Traveling around Arkhangai and getting locked in an outhouse.

July 29, 2014

            Saturday, I went for a run and on the way back it started hailing and pouring rain. It was insane and actually very painful to run back in. As the lightening began, I was afraid I was going to get electrocuted as I ran through the endless fields with my Ipod and phone. So I turned them off and put them in my pants. Not sure why I thought that was a good idea, because than I had to run home holding my pants up, which just added to the discomfort. Luckily, they stayed dry this way. I got back to my apartment drenched; my clothes were actually dripping with water and my mascara had smeared all over my face. Not a pretty sight. I learned today, that is was a result of the tornado that hit a town 2.5 hours away from me. The tornado killed one person and critically injured nine others. 100 live stock are missing and 3 cars were picked up and carried miles away. I have been repeatedly told that tornados don’t happen in Mongolia, because of the mountains and placement of the country itself, between China and Russia. So I asked my counterpart about the tornado and he said word for word, “I have no idea what is going on. Tornados are a very rare; actually I don’t think there has ever been one in my whole life. Wow this is crazy. I don’t know what is happening with my Mongolia. It’s global warming”, shook his head, disgusted, and walked away. We had a long talk about global warming previously and how he thinks it is destroying his country, which I am sure it is, but I am thankful for it, because this past winter was warmer than previous years. I only hope this coming winter is as tolerable as last winter was, for my own comfort.

            Monday and Tuesday, I traveled to two northern soums (town) in my aimag (province). My coworkers have been traveling for the past two weeks, conducting Peer Education trainings in every soum in Arkhangai. I joined them for the last two days, to help train the doctors and social workers in two of the northern soums (I was visiting my host family for the other days, so I couldn’t go to the other soums). My counterpart Ariuk told me how people were falling asleep and talking on their phones during the earlier trainings so he added more activities and games to the trainings which seemed to be help (he used a couple that I have used in previous trainings. Progress!). The real problem with the training is that since money and time was limited they had to fit in 21 topics that the hospitals are supposed to use peer educators for. So this called for a 10.5 hour long training in order to fit all the information in, with very little time for trainee participation and hands on learning. It was two doctors lecturing at another group of doctors for 10.5 hours. I too would fall asleep. So for the last two trainings, after discussing options, we decided on shortening certain topics presentations that we believed the doctors already had a great deal of knowledge about (hand washing, instrument sterilization and personal hygiene). By putting these down into just refresher trainings, I was able to fit in 6 interactive activities and energizers.

I picked what I thought would be the topics that would be the hardest for the doctors, who are training the peer educators, to come up with fun activities for the children to do. So I wanted to show them a few activities that you can do with very little resources, but that have a last impression/big impact on the participants. I picked STI/HIV, nutrition and stress management/emotional health and then 2 energizer activities and a post-test activity. My part in the trainings was two discuss the importance of planning interactive lessons, how to keep community members engaged and how to use icebreakers, warm ups and energizer activities to keep participants active throughout the whole training. My counterpart, who is the Health Department Training Manager and Epidemiologist, and the Non-Communicable Disease Doctor taught the facts. They really seemed to enjoy the energizer activities, we did a drawing one, where they had to get with partners, one was given a picture and had to describe it to their partner was could not see the picture. At the end, they compared the original with their own drawing based on the partner’s description; they all got a huge laugh out of the differences. I also had them do silent line up, where they had to line up in order of their birthdays without speaking and human knot game. For the nutrition activity, I had them get in groups and write down the recipes for the most popular Mongolian dishes. They then had to decide if they were healthy or not. If it wasn’t healthy they had to come up with a way to make it healthier meal. For anxiety and stress management, I taught them deep breathing and imagery techniques that can be used during times of high stress. The STI/HIV activity by far was the crowd favorite. I gave each of the trainees pieces of paper, some were blank and some had letters on them. They were not allowed to look at their cards in the beginning. They first had to walk around and shake hands with three people in the room, then then returned to their seats and were allowed to flip over their cards. The letters corresponded with different actions. One person was given a card that had бздхө (STI), which meant they were infected with an STI. Everyone who shook hands with this person had to stand, they may have and STI, and then everyone who shook hands with those people had to stand, and then once more. After, almost everyone in the room was standing, I then told the people with х to raise their hand, these people had a relationship with that person, but abstained from sex, so they were no infected and could sit. Then everyone with a г  had to raise their hand, these people did not have a relationship with the person, so they were not infected and could sit. The people with бц on their card used a condom, but not properly so it broke and they were infected. Those with a б on their card used a condom properly and were not infected by the STI. Once everyone with a letter on their card learned their fate, it left a group of people who had blank cards. These people represented people who did not use condoms and contracted the STI. At the end of the game, everyone was furiously writing down the abbreviations and directions for the game. I am glad that it went over well and that they thought it would be useful to use in their peer education programs. The best part was that in both trainings the person who had had the original infection was an elderly woman. Everyone laughed has they raised their hands, they seemed so embarrassed. At the end we played a true or false game. Two chairs were placed in the front of the room, one had a sign that had truth on it and the other false. There were two teams lined up about 15 feet away from the chairs. I read a statement about peer education (Ariuk translated) and the two people in the front of the line had to run to the chair that they thought was the correct answer. Whoever got their first and was correct would receive a point for their team. Overall, the two trainings went over well and both groups seemed engaged for most of the training.

