Dinner, Again?

Our last day at Khas-Bayan Ulziit SCC was very productive yet busy. I presented our report of findings and recommendations to Davka and the staff in the morning and we finally made it to the ‘Museum of Particular Things’ after lunch. I found out that Lama Purevbat donated a lot of items from his personal collections, which explained the familiarity of items.

Davka had finally managed to get the Board together and organize a meeting room at city hall. As we walked from the office to the meeting, we invited more people along the way. This helped me win the bet Charlie and I had for how many people would be in attendance (I said nine).

This credit union was much more engaged than the first and had a stronger commitment from its committee members and members. Charlie started with an overview of the Canadian credit union movement and I went through our findings and recommendations. The Board was very receptive and participated with questions.

We even accomplished the first ‘Khas-Bayan Ulziit Community Clean-Up Day’. I had suggested this as an idea to promote the credit union through social responsibility and support for the environment. I thought it was especially important since credit unions in Mongolia cannot formally advertise.

About ten staff, board members and credit union members were involved in the success of this event. We quickly filled our bags and emptied them to pick up more. A man even came out of the local pub to help when he realized what we were doing. It was a successful event and I was very proud of my simple idea.

Now that our credit union work was officially complete, it was time for the celebration to begin. We drove about thirty minutes to a summer camp where the Mongolian KGB/CIA visits. We were escorted into the VIP room and served salad, soup and a main course of meat, potatoes and vegetables (there is not a lot of variety in the food). There was also an assortment of vodka, beer and wine on the table. It seems to be a Mongolian tradition to have a full glass of each in front of you at all times – not one or the other.

We were then moved to another room to eat. To eat??? I already ate. Apparently, that was the ‘appetizer’ and now it was time for supper. They had slaughtered a goat for us and prepared a Khorkhog – a traditional Mongolian barbecue whereby meat is placed in a jug and cooked by hot stones. The stones turn black from the heat and the fat they absorb from the goat. As the jug should not be opened during the cooking process, the cook listens to the jug and smells the meal to determine when it is ready (usually in an hour).

Platters of goat meat and potatoes were put on the table and we were each passed a hot stone which we tossed from hand to hand which is meant to have beneficial healing effects. The way to eat at a Khorkhog is to grab a chunk of meat and eat it with your hands. I have never had goat meat before and it was absolutely delicious. Somehow I had found more room in my belly and I didn’t feel full anymore. I kept eating and they said now I was a ‘real Mongolian’. Eventually I couldn’t eat anymore and said “I have officially stuffed” to a round of laughter.

Pontificating is a big part of the culture and every time someone made a speech or toast, everyone had a vodka shot. There were a lot of toasts and I quickly learned a few tricks to make it look like I was taking a shot but really I wasn’t. There were a lot of people there and everyone had something to say… Let’s just say driving over the bumpy roads was not very fun but we made it back to our hotel and I couldn’t wait to climb into bed.

Lama Purevbat

Another productive day at the office. Chokka joined us for some discussions as we reviewed the business plan and audit reports from the regulatory body and Khas Bank.

A man was referred by a member and came to inquire about opening a new account. What an experience for him (and us). He was served coffee, had a personal welcome by the Chair and was given a Canadian flag pin by the Canadian consultants. He became a member of the credit union before he walked out of the office (I don’t think anyone would have let him leave without signing the paperwork!). We were meant to meet with the board today but since there is so much going on at city hall with the land purchases, we could not use the meeting room.

Instead, we drove to a monastery in the afternoon. Lama Purevbat designed a gorgeous monastery on a hillside to display his art. It is not open to the public yet but not only did we get to visit, but we also met Lama Purevbat. He is a jovial man who seemed to have a great sense of humour. He had a lot of interesting pieces of art – a lot made from animals…  He showed us around and even allowed us into his private loft that only close friends are normally invited. He senses we had ‘good energy’. After looking around and spending some time with Purevbat, we headed outside to see the outdoors. There was a circuit-like hike that took us to a variety of points where we had to walk around stones, crawl through caves and sit on the ‘seat of God’. We were doing all of this in our business clothes – we must have looked ridiculous. When we finally finished we drove down to a nearby stream and had some drinks and snacks. Chokka pulled out his camping supplies from the back of his truck and we had a great afternoon/evening (until the sun went down and I was freezing).

Potatoes and Wheat Fields

I could not use the excuse that I got lost on my way to work since the office was only two doors down from my room. I did have a chance to go for a walk before work though and saw all the little kids running to school and the workers piling into their trucks to head out to the fields.

New plots of land were being made available to the public this morning and there were lots of people lined up at city hall. Our morning actually started with a visit to the Chairperson of Citizen Representative (City Councillor) who is also the Chair of the Supervisory Committee of the credit union. He was a wise, elderly man and we discussed the reason we were here and the partnership with CCA. This was the only Mongolian I saw with light eyes. We were presented with the Soum 20th Anniversary Medallion and wore it with pride.

