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.