Waiting at the airport

So we are now at the airport waiting for our flight to Seoul for a few days holiday before flying home on Sunday. I don't think I've been through such thorough airport security before - not sure why it's so tight here as I can't quite see it being a high risk airport. Once we'd got through security where I thought for a second they were going to ask me to take the shirt off my back, I got to stand in front of the most suspicious passport control person. Did they really need to ask what my name is when it says my full name on my passport!? I was not amused.

Reflecting on this trip as my final meetings finished earlier today I will look back on it as a successful and enjoyable visit. After taking on responsibility for the project in the summer I’d been working with a limited understanding of it – based on the documents I’d read and the second hand reports I’d heard. Yes, I felt I had an adequate enough understanding of what the project was doing and what it was trying to achieve. Yes, I felt I was able to add value to the project and support the team out in Mongolia. But after being out here and experiencing it first hand I now have a much greater understanding of the issues, the challenges, and what's going well. But most of all is the benefit of meeting the staff who are working on the project and those parents and children with cognitive disabilities that they are striving to assist. There is no doubt in my mind that this project is going to be a success.

After my final meeting we got to "do some tourism" and hired a driver to take us out to the largest statue I have ever seen. America has its presidents on Mount Rushmore, St Petersburg has Lenin and Rio has Jesus Christ. But these pale into insignificance alongside what Mongolia has. Just over an hours drive outside the capital stands a massive statue of the legendary horseman, Chinggis Khaan who conquered over half of the known world in the 13th Century, sitting upon an equally impressive horse. The statue stands at almost 50 metres tall and is covered in shiny steel that glistens when the sun shines. We went inside the statue where you can take a lift up and then walk out on the horse's neck, up to his head which acts as a viewing platform where you can stand and survey the steppes for miles around.

It seems that since the fall of communism Mongolians have found their identity in Chinggis Khaan. You can land at Chinggis Khaan International Airport, study at Chinggis Khaan University and stay at Chinggis Khaan Hotel. In the souvenir shops he comes in every form imaginable. With a reputation in some parts of being a bloodthirsty warrior it's probably just the identity Mongolia needs as it sits squashed between the giants of China and Russia.

So it's off to Seoul for a few days now. First time in the city so we'll see what it has in store. Hopefully we wont have any problems when we check into our hotel at around four in the morning. Maybe I can catch a couple of hours sleep on the flight.

The best taxi system in the world?

I think I may have found the best taxi system in the world. They tell me there are some official taxis in Ulaanbaatar but I'm yet to discover one. Instead, whenever you need a lift all you have to do is stand on the side of the road and stick your arm out.

After no time at all a car pulls up and in you get. It's not an official taxi nor is it some dodgy private taxi firm but just someone driving by who has the opportunity to make some money. Everyone knows the price - approximately 25 pence per km - and the 'taxi meter' is the odometer.

I can't quite see it taking on the monopoly of black cabs in London but it really does seem to work - you see people doing it all the time. However it did make me laugh this morning when I sat having breakfast in the hotel. Looking out the window I saw a girl stick her arm out and promptly a car pulled up. After the door swung open and she saw two boy-racer types in the car she waved them on and turned away. The boys could barely hide the look of rejection that covered their faces!

It seems to me that Mongolians are a very hospitable people - in the city people stop to give others a lift (all be it for a bit of money) and in the country it's traditional to let strangers drop in on your home and offer them a drink.

We were driving through the country the other day and our hosts wanted us to try a particular drink - mares milk (or horse milk to you and me!). So there in the middle of the countryside surrounded by nothing but grassy plains we stopped at a small round traditional ger that belonged to a herding family. 

The scene could have been set at any point in the last 500 years - a few horses grazing nearby and a large flock of sheep, goats and cows doing likewise not to far from the herders home. The only thing that gave away that we were in the 21st Century were the solar panel outside the front door alongside the small satellite dish! As we ducked through the small door I felt strangely disappointed to find they had a TV inside - it just seemed so out of place alongside the heating stove that was in the middle of the ger that the lady of the house was fuelling with dried out cow pats from a bucket.

As we stepped inside the lady's husband moved from his stool where he was drinking and sat on the bed on the edge of the round ger. Felt a bit awkward as I took his place on the short stool but I was assured that it was absolutely fine. Apparently it's traditional to offer drinks to passing strangers - I just couldn't quite see myself being so hospitable to random people who happened to be passing down my street!

It turned out that they had no more mares milk. I felt a mixture of relief but disappointment as they explained that it was really on the menu only in summer. I knew it would taste bad but for some obscure reason still wanted to try it - it is after all meant to be a bit of a delicacy out in the country!

