Lotus Children’s Centre

13th June 2014             0km by bike
Lotus Children’s Centre – Gachuurt

I spent the day working at Lotus Children’s Centre today.  The Children’s centre is located on a property in a beautiful valley in Gachuurt, on the outskirts of Ulaanbataar.   First task of the day was to empty two shipping containers of gers that had been stored for the winter.  Once that was done, together with two Mongolian guys, we built a ger from scratch.  This was a brilliant experience, and supplemented by a strange but tasty drink of airag (fermented mare’s milk)

Once the first ger was built, we set to work converting one of the smaller gers from winter to summer mode. This was done by removing all of the outside layers of the ger, digging away the earth at the side of the ger, then re-wrapping the ger, leaving one layer of felt off and finishing with a new white cotton cover.   Again and excellent experience building Mongolian homes.   Often Mongol nomads would move their ger two or three times a year, sometimes more.  It is quite an exercise pulling apart and putting back together a home.

Last task of the day was to help in unloading the truck full of vegetables. This is where some of the kids helped and I was surprised at just how strong some of the smaller kids are, happily lifting and carrying 25kg and more bags of rice or cabbages.  Seriously tough little kids, I’m sure some of them weighed less than they were carrying!