Yakin' Around
Besides helping Cool Earth save the rainforest in the Western Amazon, Team Yakin’ Around partnered with the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation (CNCF) to help raise funds for the Blue Skies Ger Village project.
Christina Noble Children’s Foundation is an international partnership of people dedicated to serving children in need of emergency and long-term medical care, nutritional rehabilitation, educational opportunities, vocational training and job placement, as well as children at risk of sexual and economic exploitation.
The winter in Mongolia is one of the harshest imaginable making Ulaanbaatar the coldest capital city in the world. Temperatures regularly remain at –30C for weeks on end, and even –40C is not regarded as unusual. As in many countries, housing for the poor is an expensive part of a family’s budget, and is often inadequate for the climatic conditions. It is not unusual for families of up to eight to live under unheated stairwells in city apartment blocks, or in dilapidated wooden huts, or Gers that are long past the end of their useful life. From the start of its operations in Mongolia the Foundation has assisted homeless families and those in danger of becoming homeless, or living in barely habitable conditions, with their housing needs.
The Foundation established the Ger Village for street children and orphans in Ulaanbaatar. Ger tents are the traditional nomadic homes in Mongolia. The Ger Village is on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar and is enclosed with a large ‘Hasha’ (fence), which helps create a community atmosphere. The Foundation’s doctors visit several times per week, and a team of four managers and one a qualified doctor, are on-hand to advise, protect and encourage the children.
Each residential ger is staffed by a Ger Mother, often a single parent and/or formerly homeless herself, who creates a loving home for the children. She will be encouraged and helped in her role and should she wish to move on after her two years with the Foundation, the foundation will provide her with a ger of her own, from the Give a Ger programme.
The village is also fully equipped with hot showers, toilets and laundry; heated garages (essential for the vehicles to work in winter); cookhouse/canteen; underground food storage; a basketball court which doubles as an ice-rink in winter; and a greenhouse and bakery also, making the Ger Village more self-sufficient and cost-effective in the long-term.
Wherever possible the Foundation seeks to reunite children with their families and assist the family to face the future together through mutual love and support. However, the foundation is prepared to support the children to adulthood and independence.
You can find more details about the project on the foundation’s website.
Team Yakin’ Around is proud to support Christina Noble Children’s Foundation on the Blue Skies Ger Village project.
Help us find a new home and support the street children and orphans of Ulaanbaatar by donating on the links below.
- £1.50 will purchase 2 preventative blood tests for children in Mongolia.
- £5 is all it costs to hold a birthday party at our Blue Skies Ger Village in Mongolia, big smiles all round!.
- £20 a month to sponsor a child in Vietnam or Mongolia enabling them to go to school and receive an education.