So we had normal milk tea instead. I say normal, but it's not quite the milk tea we are used to back home in the UK. Green tea is boiled in hot water and milk added before the essential ingredient of salt is included. As you might imagine it's an acquired taste - maybe if I practice enough back home, by the time I come again next year, I'll be enjoying it as much as everyone else!

Road on the edge of civilisation

So it turns out the hotel we are using in Ulaanbaatar is located on a road commonly referred to as the road on the edge of civilisation. It’s on the city limits and where the countryside should begin but for the numerous gers popping up covering the hillside beyond the road. Last winter had been a particularly harsh one with many rural herders having their livelihoods destroyed as the cold winter wiped out their livestock. With no livelihood left in the country they have moved here to find work in the city. Setting up their gers wherever they could find space – usually in the open spaces on the edge of town – just beyond our hotel. And so the road has come to be known – possibly rather disparagingly – the road on the edge of civilisation.

Unfortunately unemployment is very high here in the capital and opportunities are not much more than in the rural areas where people struggle to get by. Coming from our post-modern capitalistic society we often look down on communism from our self-righteous pedestal believing that we were proved right all along. Communism has declined and died out in much of the world and save for the North Korea’s of this world communism seems consigned to the history books. 

Now I’m not going to debate the pros and cons of communism and capitalism in detail but it seems Mongolia throws up a few examples that leaves me to question whether capitalism should triumph over communism. 

Mongolia was the second country in the world to become communist back in the 1920’s and by the 1960’s over 100,000 soviet troops had poured into Mongolia. These remained until the late 1980’s when the USSR started to collapse and eventually totalitarianism was brought to an end by protests and hunger strikes. Ironically the first democratic elections that followed in 1990 elected a communist government that ruled for the next 6 years. 

Speaking to lots of people here it seems that the benefits that were expected to materialise with the end of communism have not done so. In the free market economy that came about poverty and unemployment have risen drastically, people are apparently a lot more selfish only looking out for themselves and many have turned to drink in an attempt to soften the harsh reality. Many have started to look back on the days of communism through rose-tinted glasses. At least everyone had a job, a house to live in and heating to stay warm in the winter, people looked out for each other and there was more of a community spirit. There were not really any poor – but then again not really any rich either. The factory workers were able to survive just as well as the factory manager himself. 

Someone remarked to me this week that back in the days of communism “Nobody went hungry, but nobody felt full”. It left me wondering that if it was as simple as this – and I know it’s not – is it better to live in a world where we all just about get by, or in a world where some of us are incredibly wealthy at the expense of others who cannot always survive?

I think I know what those living on the other side of the road might suggest.

A few days in Bayankhongor

After the long and tiring drive to Bayankhongor any aspirations of sleep went out the window as we were taken out to a local restaurant and met some representatives of one of the local partner organisations that ADRA is working closely with on the project. Not the best meal I've ever had - never has a chicken been prayed over so much as we picked our way through a large piece of chicken that was so flat that it appeared it may have been dispatched under the tyre of a truck. But the praying must have worked because our stomachs seemed surprisingly well the next morning.

After our first night in Bayankhongor it was decided that we needed a new hotel. I guess we can’t complain too much as it had a bed (two small single beds), a toilet (a long walk down the corridor – in which I was unsure where a safe surface might be to rest my toothbrush), two windows (one of which had no way of closing until we asked someone to come up with the missing handle and the other which overlooked someone else’s room and we couldn’t close), power sockets (that hung a few inches away from the wall – and required a different adapter to the ones in UB) and it’s very own nightclub downstairs (the music from which could be heard easily above the sound of talking from our neighbours next door). 

Our replacement hotel was certainly an improvement with its own dining room, lounge, bedroom and, of course, ensuite bathroom. There were still a few minor issues but you got the feeling that we had hit lucky and were probably staying in the Ritz of Bayankhongor. We’d just have to turn a blind eye to the similarly hazardous power sockets that hung from the walls and the fact the water heater for the shower/bath was plugged into a socket right over the bath. You were ok as long as you stood to shower at one end of the bath and didn’t splash too much!

We had a fully packed few days visiting local government officials, schools and hospitals meeting various people who are involved in the project. We attended one workshop organised by ADRA where parents of children with cognitive disabilities were able to gain information on some of the services they were entitled to. In the part of the session that we attended, the 20 parents had split into groups and were presenting feedback to the workshop as to some of the problems they face. It was heartbreaking to hear some of the issues they faced in a society where it is of great shame and embarrassment to have a child with a cognitive disability such as autism, downs syndrome or cerebral palsy.  This was a throw-back to the communist defectology model of seeing disability where children such as these were seen and referred to as defective, abnormal or feebleminded. Some of the problems that were common to all groups in the workshop included isolation and the feeling that their child was the only one, unemployment as they have to remain at home to care for their child, embarrassment and shame, divorce because their husbands could not accept their child and a belief that this disability had been caused by sub-standard care during child birth.

