As I mentioned earlier, my friend Tee and I are in Mongolia this summer on a grant from the Davis Projects for Peace initiative by The Davis Foundation. We are happy to announce that construction of the greenhouse has been completed!
Construction and materials were bought from a Korean company by the name of Evergreen Land Co. Ltd. (мөнx ногоон тал xxк), and cost about 3000 USD. Construction took, in total, about 4 days even after a delay due to high wind speeds this past weekend. Pictures of the construction process on Monday is shown below:
The 14th School is the main school in Khongor, although some of the residents choose to send their children to school is Darkhan, which has more resources. Many of the kids that attend The 14th School, however, are children of herders, and so must board during the school months. It is the aim of this project to supplement their diets, which are heavily meat-based, with the vegetables that will be grown within the greenhouse. Moreover, it is our greatest hope that these students will be exposed to health risks associated with a heavy meat diet, and take precautions to protect themselves and their families against it; namely through a more varied and balanced diet, as well as diet and exercise.
The Opening Ceremony was held Tuesday early morning. Tee and I got to say some words to the students and community members, and lay clear our aims. The greenhouse was opened to much excitement and curiosity.
But as Tee said in the joint speech, this is just the beginning step. We are now ready for Phase 2 – raising awareness about preventable and chronic diseases, urging a lifestyle of balanced diets and regular exercise, and actually introducing these grown vegetables into the modern Mongolian diet.
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