The combination of me coming up with activities to help the trainings and the doctors presenting the hard facts really seems to work well. The doctors tell me their topics and then I just come up with ideas and let them pick from the list of ideas. The best part of it, is that after I do one or two trainings with them, they are able to incorporate the activities in their future trainings by themselves. That is when I get the most satisfaction out of my work, seeing them present and train doctors using past activities I came up with. Peace Corps stressed sustainability, that should be in the for front of our minds with all projects, Is it sustainable, which is why we are not given any resources or funding. They want us to develop our counterparts and communities skills, and when I see them using my activities or coming up with their own on the spot when they see their audience losing focus, it is the best feeling in the world. Building a new library, giving money, or new supplies, is nice, but it’s not sustainable, once you leave the country, so does the money and supplies, so I really understand now why capacity building is so important, that lasts, when you leave the country. That realization had taken me a while to learn, I wanted funding, I wanted to buy supplies for the hospital and schools, I wanted to build a new wing to the hospital, and found myself thinking that I was failing because I did not have this large project, which I came into Peace Corps thinking my job was going to be one of those things. If I could give one piece of advice to someone who is thinking about joining Peace Corps, it would be: Do not join PC if you want to see large measurable results, it will most likely not happen. Peace Corps is about making small changes in community members who will in turn help change their community permanently. You will not be building houses or hospitals. And you will definitely get more out of the experience than you give. If you want to have an immediate effect on a community, join another volunteer group, Peace Corps is not that. And now that I have accepted that fact, I now measure my success differently. Success is showing a coworker a new way to teach a subject, how to add pictures to their power points, helping research statistics, helping translate materials, emailing doctors in other countries for information on techniques they are currently using and most importantly, success is having formed friendships with my coworkers and so that they trust me enough to ask for help with their projects. I have to remind myself every day of this fact, but as each month goes by I find myself being more proud and happy with the work I am doing.

“To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

 -Emerson

“For it is in giving that we receive.” - St Francis of Assisi

After the first training, we made an impromptu drive up one of the mountains on the way home to pick strawberries. The entire ride there the road was lined with children selling strawberries to cars driving by. They would yell at the cars and hold up their jars of strawberries. So we decided to see if we could pick some for ourselves. Ariuk drove his car to a mountain that he thought had strawberries on it. Mind you Buyaa and I both had high heels and dresses on, but we did not let that deter us from strawberry picking, we began climbing in our heels, which was very difficult. In the end we realized that the three of us didn’t even know what strawberry plants looked like, even though Ariuk pretended he did and made fun of me when I told him I had no idea what I was looking for. After 15 minutes of searching we gave up. No strawberries.

