For a Good Cause

jm- last friday i met with a man (Edward) from a volunteer organization here in ulaanbaatar called the Christina Noble Children's Foundation. They have projects going in several countries, and here they work hard to help abandoned and abused children who have nowhere else to go. Here is a link so you can read all about the different services they provide:
http://www.cncf.org/mongolia/projects.asp

So today i was able to go out the children's "ger village" and see how things are set up and meet some of the children. I had emailed saying I was interested in volunteering, and they are excited to have me start teaching English very soon.
The stories that Edward told me were so sad, and all so similar. He told me many of the children are abandoned. In mongolia there are alot of divorces and remarriages, in which the new husband does not want the old husband's kids around, so they are simply abandoned or forced to leave. Poverty is a serious and ugly situation here. girls are raped either by a family member and run away, or after they are left on their own (I was told of a girl in this situation that was only 9 years old) they are raped and left very injured. When they end up in the hospital as a result, the hospital calls CNCF, and they take them in.

We peeked in on the "kindergarten" class at snack time, and Edward pointed out a new little girl who was brought to the center recently. Her mother had been trying to kill her over time by forcing her to drink or eat chemical tablets of some sort. When the grandmother found out, she brought her to the center, and still visits. There was a little boy whose arm had been broken so many times (by his mother) and not fixed that it was very crooked, and Edward said they are going to pay the money to have it reset for him. The same boy also suffered from Rickets - the legs were not in good shape. But he was cute and smiled while we looked at his injuries, and then ran off, not appearing in the least bit self-conscious about his funny gait. One of the smallest boys had large scars going across his forehead at the scalp from repeat beatings from his parents.

What nice to know is that at the foundation they are safe, and looked after at all times. They can be kids! In their small fenced in community they have 2 playground areas, a school house, ger living quarters each with a "ger mother", a washroom, a cooking house and even a small new bakery. They also have a basketball court that turns into a skating rink in the winter and several gardens in which they hope potatoes and flowers will grow.

I can't wait to start teaching them english, and learn all about them and learn from them too. Sometimes the horror stories of bad things happening to innocent children can be discouraging and very depressing, but at least through organizations like this there can still be positive outcomes for these kids.