We're Finally On The Map....Literally!
You're very welcome up at the Children of the Peak Sanctuary Kindergarten ...and now it's easy to find us!
Well, we made it! into the 21st century! Recently browsing Google Maps to give someone a map of how to get up to the Peak I realized that the satellite photo had been updated and now incudes an up to date shot of our facilities - including the 2 get kindergartens ( shiny metal roofs and all!) , The Foulger Pratt wing ( Blue roof and red roof for the kitchen!), the Brad Winters Community Library ( Dark Brown roof) and our 2 foster care gers and our security / guard house in the containers by the fence. This was hugely exciting news for me because it meant we could submit our location to Google Maps and have it available for people who want to search for us on the map by name! We just found out it's been added to Google Maps - how cool is that?! Now you can find us by typing in Veloo Foundation or Children of the Peak Sanctuary Kindergarten into the search bar on Google Maps and we can pinpoint our location and share it with anyone who wants to come up and find us - which means finding us is going to be a lot easier now! So, you have no excuses people - our volunteer programme happens every week on Fridays and our doors are always open for visitors. See you up there!
That Magic Moment...
You know the one. That moment when the guy who has been dragging himself along in the dirt because he didn't have a wheelchair ....gets one. It doesn't get better than this people. Seriously. Nothing is better than this. Full stories of more distributions will be added to the post as we go along over the next few weeks. I just wanted to start your weekend off on this awesome note!
Entrepreneurial Philanthropy. The New Way to Do Good
Bat-Erdene, a dedicated father and talented artisan and leather craftsman living in Ulaanbaatar has dedicated himself to his craft for years as a way to make ends meet. Not an easy thing to do anywhere . Really not easy to do in post Soviet Mongoia and particularly when you happen to be missing a leg and dependent upon crutches to get around. Not an easy thing to do in Mongolia period. Unable to afford a workshop space on the ground level he has spend years hopping down a steep narrow staircase to his workshop. Him making a go of it in a regular job was not much of an option. You see, in Mongolia being handicapped pretty much means that no one will hire you and if you are going to have a decent life you have to be a go getter. an innovator. An entrepreneur. And Bat-Erdene fits the bill. Quiet, and engaging his smile is quick and shy and when presented with a leather design challenge his head cocks quietly to the side as he mentally runs through the process , seeing in his mind the construction and finishing of the requested bag, belt, saddle bag or chaps ( yes chaps!) followed inevitably with the serious nod and a quiet " Bolon"..I can do that..
I have known and admired Bat-ERdene for 5 years now. He is a caring and gentle soul and has designed and made me purses, belts, wallets, saddle bags ( lots and LOTS of saddle bags for the Gobi Gallop) and hat bands ( remember the ..."Bolon"..) Recently this gentle, hard working entrepreneur has also become the most unexpected of all things a philanthropist.
He called me up when I was last in Mongolia and told me that he was dissolving his NGO which had been his way of helping his fellow handicapped people and being an engine for positive change in the community. Instead he was going to become a for-profit business. "Wonderful!" I said thinking that this spoke to a great move forward for his business. Then he leaned across the table and said "Julie, I have been making your Gobi Gallop sadldle bags and hat bands and I have been talking to Bayaraa and Miriam ( Foundation logistics managers) and I am so impressed with the work you are doing to help Mongolian Children. I have heard that you also are bringing in wheelchairs to help Mongolian handicapped people. You are a foreigner and are doing such great things for the children. I would like to help you help the Mongolian children."
Breathtaking. And very moving. I was so touched by his desire to help. He and his wife have worked and worked for years and now when they are on the threshold of making it, his first thought is to help us help the children. Of course, he doesn't have a lot of money to give straight away. What he proposed is that he give a portion of the profits from the sales of his bags to the Children of the Peak. It seems to be a model whose time has come. Like Horse Trek Mongolia and Art of Zaya, Bat-Erdene and his Morit Khas brand want to be part of the solution for their country, part of the answer to the question " How will Mongolia move forward?" It is really lovely- and we are honured to be a partner in this new approach to giving.
So, to help him (and the children) out, I have brought over a selection of some of his designs and with the help of a few friends we are showing them to shops and individuals who might want to become part of this movement to purchase responsibly and help the children through their purchases. Just one more way that we can help more and more people and spread the word about the plight of the children we help. SO....if you want a hand made, custom designed purse, wallet, or a camera bag, or a backpack, or chaps ( yes chaps!), hat bands...really anything made out of leather, I know where you can get them. And, if you know someone who has a shop and would like to participate in ethical entrepreneurial philanthropy, let me know and I'll put you in touch. It's a wonderful feeling, be part of an ever expanding team dedicated to making sure that we truly can move forward and make a difference...one child at a time.
