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I travelled half way around the world to an unknown culture, unknown land, and an unknown language. I was excited to do volunteer work in Mongolia, become immersed in a new culture, maybe even learn a bit of the language. I went to help train some young veterinarians, meet some unchurched people and spread the message of the hope I have in Christ. After the first few culture shock days living in this alternate concrete universe that gave me the impression of 1950’s Russia, I wondered what I was doing there. Was I helping and where were all the unchurched people I was hoping to reach?
I was volunteering in Ulaanbaatar , the capital city of Mongolia in the fall of 2015. I was training young new graduate Mongolian trained veterinarians in a private clinic, traveling under the auspices of Christian Veterinary Missions USA. The work was challenging and often frustrating as it can be in any new culture where you do not understand the way they live and work, they're stretchable time lines, or their language. The language barrier was quite difficult and unfortunately I am still not sure if during my time there I even made a bit of a difference.
They did not speak much English, many none at all. My Mongolian was non existent and didn’t improve much in 6 weeks. I did not have much faith in the translators used at the clinic. They could talk for 3 or 4 minutes back and forth with the clients then turn to me and say one sentence like "the dog has diarrhea". The whole story? I doubt it. It didn't seem to be a cultural chit chat before discussing the problem as they rarely seemed to chit chat but how would I ever know?
All of the veterinary information online or in the many textbooks donated and sitting on their shelves for their reference were in English and yet most could not read them. It did seem wrong that someone paid for all their reference books, Veterinary Information Network account on-line and many dvd’s with continuing education videos, all in English and they did not understand most of it. I met some church planting missionaries while I was there and they gave free English lessons across the street twice a week for whoever wanted to attend but no one at the clinic ever attended while I was there. Some of the young vets were quite keen and smart and made it a much better experience. Like this smiling doctor below. She was a gem there, kind and smart and could speak a little english. She wanted to learn so badly and soaked up the information like a sponge.
At first I was wondering why many did not want to improve, learn English and be able to look up things they were unsure about. Isn’t that why we western volunteer vets were there? To help them learn, improve. Not to hold their hands and read the text books for them. Mission trips can and often do start like this , especially short term or micro-missions. We westerners have our own time lines, agendas, and believe we are in their country showing God how to help these people. Maybe we are asking Him to be our assistant as we teach veterinary medicine and His word. Once that is spoken (or written down like this), it just becomes so obvious how absurd it is. The God who spoke the Universe and all things into being needs an assistant? The flip side of this is what God intended, of course, He uses us as His assistant and in His timing. Oh, that I could remember this all the time. We may not ever realize if we did or did not make a difference. Perhaps these are the seeds He wanted planted and God will do the rest whenever God wants to do the rest. All in His timing. The clinic was staffed with Christians, right down to the cleaning staff. Although this is great, I was thinking I was there to also share my faith. I never did make it out to the ger settlements beyond the suburbs of Ulaanbaatar other than to sight see.
Sukahbaatar Square
Sukahbaatar Square
Chinggis Khaan Statue from the top of the horses head at Tsonjin Boldog
The desolate, rugged land that is Mongolia was all around but I was in the city, in the only large town, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, in a nation surrounded completely by China and Russia. Half of the 3 million population of Mongolia live in the capital region. the word Ulaanbaatar literally means Red Hero. The name was given to the city after the Red army (Russian) helped defeat the White Army (Chinese) or Tsars. Outside of this sprawling city, the Mongolians lived a nomadic life in Yurts they call Gers or cloth tents they set up and would take down to move when the grassland was used up and they needed to move their livestock.
In the centre of Ulaanbaatar is a large Sukahbaatar Square, a vast cement expanse where artists sell their wares and tourists wander. The locals call Genghis Khan “Chinggis Khaan”, their beloved founder of the mongol Empire from the 13th century which at that time included most of Eurasia. But the most famous statue in mongolia is not of Chinggis Khaan, it is of the local revolution hero who stands on his horse in the centre of the plaza mid town Ulaanbaatar. The large statue is of a horse and rider, Dadin Sukhbaatar, giving the name to the square. The fact that his horse has one leg up in the statue says that he was wounded in battle and succumbed to the injuries later. If both legs were up, it would denote that he died in the battle. The building behind is the impressive parliament building of Mongolia.
To see the massive statue of Chinggis Khaan on horse back as well, you would need to drive to the bank of the Tuul River at Tsonjin Boldog about 54 km east of the capital. I did this on a day off to see what all the Mongolians were going on about. The Mongoles surely love their 13th century leader and speak of him often. According to the legend, this place by the river is where Chinggis Khaan found his golden whip. Legend states that he was traveling to the Khereid tribe to ask for help when he found the golden whip and he believed that finding the whip was a message from Tenger, the god of the eternal blue sky. This motivated him to become the ruler of the Mongol tribes. He was enormously effective making him a great leader of much of Europe and Asia. He was greatly revered and still is today in Mongolia.
