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GIK Jacket Provides Employment For Bayarsaikhan
by Justin Douglass World Vision Mongolia Communications

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.

A contented Bayarsaikhan, seen here with his family and in his winter jacket donated by Daimler Chrysler through World Vision Singapore’s Gifts-in-Kind program.

Forty-year-old Bayarsaikhan knows what cold is. As a herder he watched helplessly how slowly and relentlessly his livestock froze to death in the Dzud disaster caused by a dry summer followed by an extremely cold winter.

Mongolia lost over ten million livestock to the Dzud during 2001 to 2003. Without the summer rain, livestock were unable to graze
and build up a layer of fat to insulate against cold, leaving many ill prepared to meet the long and harsh winter.

Bayarsaikhan and his family became destitute when they lost their animals in the Dzud snowstorm disaster. They subsequently moved to the provincial centre, which has a population of over twenty thousand people to start a new life for themselves.

Even with the move, Bayarsaikhan, a father of four school-aged children, cannot seem to escape the cold.He continues to work, enduring the cold as a watchman, keeping an eye on the animal hides in a non-heated warehouse during the winter.

Bayarsaikhan and his family became destitute when they lost their animals in the Dzud snowstorm disaster. They subsequently moved to the provincial centre, which has a population of over twenty thousand people to start a new life for themselves.

Even with the move, Bayarsaikhan, a father of four school-aged children, cannot seem to escape the cold. He continues to work, enduring the cold as a watchman, keeping an eye on the animal hides in a non-heated warehouse during the winter.

“I am very glad that I received this jacket because we need it very much,” says a happy Bayarsaikhan. “Mongolia is actually a very windy country. This jacket is very nice and I don’t feel the wind when I wear this jacket,” he beamed.

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.

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