Ulaanbaatar project
Of the approximate one million inhabitants of Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, it is estimated that almost 60% live in the ger districts. Most of them are unskilled and unemployed and living below the poverty line. They are either herders arriving from the countryside having lost their livestock to harsh weather or were dismissed with the closing of State enterprises and government offices in the early to mid-1990s.
The ger districts are like huge shanty areas all around the city. Streets are unpaved, water is available somewhat sporadically from collection points, rubbish is only collected irregularly and the coal-burning stoves produce a thick smoke which fills the air in winter. Limited access to medical care accompanies the unsanitary and unhygienic conditions in the ger districts. Poverty has also affected literacy and educational levels, particularly among boys who drop out of school to help support their families.  
Asral NGO’s Ulaanbaatar center is situated on the edge of the ger district and serves as a community center. We aim to provide comprehensive support to the local families and children through:
- Supporting the poorest children
- Providing training in handicrafts
- Monitoring health and providing medical assistance
- Outreach to the local community
Supporting the poorest children
Education is vital to ensuring children with a better future and to keep them off the streets. Asral aims to support local education as well as ensure children from the poorest families have equal access and opportunities.
Asral supports local kindergartens and sponsors the poorer children, the NGO also runs a hot meal project for the children of the poorest families and organizes extra classes and extra-curricular activities for these children.
There are a number of street children in Ulaanbaatar. In winter the children sleep in the holes under the ground where the city’s hot water pipes run.
Supporting local Kindergartens
Kindergarten is where a Mongolian child receives his elementary education from the age of 3 or 4 years up to 8 years. This is not compulsory and food and other items have to be paid for by the parents. Poor families cannot afford this and so often these children are behind when they reach 8 years and go onto secondary school.
25 children are supported at the daily kindergarten where they also have three meals during the day. We pay towards the cost of their food, providing cloths and all other requirements. A further twenty children are supported in the overnight kindergarten and go home at weekend. Asral also renovated two rooms at one of the Kindergartens and provided all the necessary equipment.
Supporting school and university students27 children and students are currently sponsored for tuition fees, school uniform, school books etc. At the Asral centre many children and students receive extra tuition. Throughout the academic year, they receive lessons in Mongolian, maths and other subjects as required. These lessons are conducted by local school teachers and follow the school curriculum. They also attend summer lessons from native English speaking volunteers. Heated facilities are offered for children to do their homework at the centre. Hot meals project
Asral charity has set up a hot food project for some of the poorest children to be provided with one hot meal a day. This is vital to prevent death and illness from the harsh winter conditions. 33 school children come in daily for a hot meal and are provided with school books as necessary. This year children have to buy their own text books which puts added financial strain on the families and Asral is helping out here as well. All the children are provided with warm clothing and boots if needed.
The idea is not only to ensure children have a healthy and varied diet but also that if their stomach is empty they are unlikely to be able to put much energy into their studies. Low educational achievements only perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Getting access to enough food also encourages children to stay at home and prevents them becoming homeless and drifting into street crime.
Children do their homework with professional teacher.  
Extra curricular activities
In the summer, children from Ulaanbaatar are taken on days out to the countryside.
Handicrafts project – Embroidery and felt
The aim of this project is to provide women with traditional handicraft skills to create an accessible and sustainable source of income. Mongolian women – and occasionally men - are taught traditional embroidery, sewing, felt-making and knitting techniques producing a range of high quality items. This provides women who being unqualified find it difficult to find employment, with both an invaluable skill and immediate income.
After the initial training period at the Asral center in Ulaanbaatar, women continue making products at home enabling them to combine making a much needed income with fulfilling their household responsibilities. Many of these women are heads of households, the income they generate through handicrafts is essential in helping to sustain their families. Some women have used their newly acquired skills to go on to set up their own businesses; others have been able to find full-time employment in companies.
Over 135 women have now been trained on the project. Several of the women who have studied embroidery at Asral have mental illnesses; embroidering from home is an occupation they both enjoy and their families have said they have found therapeutic.