All of the officials that we had met seemed to recognise that one of the biggest challenges they faced was the lack of information regarding cognitive disabilities and the ability to recognise this in a child at an early enough age so as to start early intervention treatment for these children when it will bring the greatest benefits not just for the children but also their families and society at large. It was exciting to see so many people eagerly awaiting the development of these early diagnosis tools and the effective referral system that the ADRA project was developing.

The drive back to Ulaanbaatar today proved even longer than the drive out there - just as well we left early at 7:00 as we finally made it to our hotel at 22:00!

Journey to Bayankhongor

We have just returned from a five day trip to Bayankhongor – 400 miles west of the capital, Ulaanbaatar. It was an incredible drive across (part of) the country through stunning scenery of grassland plains and mountains – with the road on many occasions just disappearing into the distance. I’d heard Mongolia referred to before as the “Land of Blue Sky” and it didn’t disappoint – the views were massive and the skies were even bigger. 

As the miles fell away we passed herds of camels, yaks, cows, sheep and goats – nothing to pen them in yet they never seemed to stray far. Mongolians have revered falcons for hundreds of years and it was easy to see why as we passed many of these impressive birds sitting on posts close to the road or soaring high over the grassland. Apparently Mongolia even supplies many of the falcons to countries in the Middle East where the sport is so popular.

We came across what appeared to be a memorial to horses in the middle of nowhere. Columns upon which plates had been nailed naming the donor and how much they had contributed surrounded a large statue of a horse. Then most bizarrely a long line of horse skulls was laid out in a neat row behind the memorial. With all the signs in Mongolian it was hard to understand exactly what it was all about it did seem to back up what I’d heard before – horses play an important part of peoples lives in rural Mongolia.

Situated along a seemingly deserted stretch of the road (as much of the road was!) we found a man with two camels – hiring them out for short rides over the sand dunes that were not far from the road. It was too good an opportunity to say no and I got to have my first camel ride. They were surprisingly comfortable and as we headed back towards the car the man passed me up a small stick and indicated that I needed to encourage it gently on it’s behind and shout “choah”. Well, it seemed to work, and as I held the rope to Kaylene’s camel in one hand and the stick and my camels rope in the other we started running off back to the car. Fortunately I learnt to steer the camel pretty quickly (away from the road!) and when needed the camel stopped by pulling on the rope – not too different to horseriding! I was then impressed by it’s obedience as it knelt down to allow me off after I pulled back on the rope and shouted “zuugg” a few times. So if you ever find yourself riding a camel – at least you know a few commands that Mongolian camels understand!!

We’d been warned that it would be a 9 hour journey and as it turned out it wasn’t too much more with some stops along the way. After leaving at 10:00 we finally made it into Bayankhongor long after dark 12 hours later – what had started as an exciting adventure felt more like it was being endured as the last three hours were covered in darkness along rough and bumpy dirt roads that prevented any sleep from being had along the way.

Mongolia...

So here I am in Mongolia on a monitoring visit for work. The project that I’m working on is about ensuring access to health and education for children with cognitive disabilities – and it’s been good to spend the first day with the team out here learning how the project is going… lots of discussions on what the team has been up to during the first six months and then an afternoon of finance going over reporting requirements and EC particulars of the EC contract.

As we stepped out of the airport terminal building last night the cold temperatures hit you in the face but I was slightly disappointed to discover the temperature reading in the car only registering -2C. Still, we’re promised colder weather later in the week and I’m looking forward to the forecast -11C!

We were dropped off at our hotel just after 11pm Mongolian time. So after catching a taxi from home at 3.30pm on Monday afternoon, I make that a good solid 24hours travel! But it helped that I managed to sleep quite a bit on the flight to Seoul, which left me awake enough to get a bit of work done in the airport lounge on my 4 hour stop-over.

Fortunately the jet lag hasn’t hit despite all the meetings - - top tip for jet lag is to get into the daily routine of your destination. I slept surprisingly well last night and haven’t felt too tired today despite having to wake up at what my body was telling me was 2.30am! After breakfast at the hotel I got picked up at 9.30am for the drive to the office – it turned out to be literally just round the corner no more than 10 min walk away but I’d have never found my way alone through a maze of soviet style housing blocks! Most people seem to live in apartments in these housing blocks – not like back home where a lot of people have a much smaller individual home. Having said that I have also spotted a number of gers (the traditional Mongolian round felt-tent) dotted around the city. Not what you usually expect to find in the middle of suburbia!

This is the first work trip that I’ve had where Kaylene has come along also – makes a nice change and won’t be having any lonesome nights in a non-descript hotel like I had in Burma!

