©InfoPlaying house is a universal children’s pastime, although three sisters from Bayanzurkh district have no toys to do this with. They make do with rocks behind their tent, laying out the foundation of their imaginary palace and talking in whispers among themselves.
The Mongolian Red Cross Society’s social care programme has provided them and their father Tsagaanbaatar with a real home, a small ger – a traditional felt tent where they sleep huddled together.
Dolgormaa, a Red Cross volunteer, visits them regularly, acting as a mother to the young girls. Whether by washing their hair or indulging their youthful fantasies, Dolgormaa allows them to feel like they have a childhood, letting their imagination and dreams flourish in the harshest of circumstances.
Discrimination
A few years ago, Tsagaanbaatar arrived in Ulan Bator with his three girls, homeless and motherless. Despite being a trained military engineer he had lost his job after the fall of socialism and the economic hardship that set in during the 1990s. When the Russians pulled out of Mongolia they left a vacuum and many people lost their jobs because there was no more military presence.
Dolgormaa has been visiting the family regularly since 2005. Aside from acting like a mother to the girls, she helps Tsagaanbaatar find work. This is no easy task, because gender discrimination is rife in Mongolia, but not as we traditionally know it. It is men that employers are reluctant to hire, presuming them to be alcoholics.
Certainly there is a huge problem with alcoholism among the male population, but discrimination like this means that Tsagaanbaatar, a single father and experienced engineer, is unable to find work to support his girls, aged six, ten and 14.
Red Cross support
Tsagaanbaatar is also discriminated against for being too poor. Employers worry that he would be unable to pay for broken equipment. Another problem Tsagaanbaatar faces is being considered too old: he is 43 years old.
With the backing of the Red Cross, employers are more willing to give him the chance he deserves to earn a small income to support his family and afford sending his children to school, something that has not always been possible.
With the volunteer’s assistance, Tsagaanbaatar’s family life is returning to some sort of normality.
The British Red Cross is supporting this programme with funding and training.
More about our work in Mongolia
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