Embroidery and felting are traditional handicraft activities in Mongolia. The stitches and designs are directly inspired by Mongolian ancient costumes. The techniques used help preserve local culture while making it accessible to a wide range of individuals. Orders are now being received from overseas for various items produced by them. Visit wwww.shopmongolia.com to see some of our products or contact us directly.
We have recently set up a non-profit making business called MIM (Made In Mongolia) (www.madeinmongolia.net) which will provide a financial self-sufficiency for all Asral projects and more self-sustaining work for the people. MIM is already a success, and has received a large order for the felt products from Avoca, Ireland. (http://www.madeinmongolia.net/products.html)
See also our handicraft project in Ondershil in the Gobi.
Health and medical assistanceMany poor families do not have the financial means to adequately care for their health needs. Malnutrition is also prevalent in the shanty town area. Asral aims to support the poorest families through the providing for medicine and hospital treatment, home visits and care for the bedridden. Asral also supports local infrastructure providing equipment and support to hospitals and medical clinics.
Asral renders support on the basis of the careful research, visiting over 100 households of the local ger district in Ulaanbaatar, and a further 150 households in Gachuurt and Ondershil.
The young 16 years-old woman (top left) living in very bad conditions suffers from TB. She is responsible for looking after the younger children in her family. Asral had her case investigated and now pay for medicine. Asral bought the family their own ger.
This young girl had a heart operation provided for by Asral NGO.
Medical care and practical support is given to the elderly and bedridden Asral provides medical assistance both on an ongoing basis to those with chronic diseases and illnesses and on a more one-off basis to those in need. Asral organizes for people to receive medical insurance books and civil ID cards where needed. Where unable to help people personally, Asral ensures people are refereed to appropriate support. People in need of medical assistance are provided with allopathic, traditional or homeopathic treatment, vitamins as well as operations were needed.
Left: A woman visiting one of our international volunteers for homeopathic treatment. Outreach
Asral provides assistance to members of the community in need, providing gers for the vulnerably housed and warm clothing for children. Coal and fuel as well as emergency food is distributed to the most vulnerable families in winter. Trade tools or other items are given to support individual enterprise.
Homeless families
General living conditions in the ger districts are very poor. One woman spent her winter, with temperatures regularly below 30°C, in this wooden shed. Many families live in gers that are in very poor condition with little or no furnishings or furniture and insufficient insulation. Some families arriving from the countryside have no accommodation for the cold winter. To rent a ger in Ulaanbaatar costs between $12 and $15 per month; 44% of families earn less then $19 a month.
The woman on the right received one of the five gers provided by Asral last winter. Each family was also provided with a central stove, adequate winter felt for insulation, and all the necessary furniture and bedding where needed.
Housing for the disabled
There is very little infrastructure to support the disabled. Asral sponsors this man who, with only one limb, is a painter and is currently studying art at university. His wife is training on the Asral handicraft project.
The woman on the right was given a ger by Asral. After an accident on a building site the woman on the left was working on she was left paralysed from the waist down. With no work or medical assistance she and her husband where forced to set up camp in the outskirts of the ger district in Ulaanbaatar.
Warm clothing
Warm clothing is essential for the cold winter; it is vital for the survival of young children. Asral provides warm clothing and boots to children and adults. The 22 year-old woman on the right has two children to care for by herself. Asral sponsors her daughter to go to kindergarten. Provision of food and coal
In winter, families are provided with emergency food supplies and fuel to enable them to withstand the extreme temperatures. A hundred families were supported last winter either with coal or food during the coldest part of the winter.
Sponsorship
Sponsoring forms an important part of Asral’s support for children and families. Sponsoring is provided in the following areas:
Babies needing extra nourishment
Hospital treatment and medical care
Children needing kindergarten care
For the hot meal project
Cloths, food, warm clothes and winter shoes
Fees for college, university and training
Ger accommodation for the homeless
Baaska is now 17 years old and is a very intelligent young woman winning many awards at school. She is now preparing for University. She and her sister have been sponsored for 7 years after they were found living in the corridor of a deserted hostel with their mother. Asral was able to find work for the mother and sponsoring supplemented her small income. They now have their own home.
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