The ger district

A couple of days late with this post...busy, busy, busy J

Member service at Altandaalgaa SCC

We have started work with our second savings and credit cooperative. Considered a medium sized credit union in Mongolia they have 350 members and have 1,406,632,425 MNT in total assets (roughly $1,082,025 in Canadian dollars). Established in 2002 they have just celebrated their 10th anniversary. They made is through the bad times in 2005 which saw a significant
number of credit unions in Mongolia declare bankruptcy, and it is soon clear why. We are peppered with questions about inflation, governance, membership engagement and board engagement by lunch both Trudy and I are looking rather frazzled and our poor interpreter is taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes wearily.

When we start to talk about strategic plans the executive director pipes up. She would like to expand into the ger (pronounced gar) district. The ger district starts only 4 blocks from where we sit. On one side of the road are multi story apartment buildings on the other is a laborite of makeshift single family homes. Spread out for miles, traditionally this was where transient Mongolians would set up their ger when they came to UB. In 2002 the Mongolian government started to grant property ownership rights to all of its citizens, prior to this all land was owned by the government. Apartments were deeded to the occupant at the time and all other people were allocated a small amount of land depending on where they claimed it.



Ger district

For this reason almost all of the land in the ger
district is actually owned by the occupants. Most of the gers have been removed and replaced by make shift homes. Wooden shacks and small square brick homes each with a fence are butted up against each other in no particular order. Gravel roads snake in all directions and sign posts are nonexistent. Poverty and alcoholism are rampant in this area.

For a myriad of reasons there has been a migration to UB over the last several years, first there was the move to a market economy which caused wages to plummet and unemployment to sky rocket, then in 2010 a dzud struck (a really bad winter that killed millions of animals and left thousand of rural families struggling to survive). Traditionally Mongolians are nomadic, so they move, when the seasons change, when times are tough, when the grass grows greener, they pack up their gers and hit the road. One argument is that problems arise when they quit moving.  Many arrive in UB with the expectation that they will be able to obtain work.  While the unemployment numbers for Mongolia are definitely trending downwards there is still a significant % of the population that is not able to find work.  Add to this the vodka legacy left over from the Soviet Union and you have issues.  

 

It is against this backdrop that we visit the Tsolmon-Ireedui Foundation (like them on facebook for more inof at - Tsolmon-Ireedui Foundation).  A member of the credit union Chimgee Tsolmon has taken out a loan to expand her home to accommodate a daycare/orphanage.  Unable to obtain financing at the banks she is passionate about her cause.  Her goals are simple, to provide a safe and affordable (free if required) place for parents (often single) to leave their children so that they are able to find productive work that can improve the quality of live for their families. When we ask Chimgee what her dream is she tells us that it is really quite simple.  She believes that if these children are provided with adequate food and water and a safe environment they will then be able to study instead of worrying about how to survive.  Provided with the opportunity to study she believes that the children will then have a chance to succeed, to go onto university.

As we leave the orphanage I am struck again with the similarity between Canada and Mongolia,.  Unfortunately we have the same issues at home.  I could very well be standing “on reserve”.   This makes me ask myself, if these credit unions who are struggling to survive with so much less than we have, are working towards improving conditions for those who need it most...what are we doing, or perhaps more to the point why are we not doing more?