Ulan Bator – my ministry to the coldest capital city on earth

Jona with his ‘morin khuur ‘- a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument.

Jona is currently undertaking „Alternative service abroad” with HELP International Mongolia instead of military services in Germany. Below he describes his recent personal experiences.

 

For now more than six month I live here - in the country of wild horses and rambling nature. But for now I mainly live in the coldest capital city of the world at its coldest time of the year:
The crazy traffic, the dust, the winter smog which fades the sun red in the morning and makes it hard to breath. The Ger areas (Mongolian round tents) with its inscrutable roads, the straying dogs digging in the garbage at the side of the road, children queuing with their canister at the water houses and thousands of corner shops – It seems I already got used to all of that. 

Than there is the ‘Зах’, a market where you literally can buy everything. But after two hours shopping, one flees because of the cold, and I ask myself how the sales man can bare that hour by hour and day by day without freezing to death.

’100-аль’ and ‚Цайц’ are DIY stores where we often buy construction material, they work like a flee market, at every stand they pile up numerous things, and if they can’t find what you are looking for, they run through the iles to find it for you at someone else's stand. There are also supermarkets like ‘Home Plaza’ where you have a familiar ring because the shelves are filled with common reasonable priced branded goods – even though they are not particular favorable here.
My every-day work is to help in our alcohol-rehab and to help to care for homeless people. I like this work. We see the thankfulness of the people and sometimes we really see, how a life is changed.

More about HELP Mongolia >>

 

Mongolia - Enerel for "compassion"

A young German serving his civil service in Ulan Bataar reports:

‘Enerel‘ is our shelter in Ulan Bataar, where homeless or drunk people can stay overnight.
Enerel means “mercy, compassion”.
“Once a week I am doing a night shift at the ENEREL. It is always challenging and tiring, however at the same time a very fulfilling ministry. We start at 7.30 pm with prayer and open the doors at 8 pm.
Our leader Bataarsuch always welcomes the freezing people into the warm rooms. Supper is already cooked. Many are drunk, but all are kind, still able to walk on their own.
This is what happened the other Saturday:
The police had already called and asked us to pick up some drunken people, whom they had collected from the huge black market.
This time it’s my turn to be the bus driver. On our way back we pick up another man.
Back at the Enerel I put all of them to bed ...that’s the time you realise how heavy a man can be!
Most of them immediately fall into a deep sleep. Before supper there is still time to take care of wounds. The bad hygiene on the streets leads to some nasty ones. Today two people had to be taken to hospital. Sadly one needs to get his toes amputated.
During supper a fight was close to spark: one of the guys got furious over a small issue, another grabed a stool ready to smash it into his face. Fortunately I am quite tall – that helps gaining some authority in spite of only being a “Duu” (little brother) age wise.
I just took the stool away and asked the trouble makers to leave. Our little devotion started. This time people were not as concentrated as usual.
After washing and disinfecting the dishes it’s bedtime.
It’s almost like sleeping next to the toilet in a train with people getting up, complaining, someone lighting another cigarette ...
Morning started with breakfast. The men we picked up last night asked what had happened and who took them here. After a while, when everyone left, I am on duty to clean up the place.
Even though I am totally exhausted, I had a great time! Some lives might have even been saved!
More about HELP - Mongolia >>

Ike Relief

From HELP Texas: "The house had been nine feet under water and everything was damaged and full of mold. Our job was to tear down and remove all the inside drywall and spray the frame with mold treatment."
As I stared in disbelief at the piles of rubble in this house that had once been a home, I wondered what I had gotten myself into!
On October 17 to 19, our team went to the Houston area where Hurricane Ike did the greatest damage and supported an organization called CORE. CORE coordinates volunteers from throughout the United States for disaster relief and is referring them to owners of destroyed houses.


At midday, we arrived in Nassau Bay, where CORE uses a Lutheran Church as a base of operations. We were equipped with tools and a coordinator accompanied us to a house. The owner was a retired widow, about 65 years old, she had been evacuated before the hurricane struck. When she was able to return to her home, she was obviously overwhelmed with all the damage. She was particularly concerned because, like many Americans, she was not insured. We were able to help her by doing the groundwork for the construction workers, who will repair her house in the next few weeks.
That was really an exhausting job, but at night we had a good time in the camp. We had two other groups were there with us, so this added to the fellowship and fun. One group was from Baylor University (in Waco, Texas) and the other was from Mississippi.
The next day we spent with a family whose house in Galveston Bay had been completely under water. We removed plasterboard from the wall and then sprayed the frame with chemicals. When we finished only the frame of the house was left. It was an amazing transformation down to the bones of the house. Ordinarily, it would seem depressing to see a house like this. However, knowing what the house looked like when we arrived, you would have to say it was a happy sight!
The owner was an amazing man and showed such a great attitude. He is sailor; his boat was about 200 meters away from the house, next to the harbor. It was tossed from the water onto land! He was so grateful to have our help that he prepared some real Texas food for us. In the middle of the construction site with the garbage piled around, he made turned the radio on, listened to his music, and prepared spareribs and beans.

Nassau Bay is very nice, but it is really sad to know that many peoples retirement homes were literally washed away. Some areas in town have been cleared from debris or were not as badly devastated, but other places are totally wrecked. One woman had a jet ski lying in her backyard. When I asked her if it is hers she replied only: "No, this is my neighbors, he lives three houses down the road." The jet ski had been washed over garden fence. Unbelievable!
It has a high impact on me to witness such devastation with my own eyes. This is something you usually only know from television. However, more than the devastation, it is good to witness the fellowship and willingness of so many volunteers who have come to help out. You don't see feel that very easily on the television, either. Our work was a huge blessing for these people, since many will pay $5,000 U.S. dollars or more for the removal of the drywall. And doing the work was a huge blessing for our team. God is good!