The statue of Chinggis Khaan symbolically faces east, facing his birthplace. The equestrian statue is massive, 40 meters tall (close to 13 stories high) You walk up inside the horse, from the tail, through the abdomen and chest and neck and arrive outside at the top of the head of the horse to a balcony with a panoramic view. The plan was originally to build a Ger town around the visitor centre there but it has not really panned out that way yet. There is a museum attached as well with tons of exhibits of the Great Khaan era before his multiple children lost it all fighting amongst themselves.
The Chinggis Khaan Statue at the centre of the square
The Chinggis Khaan Statue at the centre of the square
Tsonjin Boldog
This is all there was at the time I visited of a ger town around the statue. The plan was to have a thriving town here. It is a bit far from the maddening crowd, that is, Ulaanbaatar.
Mongolians love their meat. I swear they are all carnivores . Great place for keto diet followers. Meals were usually served with two kinds of meat, often unrecognizable but usually mutton ( fat tailed sheep) and stuffed with other meat (usually goat) and a side of meat (unrecognizable). Vegetables were just an after thought and rare at meals. All this land and no one grew vegetables? I guessed the growing season was short but how about a basic hot house and something green. After 6 weeks of Mongolian fodder, I became a vegetarian.
Goats and sheep wander all over, they are quite friendly and easily caught.
The Mongolian horses are short and sturdy and unbelievably tough. They were everywhere I went as well, just wandering the streets. One of my favorite things in Mongolia was riding these steads and seeing the countryside. They are famous in the mongol wars during Khaans' dynasty. I believe the mongoles were as tough as the horses!
Fat tail sheep are the only type of sheep found in Mongolia. Apparently they make up 25% of the worlds sheep. The tail fat is used for candles, soap and cooking. Fat-tailed sheep are hardy and adaptable, able to withstand the tough challenges of desert life. Take a look, those tails are mighty fat!
Check out those tails!
I am used to walking with my dogs 1-2 hours a day back home and then to have to sit around every evening in a cement box, that did not go over well with my body. I would spend the day at the tiny clinic and get a ride back to the doctors quarters where there was no TV, no radio and sometimes wifi. Stay put was what I was told, in a nicer way, each night. They felt it was too dangerous to go out on my own. Instead I had every evening on my own. The first week was great, caught up on some reading and rest and another week with another vet on a one week missions trip but after that........another 4 weeks of this, I was not up for it. I did go out and walked all over town AMA (against Mongolian advice) and not once did I feel afraid, or concerned for my safety. It was a good way to meet artists in the square, tourists, and to do some people watching. You can learn a lot about a culture by watching from afar.
Doctors quarters below and the cement gardens out front. Loved the holes broken in the cement to stuff a tree or bush in, so artistic. Then the view of the road from the mall at the top of the stairs.
After a few days at the clinic it was obvious there were many things that needed to change. The anesthetic death rate was far too high, close to 50%. There was no isolation unit and many animals with contagious diseases were housed beside surgery patients or puppies. Change is not easy at any time but in a foreign country with a different language and you are there for only a short time, it is very difficult. Many have tried. This starts the western veterinarians on their frustration journey. You have to realize that all missions trips by westerners to a developing country will have its frustrations so you need to be prepared for that and work on your patience.
I was given a list of Do's and Dont's when in Mongolia and dealing with the Mongolian people. So many were just common sense and manners but some where a bit odd. Oldest men sit at the back of a ger. Don't sit without being told to sit. Don't walk between the two main posts of the ger and don't step on the threshold of the ger door. Don't walk on a horse catching pole. Women do not sit indian style. Don't eat everything on your plate as that signals you want more. Do not reject anything. If you don't want it, hold it for a while then return it. Don't wear a hat if teaching. Unfortunately no explanations given.
We often would sit down with the vets and vet students to teach about a certain subjects like safe anesthesia and how to monitor. They would listen so intently to all that I said, writing things down madly in their journals and yet it didn’t seem to sink in as it seemed to not change what they did. Did they not understand, not believe or not care? I really hoped that what I told them would make a difference, even if in just a small way. I tried making signs for the surgery room in English and Mongolian using Google translator. Not sure how well that worked or if the translation was accurate. I would put in block red letters: IF THE PULSE OX GOES BELOW 90, DO THIS...... I would wander in to check on surgery the next day to see the "anesthesiologist" “ writing vitals records and recording faithfully the pulse ox of 80 but doing nothing about it. Pointing to the chart on the wall brought a few very confused looks.
