Christina Noble Children's Foundation has given me a new child to sponsor , T a nine year old boy and youngest in his family. Although both parents are working very hard, too hard, the conditions they have to live in are very poor - poor by Mongol standards. The NGO will also endeavour to keep in touch with B T lives in a harsh environment with his parents and siblings but he has a big smile and hope by the bucket load.
I wonder if the Live Earth event will draw attention to plight of the poor in Central Asia?
Is Central Asia ignored because of former alliances with the old USSR? In the past decade the post communist societies have experienced economic melt down. Cradle to the grave health care and education have all but disappeared. Worsening climate - colder winters, hotter summers and desertification have taken their toll upon the nomadic pastoral life. Circa 2003, hundreds of thousands of head of livestock froze to death. Livelihoods were lost. People pour into Ulaan Baatar seeking work which is not there.
In the West we hear nothing about these issues unless individuals deliberately seek out information. The government struggles to assist it its own people with the help of NGOs. TB is a particular problem. The government also has to tread a difficult balancing act with foreign industrial conglomerates who wish to exploit the country's mineral reserves. As an emergent democracy there are of course issues relating to represention and full debate. In the meantime the Mongol Army contributes to world peace by supporting USA initiatives in Iraq. Mongols are putting their lives at risk for people who don't even know they exist. The Mongol army is underpinned by National Service. All males between 18 and 26 years serve a mandatory year in the military- unlike Brits or Americans.
Mongolia is a country of roughly 3 million people. The West could easily help this country back onto it's feet. What will it take for us to remember them? Another Temujin?
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