Children’s Ger School an “Oasis”
38 students are enrolled in the Children’s Ger School. Amistad provided the paint for their cheerful schoolhouse.
Mongolia: Thanks to Amistad, Children’s Ger School (CGH) is an “oasis in a desert of deprivation,’ reports American volunteer Dr. Ann Altman. CGH sits in an otherwise harsh drab ger (yurt) settlement sprawling rapidly around Ulaanbaatar. Nomadic herding families arrive daily from the countryside seeking work. They either bring a ger (yurt) or built provisional shanties wherever they can find a shard of land in the ger settlement. Sadly, their children are unable to attend public schools in UB. Mongolia allows children to attend public school only in their birth aimag (region.) Children’s Ger School,a free private school, was started by Mongolian teachers with a vision for helping the migrant children.
The forward-thinking teachers also desired to grow vegetables for the children’s daily meal. (This was good news since the Mongolian diet is primarily animal source-based.)
Their new free school also needed other basics. Amistad has provided CGS with the funds to rebuild their green house, start a vegetable garden, build a playground, and paint the outside of the school. We also provided funds for purchase of some basic foods for the daily meal given the students. During the last growing season the children’s garden produced a large quantity of vegetables which the teachers ‘canned,’ processing for preservation. This winter the children are enjoying the benefits from their vegetable garden.
The children learned how to grow vegetables in their new garden.
The students in their garden.
The students and teachers enjoying a soup made from the school garden’s vegetables.
The teachers processed the vegetables from the garden for this winter’s lunch program.
Amistad provided funds for repairs on green house. Vegetable seedlings grew and are providing food this winter for the kids.
