“I always ask, why are people so homophobic?” Dr. Dorjjantsan Ganbaatar, who goes by Jack, muses. The question hangs, just momentarily, for a split second in the air. He and I had been discussing the lives of LGBT people in Mongolia for close to an hour before we arrive at this question - a question… Continue reading Being LGBT in Mongolia
As I finished crossing the busy Ulaanbaatar street and breathed a sigh of relief, the driver stuck his head out of his window and started yelling at me, calling me names and angrily asking (commenting?) on whether I knew how to cross the street with another sprinkle of cuss words.
Looking at the Mongolian countryside, it is hard not to notice the white specks by hills, rivers, or in the middle of what seems like nowhere. Getting even closer you may hear the loud barks of the dog to alert their owners of the visitor. By the ruckus of the bark, the owners will bow their heads through the doorway of the white speck, which is of course a ger, and call his dog closer.
To increase access to vegetables for the students of Khongor, Mongolia, we established a greenhouse. We are happy to report that it is still alive and operational four years later.
The National Statistics Office just released the annual GDP growth rate for 2014-2015, and it's not pretty. In 2015, the economy grew by 2.5%, which is a far cry from the 15.3% that we had in 2011, or even the 5.9% that we had in 2014. But it's nowhere what it was in 2009. In… Continue reading Mongolia GDP Lowest Since 2009
With the waning of the summer, the nights are getting longer and the weather is getting colder. Before long, the winter will be upon us, which means that temperatures will precipitously dip into -30-40 Celsius, and thick blankets of snow will cover the hilltops. It also means that the crisp Mongolian air will soon become… Continue reading UB’s Air Pollution Dilemma and Affordable Smart Air Filters comes to UB
For anyone doing research on Mongolia, especially on the economic side of things, I'm sure that the World Bank database (data.worldbank.org) is a familiar friend. For those of you who didn't know that fun fact, go there immediately to revel in the amount of data that the World Bank has collected and compiled into a… Continue reading Upper-Middle-Income-Ish
Hello everyone - Thank you for all of your support. We are very proud of the work that we have been able to accomplish in Khongor, and could not have done it without the support of the Davis Projects for Peace, the Center for Global Engagement at Kenyon, the 14th School students, teachers and staff,… Continue reading The Last of the Greenhouse Project, International Development and the Future
There are some thoughts that always return to me in cycles, some thoughts that are now like good friends, loyal customers or terrifying stalkers. They keep me company through the quieter moments in my life, or they keep me up, raising my pulse, triggering an anxiety attack. As you can discern, these companions bear a… Continue reading Purpose. Philosophy.
Some information to consider: Mongolia has the number-one prevalence of liver cancer in the world, with 78.1 cases per 100,000 people; for males, the rate is 97.8 cases per 100,000 cases, and for females, the rate is 61.1 cases per 100,000 cases. The second highest prevalence of liver cancer is in Lao PDR, but consider… Continue reading Mongolia’s Health Crisis
Airports have become something of a common haunt for me. After making the 14+ hour trip between the US and East Asia several times, I have gotten used to the strangely formal atmosphere of air transit. You're stuck together in a metal container that can miraculously lift off the ground despite the tons it must… Continue reading The First Steps
Macongolia: Observations of Mongolia 