Bayarsaikhan, a father of four school-aged children, cannot escape the cold because he works outside, even in winter, as a watchman. Bayarsaikhan and his family became destitute when they lost their animals in the Dzud snowstorm disaster. They moved to the provincial centre, which has a population of over twenty thousand people to start a new life. The jacket he received from World Vision Singapore via Daimler Chrysler Gifts-in-Kind contribution means Bayarsaikhan can continue to work and support his family, without being frozen by Mongolia's biting winds.

In Mongolia where temperatures can plummet to minus thirty or sometimes even to minus forty degrees Celsius, Bayarsaikhan has to battle the cold, standing in a queue for thirty minutes just to collect water from the deep water well. Batsaikhan remembers the times before he received this gift, “When I’m cold, I shiver and wish that I could get warm clothes. I just want to do some active work to enter my home to beat the cold. When I’m frozen, it feels like bees are stinging me or that I’ve been pierced with many needles. My skin goes red, dark blue and then white when it is frozen.”

Bayarsaikhan earns 70,000 T (US$60) per month and has to support an unemployed wife and four children off this meager salary. With all his salary spent on food for the family, there is nothing left to buy warm winter clothing. “I need these warm clothes very much. When I see others wearing warm clothes, I want to get clothes like them but I cannot afford to buy them,” he continued. “Without them, I cannot work outside in the cold, and will have to be unemployed and to stay at home.’ 

As the only breadwinner in the family, Bayarsaikhan is deeply appreciative towards World Vision and Daimler Chrysler for donating him this much needed winter jacket – and a hope and opportunity for him to continue working in cold conditions to support his family.