Well, there is about 15 minutes of summer in Mongolia and we were here for it!! YEA! It's really about two weeks, but it's been beautiful here. The temperature has dropped from 80 degrees to about a high of 65F with a low of 40F since last week. Our schedule has been very tight with a lot of different things. For a detailed explanation of the Clean Air Ger project there are posts on our Facebook pages, including the "Deseret International Charities Mongolia" FB page. Essentially, the goal of the project is to eliminate the coal stove usage that is causing pollution in the winter of sometimes over 800-900 PM2.5. By insulating the Ger, (Mongolian tent home, known as a Yurt in Russia) they can use a small electric heater and have consistent heat, clean air inside the home and help clean the air in the city. Thousands of people die in Mongolia every year because of respiratory issues related to smoke in the air. Joe has been working on this project since August 2018, and in March we were here with the BYU Engineering Capstone program and they tested and built three of these retrofitted Gers. It was SO successful, the church approved doing 150 this summer and 10,000 next summer.
Week one in Mongolia was full of meetings with Joe, key government officials, and a few general authorities from the church. The purpose was to continue to build relationships and make some key decisions. You would think it would be easy to come in and do stuff for free that will make a difference in a country, but there are a lot of political issues to go through to make it happen. Having key government leaders to support it publicly is critical. Tradition and culture in this developing country makes it very difficult and there is a lot of push back in many ways. SO... Lots of important meetings!
After the business meetings were handled that week, a "cultural day" was planned for the group. We went to a 13th century site that depicted what it was like to live in Mongolia back at that time. There were six stops at different places to show how the society was set up. We learned that Mongolia had a lot of different tribes and saw the old traditional Gers they lived and worked in. This place was two hours away in the countryside and it was beautiful. We were seriously "off roading" for a lot of it. There is a reason that the church owns so many four wheel drive rugged vehicles in Mongolia. :)
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Elder Meurs, of the Asia Area Presidency, Joe, and Paul Hanson
who is the Director of Temporal affairs for the Asia area. |
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| Sister Meurs, Susan Hanson, and me. |
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| The countryside with a couple of Gers and sheep in the background. |
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| This is a few leaders from Asia North area (Japan/S. Korea/Micronesian Islands) including Elder Budge from the Presidency. Also, the Meurs, Hansens, and Kwans. We had a really fun day. |
Week two was a FLURRY of activity. The design they used in March was great and worked very well, but for mass installation it needed to be changed. Joe has been the project manager and key engineer on this project from the beginning (August 2018) and has spent countless hours working the design so that it would be effective yet easy for these families to use for years to come. My role was to organize the logistics of the preparation and how to get the insulation kits prepared. To put it in perspective, there are 4 garages full of materials that had to be prepared for the upcoming 150 retrofits for phase two. Monday through Wednesday we had 10 different missionaries each day to help. We started at 7:45am and ended our days at 10pm. We had to set up a Ger in a place that was in a controlled environment to test out how the new engineering materials would fit and the only place we could do it was in the chapel. Yes, the chapel. So, with permission that is where we did it. Believe me when I say that every rule of what is not supposed to happen in a chapel happened in the chapel, ha ha. There is a difference between the Gospel and policy and there are definitely exceptions based on the needs of different places in the world. So here we are in Outer Mongolia with a Ger in the Chapel working out some significant issues. As stressful as that was, we did made it work with much preparation and several miracles. Major struggle, and then the miracle happened and things came together and the answers were there. (No surprise!)
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| In the chapel setting up the Ger. |
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10 different missionaries a day came to help us. This is
Sister Archibald. Tiny and tough! |
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| Joe taking pictures of the progress. |
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| Here are a few of us. This Ger has the insulation system on it that Joe designed. It is a combination of PVC pipes and flexible conduit to create an air gap and then you put radiant barrier over the top. With the gap, it reflects the heat back inside so a 1500 watt heater will keep it a constant temperature even in -40F. |
Thursday and Friday was created as a youth activity where they were able to participate in cutting the radiant barrier, which is one of the materials used for creating the retrofit kit. This was a massive job with over 200 HUGE rolls that had to be cut into the right pattern for each kit. 40 youth, 10 missionaries, and a few others worked and made sure that these 772 huge pieces of radiant barrier were cut properly. Think of the logistics of working with that many youth and young adults, which only about 8 spoke English... There was a lot of Charades, guessing, and sometimes "Pictionary" going on... EVERYTHING had to be translated which added another layer of complication. They did an awesome job and worked really hard!!
