playing
sports and teaching them a little about healthy habits. I am so
excited for the summer, when all the kids will be out of school and I
can run some day programs with them and just have fun outside in the
sun!
One thing that I also
hope to change while I am here is my HD coworkers thoughts on people
with mental disabilities. Here children who are mentally disabled do
not go to school. They are kept in their homes, hidden away because
it is seen as being cursed. Like the parents had done something wrong
in a previous life so they were given a disabled child. It is
horrible, but I am happy in that one of my coworker's has a son who
is 25 years old and mentally disabled. But she takes him out in the
community and he works out at the HD gym everyday. He also came to
the volleyball tournament and cheered everyone on. I played
basketball with him. When his mom introduced him to me she said in
Mongolian that he has a bad brain and he is stupid, which made my
heart break. She said this right in front of him and its not like he
doesn't understand things. He does and he can speak. The saddest
part, is that I think if he was born in America, he would just be in
a life skills class, he is not severely disabled, but he was never
allowed to go to school, so he lacks a lot of skills, which anyone
would who never attended school. I talked to my counterpart about
this and he said he will get me in contact with an NGO that is based
in UB to discuss my thoughts and to see what we can do in our town.
He is willing to help me and sees a need for it as well. So I think
that will be one of my summer projects.
On Thursday, I went to
Ex Tamir soum to be part of a NCD day training. The NCD specialist,
exercise therapist, HIV/AIDS doctor, my counterpart (he is the
training manager and epidemiologist for the HD) and I taught lessons
on smoking,drinking,nutrition, exercise, oral hygiene and HIV/AIDS
(even though it is a communicable disease). When we first got there I
helped set up the room for the training and then my counterpart, the
HIV/AIDS doctor (also in charge of food preparation in schools) and I
went to the local school to do an inspection of their two kitchens.
While we were at the kitchens we were served lunch by the cook. It
was a great surprise and was my favorite Mongolian dish, cyyte boda,
which is milk soup, sugar and rice. After they passed inspection we
walked around the schools and they introduced me to the students and
teachers. I love visiting the schools because every single child
wants to say hello and tell me their name. I feel like a celebrity
every time. Ariuk (my counterpart) and I then went into a room that
was filled with about 20 boys to talk about smoking, drinking and
condom use. We only got through smoking and by we I mean Ariuk was
the one talking to them I just stood their smiling and listening.
They had a lot to say about smoking, so the whole hour was used to
talk about it. I am glad that they were so interested in discussing
it.
We went back in time
to catch the exercise portion of the training. So we both jumped in
and did the Tai Chi exercises and stretches with the doctors and
social workers who were attending the training.
Next, was my turn. My
session was on oral hygiene. Ariuk translated for me while I went
through the power point and activities. First to get every ones
energy back up we had them do the human knot game. It was Ariuk's
idea and the trainees loved it. We had them split into two groups to
make it a competition. They were shouting and laughing, it was great
to watch. After that, they sat back down at the table and I gave my
presentation on the importance of maintaining good oral hygiene. I
did a brief power point going over oral disease and then handed out
pictures I had cut out from magazines of good food and bad food for
your teeth. I had drawn a big healthy tooth and than another that had
cavities and decay. They had to go stand by the tooth that they
thought their food/habit would cause. Each person than had to
describe why they stood near each tooth. It was a great way for them
to start a discussion about their own habits. When I asked who has
ever had a cavity, every single Mongolian raised their hand. We then
discussed how cavities form and how we can prevent them. I did a
teeth brushing demonstration and had them each practice and then came
the really fun part! Dental floss is not sold here in Mongolia, they
just use toothpicks or their fingers. So, I handed out a piece of
dental floss to each person and showed them how to use it. It was the
first time for all of them, including my Health Department staff. It
was hilarious to try to teach them how to use it and watch them try
to do it. There fingers kept getting tangled up in their mouths. For
the rest of the training, they all kept trying to floss their teeth.
At that moment, I saw actually evidence that I taught them something
knew and that they would be showing their family members and friends
how to use it. I told them that since there is no dental floss here
that they could use the small plastic threads that are sold at all
the stores. It is basically the same thing, just not mint flavored.
To close up my training, I played question and answer game where the
first person to answer the question correctly (there were 3
questions) would win a new toothbrush. My counterpart and coworkers
said my training was so much fun and they want me to help them
improve their own trainings for next time.
“The most recent
proof of this was yesterday, when we conducted a training about NCD
in one of the soums. Four health department staff and I were going
over the training schedule and our power points when my primary
counterpart and one other staff member decided that they needed to do
more hands on activities and add an icebreaker into the training in
order to keep everyone's attention for the 8 hours. My counterpart
wanted to do the Human Knot activity that we did at the PEPFAR
training months before and it was a great choice because all 25
people at the training had a great time doing it. It really woke them
up after 4 hours into the training. The other staff member decided to
have the trainees put together an interactive poster instead of her
doing it first and just reading off of it to them. She had them fit
the pieces into the right spot and discuss it. Both of them said that
they had learned these techniques through Peace Corps and through
watching me conduct my trainings. I was so happy to see them improve
their training techniques and develop high quality trainings that are
informational and fun!” **
**I was asked by the PC
Health Sector Director to briefly explain what I have been doing so
that she could send it to the Health Minister and talk about the
changes I am seeing in the staff I work with. This is one of the
paragraphs that had to do with this training and the moment I started
to see real change in my coworkers.
3/18/2014
Today I had my English
class again. We had it in the kitchen where I taught them
kitchen/cooking vocabulary and the present continuous tense. I had
them practice using their new vocabulary by reading recipes for
apple, banana and cranberry bread which we then made. It was so much
fun to watch them reading the recipes and finding the correct
ingredients to add to their mixes. They were impressed that the bread
mix was already made in the boxes and that all they had to do was add
eggs, water and oil to it. They kept saying how quick it was and how
they wish Mongolia had bread mixes like that. It was by far my best
lesson and the breads came out delicious. I brought coffee to have
with the bread and we then sat their eating and chatting in Mongolian
for 30 minutes. It is so exciting to be able to understand what they
are saying and be able to add to the conversation every now and then.
It is a big contrast from my first couple months there where I would
just sit silently in the room as they talked and tried to catch a
word that I knew.
We also have two
interns now at the Health Department. They are social workers from
the local university who will be with us until the summer. On
Thursday I am going with them and couple our staff members to do
smoking and drinking trainings at the tech school. I am excited to
work with them, because they know some English and are my age.
Yesterday I helped a
Kazakh man who is Mongolia working for the Health Inspection
Department write an essay on Bird Flu to get into a study abroad
program. If his essay wins he will win a scholarship to a US
university for a semester (not sure which one). He had to pick a
disease that is a problem in his country and basically write a
proposal for a project that he would do to educate people about the
prevention and treatment of the disease. He had to write three small
essays: informational, persuasive and the actual proposal about bird
flu. I hope he does well! It is required that the person be fluent in
English, which he is not at all, but he was so excited and
enthusiastic about the opportunity I helped him translate his essay
into English.
Also, my sister, Ashley, has a fabulous blog that you should all read as well. We will both be talking about things that were in each other's blogs. writing to one another. http://letterstobrittnana.blogspot.com/
