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.

The Long Journey

We all survived the long journey to Mongolia - an exhausting 30 hours from our hotel in Ottawa to our hotel in UB. It was 12:30am by the time I got assigned my hotel room and I have never been so happy to see a bed. I fell asleep in no time and woke up refreshed, ready and eager to start the day.

Our first meeting was scheduled for 10am hosted by our local partners, the Mongolian Co-Operative Training & Information Centre (MCTIC). They invited representatives from various organizations including the Mongolia Confederation of Credit Unions (MOCCU), the Mongolia National Co-Operator's Association (MNCA) and a few executives of our parnter credit unions. There were a lot of bright and intelligent people in the room with a common interest in the co-operative sector. I was amazed that the Chair of the Financial Regulatory Committee (FRC) was in attendance demonstrating the importance and value placed on our project. I felt this was a testament of the strong relationship between CCA and MCTIC.

We parted after lunch and MCTIC took us on a tour of UB - visiting the Zaisan Memorial, the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan, Sukhbaator Square before taking in a cultural show with music, dancing, throat singing and a contortionist.

It was an early night as we would be dispersing across the country in the morning to our various credit unions eager to start our work.

International Year of Co-Operatives

The Mongolia 2012 coaches met for the first time this week in Ottawa. We spent three days with CCA learning about our role and what to expect when overseas.

We will be working in partners and have been assigned two different credit unions to visit in Mongolia. My partner Charlie and I will be spending one week at an urban credit union and one week at a rural credit union.

We have been provided limited material on the credit unions with a couple areas board or management has determined a concern. It was interesting for me to learn from previous coaches that the issues provided to us may not be the issues we end up discussing. This could be due to a few different reasons:

·         Internal politics may deter the person completing the report from writing their real concerns on paper for their superiors to see

·         The board chair may write the report but we are predominantly talking to the management and therefore they may perceive different issues

·         Management may pick up on the coaches area of expertise and want to learn more on that topic.

It is therefore our role as a coach to help spark ideas and get people thinking and conversations started.

The training and discussions that took place over the past few days have been invaluable to me. It was inspiring to be in a room full of like-minded people who shared CCA’s mission to ‘Promote, develop and unite co-operatives in Canada and around the world.’ A common theme was the belief that people working together can do more than people working alone.

I am excited to embark on the long journey to Mongolia to share my knowledge where I can. I am honoured to have been chosen to participate in this amazing program, especially in 2012 – The International Year of Cooperatives.

The Co-Operative Movement

The Canadian Co-Operative Association (CCA) runs a coaching program that enlists the help of skilled employees from Canadian institutions to provide technical expertise to partner organizations in various countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas.

This year, I have been selected as one of eight credit union professionals from across Canada to travel to Mongolia. We will visit urban and rural credit unions to share our skills and experience to help our partners succeed.

The CCA shares the experience and strength of the Canadian co-operative movement to form relationships with partners around the world sharing common values.

Co-operatives are an effective tool in helping people living in poverty in developing countries to make sustainable improvements to their lives and living conditions.

Credit unions are making a difference because they promote savings, are community owned, have a democratic structure and provide a range of services.

 Mongolia Fast Facts

·         Population: 3.2 million (27% < 14 years old, 69% between 15 – 64 years old & 4% over 65 years)

·         Horse to human ratio:  13-1

·         GDP per capita: $4,500

·         Literacy Rate: 98%

·         Voter turnout: 85%

·         Main exports: Copper, wool, cashmere, leather

·         Ulaanbattaar is the coldest capital city in the world

·         There are approximately 23,400 credit union members in Mongolia