            When we first arrived at the second hospital, I had to use the bathroom, so I went outside to search for the bathroom, which ended up being in the field behind the hospital. Yes, even hospitals here do not have indoor bathrooms. So I went into outhouse, and as I tried to leave I realized the lock (a piece of wood that moves back and forth) on the outside of the door that keeps the door from swinging when the wind blows, had moved and locked me inside the outhouse. At first, I thought I could stick my finger through one of the cracks in the wood, and push the lock up, but that failed, and that’s when the panic set in. I was in a small wooden box with a giant hole that led to a pit of feces. The thought of being stuck in there for an unknown amount of time caused me to start dry heaving. I began pounding on the door and trying to shake the wood to get the lock to move. Nothing worked. I then found a piece of metal in the corner of the outhouse and tried to stick it through the wood door to move the lock, that did not work either. So then I began to think about how I would break through the wooden wall. I kicked at it, it seemed sturdy and based on the condition of the wood, it was new, still strong. As I banged and shook the door, I saw Ariuk walking across the field to the outhouses and yelled to him. He began laughing as I told him to unlock the outhouse and get me out. Once outside the whole incident was hilarious and Ariuk and I stood there laughing as I told him how I thought I was going to be stuck in there for hours. He assured me that he would have come to check on me if I hadn’t returned after a while. I thanked him for always having my back and walked back to the hospital to get ready for the training.
             On the way back to Tsetserleg the second day, we stopped at a herder's ger for dinner. It was a family friend of Buyaa. I love random stops at gers while traveling. It is always so interesting to meet the families and share a meal with them. This family was so sweet and had a compound of 4 gers that all the family members lived in. The most amazing thing happened while I was there. The grandma is suffering from heart disease, so Buyaa, was checking her pulse and blood pressure and going over how to take her new medications. Once Buyaa finished her examination, she taught the grandson,who was about 14 years old, how to take his grandmother's blood pressure and pulse. It brought tears to my eyes as I watched this teenage boy be so gentle and careful with his grandma. He practiced taking her blood pressure and pulse over and over. For me it was such a special moment to be apart of. He obviously was chosen to be her caregiver and he was so concerned for her. He took notes as Buyaa spoke about her medications. Children here have so much more responsibilities than most American children. Families in the small soums do not have access to medical care, so family members must learn how to care for the ill, because there are no doctors around. After he was done practicing, he jumped onto a horse and went off to herd the families goats back to their home. I wanted to tell him how proud I was of him, but he rode off to quickly. At the end of the meal, as I got into the car, the mother of the boys ran out and gave me a bag of yogurt curds that she has just made. She called to me as I was walking "Hey Russian girl. Wait.". I laughed, everyone I meet thinks I am Russian and are so surprised when I tell them I am from the Unites States.

            The best part about those two days, was getting to spend time with Ariuk and Buyaa. I learned a lot of new Mongolian words which I have been trying to use every day so that I will remember them. I have a Mongolian language proficiency exam August 28, and I really want it to tell me I have improved at least one level since my first test. But we shall see, I hadn’t planned on taking it because in past years it has been optional but Peace Corps is making it mandatory this year. Although, it doesn’t actually mean anything, even if I have not improved or gotten worse, I still get to stay the next year and continue working. Really it is just another thing to worry about now. I wish it didn’t matter to me, but for some reason if I don’t show improvement it is really going to bother me. So the studying and cramming will begin. It is really just a blow to the ego or an ego boost at this time.  Here’s hoping it’s a boost!

July 31, 2014

            Yesterday, I had my Kids Club. We went to the river and made sail boats out of branches, paper and string. It was so much fun. I brought stickers and patterned tape to decorate their sails with. Once we tied together the branches, to make the bottom of the boat and added the sail, we had races with them, down the river. They got really into it and were running down the river yelling at their boats and eventually it turned into them jumping into the river and splashing the other boats so they would fall over or splashing behind their boats to get them to move faster. It was such a beautiful day out; it was perfect for hanging out at the river. I taught them new summer words and practiced answering the question “What are you doing?”, using the summer vocabulary they have learned over the past couple weeks.

            Tomorrow I am going to hiking and camping with my Health Department coworkers. We are going to Ihk Tamir Soum , where there is apparently a beautiful lake on top of one of the mountains. So we will hike up it and camp there for the weekend. It should be a lot of fun! Next weekend, I am visiting my friend Gerlee at her parent’s ger. We are going to go the Airag Festival (fermented mare’s milk festival) and then they invited me to go on their family vacation with them to Lake Olgii, which is a large famous lake in Mongolia. I am so excited to spend time with her family again. They are so sweet and love showing me around Mongolia. This is the same family I went and stayed with a couple months ago, who showed me how to herd animals, milk cows and shear goats for cashmere. The following weekend, a bunch of PC volunteers are coming to Tsetserleg to visit for a week. We are going to go to the hot springs and relax before we have to go to UB for MST (mid-service training). It is going to be a great couple weeks and I think they are going to fly by, which is great because that means my vacation to Greece and Turkey is coming up so soon. I cannot wait to spend almost three weeks (and my birthday) with my best friend in such gorgeous countries, that are completely different than Mongolia. I need a break from my life here.