This evening some good friends that we know outside of work took us out around the city. It was great to catch-up with them and spend the evening together. Also helps to have a guide to show you some of the places we might not have seen. First stop on our tour was Sukhbaatar Square where Damdiny Sukhbaatar declared Mongolia’s final independence from the Chinese. Unfortunately a statue of the man-of-the-moment astride his horse had been removed for refurbishment and the sign told us we’d have to return on 20^th Feb 2011 to see him in all his splendour. I guess that will have to wait till next trip!

Next we were taken up a steep hill to the Zaisan Memorial which overlooks the city and provides a great view at sunset – we timed the visit to perfection and got to view the city just as the sun set. The Zaisan Memorial was built by the Russians and celebrates the close working of the two countries with paintings around the circular memorial depicting how the Russians helped establish communism, the Mongolians assisting Russia to defeat the Nazi’s, Mongolian involvement in the Russian space race (they even had a man sent up themselves) and finally how they all worked together to reach the expected utopia. I guess they’re still waiting for that final stage to actually happen but it certainly makes a good painting!

We finished the evening with dinner at a restaurant. As I like to try new foods I went for the khuurshuur, which sounded distinctly like “horse-shoe” when I ordered it. When it arrived turned out to be a fried mutton pancake – that actually tasted rather good but a little on the greasy side to manage all three that sat on my plate.

Back at the hotel now and trying to fit all we need for the next four days into one suitcase for our trip to Bayankhongor. Situated 400 miles west of Ulaanbaatar I’m expecting a long and bumpy ride tomorrow to get there – it's going to be a full day’s drive so better get to bed.

Let's not forget Haiti

Arriving recently in the devastated Caribbean country half a year on, my initial thoughts were that little appeared to have been done by the global community who had arrived en-mass shortly after the disaster.


Having seen poverty in many countries around the world this was simply on another scale. Hundreds of tarpaulin tents had sprung up on every spare inch of ground in Port-au-Prince – stretching for a mile down one of the main roads the central reservation had a continuous row of these simple shelters, children playing inches from where trucks and lorries hurtled past.


The images that I had seen on the TV in the immediate aftermath were now played out in front of my own eyes. Buildings reduced to rubble remained untouched where they had spilled out onto the roads. Little had been done to even simply clear the debris from the road.


But when I looked under the surface I saw that so much had in fact been done – it was just obscured by the unprecedented need that confronted both those who live in the tents and those who have come to help.

How could I have expected further progress to be made when I consider the desperate plight of this country even before the earthquake struck? 70% of the national budget was already funded by foreign aid, 70% unemployment rates and 50% of the population living in abject poverty on less than $1 a day. The Government whose GDP was already going backwards was only able to run 15% of the schools and had little in the way of health care. If Haiti was at point zero in the New Year then it's now in negative figures.

An unprecedented international humanitarian emergency response is still underway and ADRA is playing a key role. After distributing tarpaulins to people to give immediate shelter ADRA are now providing semi-permanent shelters, which will give additional protection during the imminent hurricane season.

For people who had lost all their possessions, the list of needs was endless and ADRA was there to provide these - 6,000 kitchen sets, 6,000 hygiene kits, 12,000 mattresses, 12,000 tarpaulins, the list goes on. Water and sanitation needs had to be met and I met some of the teams of Haitians who had been trained by ADRA to provide mobile water purification units that operated off the back of motorbikes. These provided a vital lifeline in communities with no access to safe water. ADRA had provided latrines, shower facilities and laundry stations to newly formed communities of the homeless, for whom the earthquake had left them with nothing. 


The 42- acre Adventist University is now home to some 15,000 people and whilst the university's normal function may have been temporarily halted I met many students who inspired me by their willingness to pitch in and help. There were final year students who had been training to be teachers who were now plunged in at the deep-end giving education to children who no longer had a school to go to. And I'll never forget how upbeat the five theology students were who I chatted to whilst they were on a well-deserved break. Many people within the camps are suffering from psychological problems and their role was to conduct shelter-to-shelter mental health checks for families and signpost those they came across to the appropriate services. They may well be delayed in becoming pastors but were already living out the Gospel.

Whilst there remains so much to be done I was very proud to have seen, and in some way be a part, of the amazing work that ADRA has done for the people of Haiti. It's easy to get discouraged when you are faced with the still existing extreme needs, but the drops in the ocean are making a difference to thousands of individuals, and for that reason we must continue. As the world shifts its focus to Pakistan and new disasters it is easy to forget the desperate plight of Haiti. My short visit emphasised that ADRA is there not just for the headline crisis, but to provide long term solutions.

Start at the beginning

Well I have finally decided to start a blog.

I'm not sure I liked the idea of everyone knowing whats going on in my head or what I was up to or knowing whether my life was boring or not....but then I decided maybe it's not that bad.

I'll use this to write about the travels I have with work and maybe throw in a few anecdotes about other parts of my life.

Who knows... let's just see where it leads...