After lunch we had some more conversations about the credit union before heading out to visit members. We met with potato farmers who work hard in the field all day as it is harvest season. Their young children sit in a ten all day while their parents work. I took some photos of the kids and they were delighted to see themselves on my camera.

 

We talked to a young farmer who is a member of the credit union and has borrowed money to harvest potatoes. He is trained as a Japanese translator but could not find work in his field so he is harvesting potatoes to earn money. He is on his third loan from the credit union in the amount of 4,000,000 tugriks, approximately C$2,800. He stated he is not currently saving money as he has a young family to raise and high expenses.

We continued on and visited the Board Chair, Chokka, who farms wheat and has about 600 hectares of land. I never realized driving 40 km/h could feel fast until driving down an unpaved, bumpy road, swerving to avoid the holes. We arrived at Chokka's ger/farm and he was very proud to show off his John Deere tractors.

They could not have sent two bigger city slickers to visit the agricultural credit union than Charilie and I. It was a beautiful day and it was amazing driving around the wheat fields and seeing the contrast of the wheat with the blue sky.

We had a chance to stop at another member's ger and were offer airag. I was really looking forward to trying this while I was in Mongolia. It is fermented mare's milk and it is impossible to describe. It is sour and a bit phelgmy.

Bornuur

Today we were getting picked up to go to our rural credit union in Bornuur soum, Tov aimag. I walked to the Square in the morning to do some people watching. There was a wedding party taking photos in front of parliament. The bride was wearing a white, western-style dress in opposed to traditional Mongolian dress.

The CEO, Davka, picked us up and needed to make a quick stop to pick up an ink cartridge. He picks up his supplies whenever he is in UB as he does not have access otherwise. The store parking lot was too full and there were no spaces available, although that did not stop some vehicles from parking and blocking other people in. Davka decided to park on the street in front of some of the cars already parked. Sure enough, someone wanted out so it was a good thing Davka left his keys in the car so we could tell the other guy to move it for us.

Bornuur is 100km from UB with a population of 3,000 living in the town centre. It is an agricultural community producing vegetables, primarily potatoes, wheat and livestock. Davka said it would take us one hour; I had looked on Google Maps and it said one and a half hours. The Director of MCTIC said it would be about two hours as Davka was not permitted to go faster than 60 km/h because he had international visitors. In reality, it took us over four hours to get there.

We pulled up to a building and I was not sure if it was where we were staying or where the credit union was. To my surprise, it was both. The credit union was two doors down from the accommodation. All that separated them was a pawn shop and a bank! There was also a supermarket and restaurant in the same building. You could move in and have everything you needed under one roof.


We met the rest of the staff and had some quick introductions. It is a very young staff and everyone had a good chuckle when Charlie said it is the youth that are our future and it is time to get rid of the 'dead wood'.

We had time before dinner so I suggested going for a walk around the Soum. We had a lot of curious looks and one woman asked our interpreter who we were and why we were there. Well, it turns out she is a member of the credit union and was delighted we were visiting and she talked to us about her experience with the credit union. She also loves President Obama and has an 'Obama bracelet' that gives her good energy. Her goal is to go to Chicago next year in hopes of seeing him.


We went for dinner and received even more stares - one little girl even walked into a chair because she was too busy looking at us rather than looking at where she was going.

Mongolian Activities

Saturday was a rest day and we were invited to go on a trip to the Terelj National Park in the country to participate in 'Mongolian activities'. No one knew what exactly this entailed but we were excited to find out. We piled into two vehicles and left UB in the distance. Even thought it was a Saturday, there was still a lot of traffic until we got out of the city.

This was the side of Mongolia I was looking forward to seeing. We drove for about 45 minutes outside of the city and although the roads were paved, there were a lot of potholes. A lot of swerving was necessary to avoid the holes, as well as other vehicles. Once we turned off the paved road onto an unpaved road, dust was added to the mix.

There were some places to stop on the side of the road where vendors were earning money by allowing tourists to take pictures with their eagles and camels.

Our first official stop was at a large rock that looked inviting to climb. I was the only one of our group to climb up into the cave. There were a bunch of school kids there and they each took a turn to say hello to me. I could not resist taking a bunch of pictures of them. We continued on to see a big rock that is shaped like a turtle and had a few people decided to ride camels. The scenery was breathtaking under the blue skies.

I was growing very hungry as this was the first physical activity I have done since I left home and it was well into the afternoon. We were looking for a place to eat lunch but since tourist season is over, it was hard to find something that was still open. We finally found a ger camp that was open and had food for us and had a delicious meal with soup, salad, chicken, potatoes and tea and cake.