So there must be a better way to explain this to them, I supposed as it was pretty obvious what it says on the pulse ox and the mucous membranes as well. They seemed to want me to just tell them what to do. There was a time before I came that a very kind hearted missionary veterinarian came and lived here, learned the language and just told all the vets what to do in their language. Then she left. I believe it is better to teach how to fish than to give them fish. Now, I fear, they want that again rather than to learn on their own.
The infamous "red line" over which no one shall step but all did step and so the isolation area was really a joke. Mind you it is very difficult to make an isolation area when there is very little room and so many people. In such a large country with so much land it is surprising that the buildings are so small and cramped.
The waiting room below and the prep room to the right with a red line on the floor to keep the animals isolated. The problem was that the parvo puppies and surgeries all resided in the cages to the right.
The exotics in Mongolia
Examining crocodiles and boa constrictors was not what I expected in Mongolia. Neither was camel riding but riding the Mongolian horses and meeting the locals was top on my list of things to do.
This crazy Russian guy was wrestling this croc so I could examine it. He stripped down to just his underwear, wrapped duct tape around the mouth which came off every time. I am sure he was swearing but my Russian is not great. After 4 tries, I finally just took pictures and declared him fit for travel back to Russia and signed the papers all written in Russian.
Riding the mongolian steads was great. Best part of the whole trip I think. Much more comfortable than the camels but then again, I am not that comfortable around camels.
A missionary family , the Spence's, with 8 kids (7 boys) lived in two yurts just outside of town. They built a regular house in their third year there and now all live in one building. The father is a large animal veterinarian and they are from south island New Zealand. They had been there for more than 3 years already. Two of their kids were headed off to their own mission field. They had me over for dinner one night. What a crowd for a meal, and then games. It was just a regular night for them. All the kids helped their dad in the field, helping the Mongolian farmers. Such giving and kind people and it was a pleasure to meet and hang out with them.
Their house at the edge of town looked over the town of Ulaanbaatar
Their house at the edge of town looked over the town of Ulaanbaatar
Andrew and Chris Spence are from NZ and their children are Simon, Benjamin, Jonathan, Rebekah, Caleb, Peter, David and Nathan.
The sheep and cattle mostly just roamed around the houses. Somehow each person knew which were their animals although I did not see any brands.
Two Koreans started this church. Many Korean missionaries were in Mongolia. This is a Yurt Church, amazingly large inside.
We saw a few street dogs and puppies on the way to the church. Taking the bus to church was an adventure.
Planned at the very last minute, was a trip with the Mongolians to Taikhar Rock, a 66-foot high granite block set in the middle of a huge expanse of barren flatland and what the Mongolians call rolling hills. It looked really flat to me.
Legend has it that the granite block was thrown there to plug a hole where a very large snake lived and would escape from.
They tried to tell me in their broken English, the story of the 30 priests who lived in this crack of the rock pictured here for months, hiding from persecution. It was so small, I find it hard to believe so many people would fit in there. They all survived somehow. I was unable to find the historical reference to this tragedy but the Mongolians seemed to know the story well.
Taikhar Rock
We picnicked at the foot of Taikhar Rock pictured here. All the food was put out on a blanket, we sat to eat but it was so cold, everyone packed up and sat in the very crowded van to finish our picnic. On the drive back to the city, we stopped at the rock grotto pictured above.
Ger towns were temporary but in Ulaabaatar, the gers were pretty much stationary. These were ones wthey allowed us to go into to see how they lived, in a small village outside of town.
A trip was planned one weekend for myself and a few of the Mongolian people who worked at the clinic, we went on a hike. We drove in an overly crowded van with bald tires a ways out of town past the “forest” which the locals were excited for me to see. Mostly the land is barren, some rocks, some grass, not much more. The "forest"" was a stand of trees off in the distance, nothing compared to Canada but the Mongolians were very proud of it. I was shocked that this was the anticipated forest to visit. The trees have been cut down for years for firewood as the houses are heated with wood and they cook with wood as well. Each of the little yurts has a wood burning stove in the centre and a hole at the top to let out the smoke. Overlooking Yurt subdivisions just outside of Ulaanbaatar on a cold day, all you can see is overhanging smoke. The air pollution is worse than in Beijing.
We drove to the Bogd Khan Mountain. In 1783 the local Mongolian government of the Qing Dynasty declared the Bogd Khan a protected site, for its beauty. This makes it the oldest legally protected natural area in the world. The locals hike here frequently and we ran into several groups even though it was cold and snowy. The kids had a blast and we took lots of photos.
Bogd Khan Mountain
The End
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