4/1/2015
This past weekend, temperatures were in the high 40s, this
meant it was finally warm enough for us to walk to the river and enjoy the
sunshine. Rebecca, Patrick and I packed our bags for a day at the river:
blankets, snacks, books and cards. We walked the hour walk to the river and
found the perfect log to set up camp at. About 20 minutes into being at the
river, strong gust of wind began to happen, which eventually led to just a
constant wind blowing at us. Luckily, I brought matches so we began to collect
branches and make a fire to keep warm. Cold wind gusts were not going to ruin
our river day. We huddled under our blankets near the fire, eating snacks and
chit chatting. It was so cold, but none of us wanted to give in and go home. We
then decided that we would play music and dance around the fire. We went for
many walks to collect more wood, in order to keep warm. The wind kept putting
the fire out, so we found two large pieces of log to act as a wind barrier. Not
the smartest idea, they both caught fire within 30 minutes of being placed in
front of the fire, but they worked well for a while and caused the fire to
exude even more heat. This worked, although we were slightly bitter for not
being able to sit and enjoy the sun, but it ended up being a great time, a lot
of dancing around the fire, dodging the fire smoke and watching herds of horses
run past us. When evening came, we packed our things back up and began to walk
back to town, wind burned and chilled. Halfway through our walk, an old man in
a SUV offered us a ride back into town, free of charge. He was so sweet and it
was nice to warm up in his car and not have to lug all of our stuff back.
On Tuesday, Rebecca, Patrick and I had our first English
Class for 20 doctors at the local hospital. They are all beginners, so we
taught greetings, went over numbers and letter sounds and taught them how to
tell time in English. It was so much! They were all so energized and willing to
participate. Every time we asked for volunteers, they all wanted to come up in
front and practice the dialogues with us and do the role play skits. Every
Tuesday and Friday we will teach them at the hospital and on the weekends once
it is summer, we will go hiking and do English learning activities outside. The
Hospital Director has made it mandatory for the doctors to learn more English,
so she said to expect around 35 doctors each lesson. This first lesson, there
was a training for some of the doctors, so they could not make it. Luckily,
they all seem to be around the same level, so we don’t have to make multiple
lesson plans. It is also really nice to have Patrick and Rebecca helping me, at
first it was just going to be me teaching, but when I brought it up to them,
they volunteered to help me with the lessons. It is a lot easier having three
people to go around the room listening and correcting their English. Also, it
will be helpful with some lessons to break up into smaller groups and having a
teacher with each will be beneficial.
4/8/2015
Goodbye Arkhangai. As of April 5 I moved to the capital
city, Ulaanbaatar (UB). Due to safety problems at my site, Peace Corps and I
decided that it was best if I was removed from my aimag. As of today, I don’t
know how long I will be staying in Ulaanbaatar, my director drove to Arkhangai
yesterday morning to speak with the police, my Health Department and the
Governor. While there, she and the other volunteers will pack up my apartment
and bring my belongings to UB. It has been a crazy few days filled with all
sorts of emotions.
Arkhangai had been my home for almost 2 years. The people I
worked with became my family and that by far is the toughest part about moving.
I was not given any time to say goodbye. As of today, they still do not know I
am not coming back. Although, I know ultimately this was the best decision, I
am so upset about never seeing them again. I will not be allowed to travel
there. I was not prepared for the change in site and feel terrible that I will
not be able to finish out my projects and give proper goodbyes to the people
who impacted my life in so many ways. My counterpart Ariuk, is a one of a kind
person and is going to have such a huge impact on his community. I wish I was
there to watch him grow, even if it was for only a few more months. Ariuk was
the one I could talk to about anything and would be there for me in a
heartbeat. He was the one I called when my uncle unexpectedly passed away. He
held me on the floor of my apartment as a I cried, at a time when I really
needed family, he was there for me. Again he was the one I called when I got
the new that my Nana was not doing well and was put on hospice care. He was
there for me during so many important parts of my life, really helped me to
integrate into the community and has helped me to be a stronger woman. There is
no way I could ever repay him for all the encouragement, care and love he has
shown me over the past two years. I was so blessed to have such an amazing
counterpart and most importantly such an amazing friend in my life. I am most
upset about not being able to say goodbye to him properly. I hope he realizes
that I was not unhappy at site and I loved every minute of working with him.
I am going to miss the little girls I taught Zumba and Health
too and the doctors who I worked with on numerous projects and taught English
to. I hate that I have to leave so abruptly and in the middle of some really
great activities. I actually feel guilty that I am not there to finish these
projects, but I know that for my own safety and mental wellbeing I cannot stay
in that aimag. I plan on writing letters to everyone who has had an impact on
my service to tell them how much they mean to me and how thankful I am to have
had them in my life. Although the past 6 months have been really tough, Arkhangai was my comfort zone. The community, the people felt like home.
Unfortunately there are no laws against sexual harassment and
assault in Mongolia, especially when the assaulter works for the government.
The culture is so different here and no one even speak of violence against
women, even though it is so prevalent. 1 in 3 Mongolian women have been abused
and yet the law system has not done anything about it. When researching human
right laws in Mongolia, I found that there is not a single law about sexual harassment,
no laws against a husband raping his wife and a very lenient law about sexual
assault, where the assaulter has to pay a small fine depending on the severity
of the assault. The problem with my case is it was a person who worked for the
government, the government is very corrupt and the police work for the
government. Therefore, I must move out of the Aimag in order to be safe and be for
the situation escalates even more. I can not be mad at the people in my town. Life is so hard for the people there. Think about how long it took for women to gain equal rights in the USA (it is still an ongoing process), now imagine trying to do the same in a 3rd world country, where everyone is living in poverty and democracy is just taking hold. I hope to one day visit Arkhangai, walk down the streets and see all that has changed, all the goodness and kindness it will possess. Developing a country takes years and years and let me tell you I can not wait for the day where Mongolia is considered a first world nation. It is possible, there are so many bright and hard working people here, I can only hope that they continue to grow and better themselves.
6:50pm- I received a call from one of the senior staff
members saying that they will send me in a car tomorrow morning to go to
Arkhangai to say goodbye to my counterparts!!!! I started sobbing when she said this. This is
the most wonderful thing in the world. I only get to stay for one night, but oh
my god am I happy to be able to hug my Mongolian family goodbye and tell them
how much they have meant to me and much they will continue to mean to me.
Wow!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!
Good bye Arkhangai! Thank you for making me a stronger, kinder, more caring person. I will forever be grateful to the people in Arkhangai for helping me become the person I am today. xoxo
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