The area was beautiful with the fall colours of green and yellow on the trees. We stopped by the Tuul River to enjoy the scenery and drink some Chinggis, Mongolian beer. The landscape reminded me of Northern Ontario in the autumn. This was a fantastic day that I won't soon forget and I was so glad I had the opportunity to see another part of Mongolia.

The drive back to UB was treacherous and of course traffic bottlenecked as we got closer to the city. Due to some creative driving by our driver, who decided to take some back alleys to avoid traffic, we made it back to the hotel.

Good Life

We had some more good discussions with the staff and leadership. Charlie and I raised eyebrows a few times across the table as we learned about the lack of segregation of duties of the staff. We had a chance to meet a couple more members as well.

Hurtsbaatar is a quiet, older, hard-working man with many wrinkles on his face and hands that feel like sandpaper. His life has been improved thanks to Good Life SCC. His daughter introduced him to Good Life two years ago and he has obtained financing to purchase coal and gravel from wholesalers and he sells it to individual buyers in the ger district. He has an added challenge as the government recently introduced a law to limit the number of drivers by restricting vehicles depending on their license plate to drive one day a week. He stated he cannot imagine what his life would be like if it wasn't for Good Life but he knows it would not be the same as it is today. He has recently built a storage shed where he can store his coal throughout the winter to keep his supply.
 

Aram and Hongorzul live in the ger district and make horse-head fiddles, wood carved musical instruments. It was actually really difficult for us to locate their ger as more people are moving from the country to the ger district on the outskirts of UB and the streets are becoming harder to navigate. We had to drive up and down the bumpy, narrow laneways up and down hills before we finally found them. They read about Good Life in the newspaper a few years ago. Aram used to take the bus to the market to buy wood and supplies but he only had enough money to buy materials for one instrument. He would spend half of his sale proceeds for living expenses and the other half for more supplies. With financing from Good Life, he can now purchase materials from a wholesaler and make more than one instrument at a time. He can now afford tools as well to help make instruments faster.

Our meeting with Dashdulam was so heart-warming that we wanted to pay her another visit. We printed some of the photos we took and framed one to bring to her. She was so happy and gracious that we came to see us again and for the gift. And true to her word, the 10,000 tugrik note we gave her was already framed on her wall.

Rose's Motel

What a day! I have to admit I was a bit nervous this morning not knowing what to expect with my first day on the job. 

Charlie and I were heading to 'Good Life Saving & Credit Co-Operative'. After introductions and exchanging pleasantries, we went through an overview of the credit union which was established in 2003. We were shocked to learn that the chair of the board was also a full time staff member and on the loan committee. We went through some financials to have a better understanding of the business and clarify some of our initial questions. There was a bit of a language barrier and a seemingly simple question would take a few minutes of back and forth before a one word answer was translated back. I wonder what they may have really been saying.

We had an amazing opportunity to meet with a member and her story was absolutely heart warming. Dashdulam is a local motel owner who was happy to share her story with us. She became a member of the Good Life SCC in 2004 after seeing an advertisement in a newspaper. She had a vision to turn her house into a small motel as a source of income. She could not obtain financing from a bank as she was only looking for a small amount and did not have a business plan so they would not deal with her.

Dashdulam had polio when she was five years old and has required crutches ever since. She studied to become an accountant but had difficulty obtaining a job in her field because of her disability. She decided to contact Good Life whose mandate is to support people in their daily life and improve their standard of living. A strong relationship was formed. She received a small loan so she could complete some minor renovations on her property. Once that was repaid, she borrowed again - for furniture, TVs and appliances. She now has a profitable business thanks to the Good Life SCC and the opportunity they gave her.

She raved about the service she receives and the fact they work on trust. They will even come to pick up her payments if she is unable to make it into the branch. She also likes that they have loyalty pricing for repeat borrowers - she is now on her fifth loan.

She is now in a financial position to deal with the big banks but she is loyal to Good Life. Her principle is simple - run a clean motel with 'good life' living standards. She is not interested in running a luxury accommodation but takes pride in her establishment. She even showed us her cabinet full of clean linens. I was truly touched listening to her speak. I was thankful for her openness and honesty with us.

I thought the story was finished... but then it got even better. I asked who the two ladies that were in the motel with her were. She explained one was her housekeeping staff and she has one other employee (a maintenance man). She then went on to explain she only hires retired or handicapped workers. People who need the work but have a difficulty finding work elsewhere for various reasons. I was astounded. This is the full circle. People helping people!

Charlie then decided to buy a bottle of water and she was very grateful. She was ecstatic when he asked to buy five - one for each of us. And when he gave her 10,000 tugrik to settle his 3,000 tugrik tab, she nearly fell to the floor. She told us she was not going to spend this and instead she would frame it and hang it on her wall.