In the meantime, just so you know what I'm really talking about - here are a few of his traditional and fashion forward designs....with prices. Oh, and yes, everything can come in every colour. Every colour...you're talking to a girl who has teal saddle bags that Bat-Erdene made for me! How fun is this!?
Mongolian leather cleverly crafted to look like alligator skin casual bag. $120.00 CAD
To enlarge, please click on each individual photo
Pricelist in $CAD
Blue backpack - separable zip straps - $100.00
Small rectangular brown bag - $65.00
Black handbag with brown logo - $100.00
Wallets: Men's and Women's Small - $25.00
Ladies large - $35.00 ( check out the secret compartment!)
Large convertible Camera / Gym bag $185.00
All products available in all colours.
Thrilled to Be Helping the Handicapped. 300+ Reasons Why.
They're here!! Earlier this week the shipment containing over 300 wheelchairs and other similar medical devices that left Canada mid-June, arrived! It has now cleared customs and is on its way, with the help of the Mongolian National Handicapped Association, to help literally hundreds of handicapped people in Mongolia! This unexpected and unlooked for donation is changing hundreds of lives - and we're thrilled to be a part of it!
One of the few children's wheelchairs in the shipment, this will be going to help at a handicapped children's kindergarten that has no such equipment
Immediately upon arrival the team at Mongolian National Handicapped Association set to assembling and repairing the chairs that needed it and marvelling at the quality and variety of medical devices in the shipment
How this came about....
There was some confusion about what this was...they had not seen lifts like these before!
You can be forgiven if right now you are shaking your head and thinking..."What?? Veloo Foundation....wheelchairs?" I imagine many of you are out there wondering what the heck is going on. This is, after all, not our usual fare and nowhere in this post are there photos of happy smiling kids either at the kindergarten or out in the countryside. The lack of those happy, smiling faces does not, however, minimize the joy of this story. You see, sometimes fate has a way of expanding your outlook on the world and providing unexpected opportunities to truly make a difference. That's what happened to us. Here's how we ended up in the business of distributing wheelchairs to the very needy in Mongolia. In late May we were contacted by a Canadian company that had a major donation of wheelchairs, commode chairs, bed and chair lifts ( not the skiing kind...the kind that help people with mobility issues move from chair to bed or chair to chair) that they wanted to get to Mongolia and as we are the only Canadian charity working in Mongolia they were wondering if we could help. Well, we had to think about it - the cost for shipping the wheelchairs was not small - at first it was looking like it would be $8000.00 but then it turned into more like $11,000.00 - quite a chunk of change for us. On the flip side - the value of the donated items was huge. Massive really. Not only the dollar value, but just the sheer quantity and diversity of these chairs and assorted medical devices would mean that hundreds and hundreds of individuals, organizations and hospitals in Mongolia would be so much better equipped to help the people of Mongolia. It would mean that we could truly make a difference.
Great job by Cirelo - our shipper-in building shelves and carefully packing it all so it all arrived intact and in good working order!
And so ... we decided to do it. We pledged to pay for the shipment from our own pocket seeing as our donors had donated in order to help us with our primary programme - the Children of the Peak Sanctuary Project - we felt it would not be right to use said donations for something so completey different. As with most things of this nature, time was of the essence. We only had a week to organize a team to remove labels from the chairs, contact shipping companies to give quotes and look at logistics and get some volunteers to sort, organize and load up the container on the day. Thankfully we had the help of the BC Mongolian Association and have a great contact at a shipping company (the same company that helped us so much with our original shipment back in 2010 of 4.5 tons of warm clothing , blankets, coats and the like) who wanted to help. They stepped in and , together with some very committed volunteer labour, made it all happen. They build shelves in the container, loaded it up, chose shipping routes and we were away!
So now they're here and we get the fun of helping decide where to send them. We are working with the Mongolian National Handicapped Association to make sure they will end up where they can do the most good - in Ulaanbaatar and far out into the countryside! We are looking at hospitals and associations across Mongolia to make sure that we help the most number of people possible.
Just a few last thoughts...
This has been one of those things in life that comes without warning. Our work with the children and families at the garbage dump has brought me into many homes where handicapped people suffer in isolation. To have been able to make this connection between the donors and those in need across Mongolia has truly been an honour and I am grateful for the opportunity. I love that our work in Mongolia meant that someone out there knew about us and was able to bring our name forward as a partner for these kinds of shipments.
Future updates and details of some of the 300+ stories that this distribution will result in will be posted here as the stories unfold and while this may well be the only such shipment that we are ever able to coordinate and make happen, I am so happy to have been able to be apart of the chain that is making such a HUGE difference ...one chair at a time.