On each of the days with the different groups of people, Joe gave them a presentation so they could understand what this project is and how the part they were preparing was going to make a difference in the lives of these families. We both wanted them to understand the significance of how this will save lives and change their country and how cool it is that they get to be a part of it too.
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| Joe and Solman, the translator. |
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Ellie Coker and her son. They came from Hong Kong to
help that week. So fun having them there. |
Saturday of week two was the first training of 22 of the 150 families who will be receiving kits. They are taught the how and the why and practice the installation to be ready for the delivery of their kit the following week. Week three has been fine-tuning the system of families receiving kits and helping them correctly install them. Some friends of ours in Hong Kong flew out to help with this for a week and it was fun to have them here! It is impossible to adequately describe what it is like in a Ger district. No running water or sewer, outhouses and "shower stations" you pay for. Unless you experience it, no picture will give you the impact of being here.
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| Setting up the Ger for the Saturday training. |
There was one lady whose husband died five years ago. She said he was a Russian language teacher. She lived in this Ger for many decades and was so grateful for the help and excited to have this upgrade. She kept holding my hand and hugging me. She made us food (mutton/lamb dumplings) and kissed everyones cheeks when we left. These are very TOUGH good people just trying to live and this is all they know.
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| Widow whose Ger was retrofitted. |
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| At every home they offer you food. This little girl had a pan full of traditional Mongolian treats. They are called Arrull, which is curdled dry camel or yak milk. :) |
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While we were assisting this family, the widow made us some
mutton/lamb dumplings. She put it outside with plates and
forks for everyone to try. Very kind. |
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You have to take the whole Ger down, then put the insulated floor on the dirt.
The "front" door is very short and small so you put all the
belongings in the center and build around the furniture. |
Thursday of week three in Mongolia was a big event with about 6 news stations. There were cameras, interviews on TV, some of the families on stage who are getting homes, and a very influential parliament member who spoke as well. He provided lunch for us and then we visited some of the families out in the Ger district who had benefited. There is a family with seven children whose Ger burned down who will be the recipient of one of these homes. It's one thing to see pictures and read stories, but these are real people trying to live and survive.
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Uchral, the Parliament member, us, and one of the families
chosen for a new home. Their home burned down and they have 7 children. |
With all of the assignments we have in Hong Kong and how involved we are here, it's like we have two missions going on at the same time. I never dreamed in a million years that our Hong Kong mission would take us to Mongolia several times during the 18 months. At one point there were about 8 cameras and all of the people and Joe looked at me and said, "Can you even believe we are doing this"?? I laughed and said, "Nope"!
I have learned many lessons. For one, most things in reality are never as we imagine they will be. Sometimes when things make the least sense we need to just go with it and realize that there is a bigger plan in play. We are just a small part of a huge movement and are just lucky enough to be able to be here at this time. I've learned that Heavenly Father loves all of us and we have opportunities to use our talents in ways that can bless others and often we don't see the reaching effects it can have. Maybe it will. Maybe it won't but we are asked to do our best and to serve. Loving people where they are at (including ourselves) verses where we "think" they should be blesses others and helps us all grow. At the end of the day when our lives are over, those are the things we will remember.
Love to you all!
Sister Kwan
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This is me walking to the outhouse on one of the properties.
Very typical. No I did not use it. :) |
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This is the inside of the outhouse. Be careful...
You could slip and fall in. Eek... |
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| A famous wooden carved door from India that we saw in this Indian restaurant. |
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| Amazing Indian food!! Best garlic naan I've ever had. |
