Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The Blue Skies Ger Village is located in the suburbs of Ulaanbaatar. The village was set-up to house and educate 60 children at any one time. Children find their way to the village through a relatively broken police recommendation system – in Mongolia, there is no active social service. They are usually victims of abuse – often sexual – or they are found on the streets.

Harsh winters bring chilling temperatures of -40c so homeless children often take to the sewers around Ulaanbaatar to draw heat from the pipes. The Mongolian government has attempted to fill in the sewer entry points to force the children into alternative means of shelter but whilst walking around the town centre we saw many had been broken back in.

We also noticed that the village is incredibly self-sufficient. A small bakery and and slightly larger than average vegetable patch means the kids can share the responsibility of keeping food on the table whilst also keeping day-to-day running costs down.

The staff at CNCF are all 100% dedicated to equiping the children with life skills that allow them a smooth transition back into society when their time at CNCF comes to an end. This passion is focussed by Christina Noble herself who remains very much involved in the running of the Village and others like it in Vietnam.

Knowing that donations will go directly to this project and future projects just like it gives us great confidenence that it will be used intelligently to ensure a continuous and positive impact on disadvantaged children of Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar. From the few hours that we spent in the village we got an overwhelming sense that these kids had started to forget their dark pasts and were now fully focussed on the present and their, now suddenly, bright futures.

Never-the-less, we were prepared this time. On arrival we pulled out the doodle scroll, the Sharpie markers and the gifts from Dodo Pad. As is now almost expected, the kids hands flew in and the doodling / scribbling ensued. Though each of our visits so far have been different the kids enthusiasm never wains. The Doodle Car keeps them entertained for about an hour and at this point we usually go on a tour of the village and bombard the director and staff with questions.

However, once we’d finished our doodling, the Village Director gathered the village around and gave a short speech thanking us for our support of the SOS Children’s Villages presented us with a framed letter, an incredible painting by one of the kids and a bag of SOS goodies. We were speechless, and still are.

We were then taken, for the first time, to one of the village houses for traditional Russian tea. Over butter and fish eggs on bread, we discussed how circumstances in recent history have allowed more than one million children to become orphans (consider that Russia has a population of only 140 million). Elena explained how it became almost acceptable to hand your child to the state and therefore parents started not to take responsibility for their children. This attitude has snowballed and is now ingrained in Russian society. It will take a seismic shift in attitude to change this way of thinking.

This visit gave us a much fuller understanding of how and why so many children grow up with out parents in Russia. It was over tea that a stark reality hit home; out of approximately 1 million orphans living in Russia, only a small few are privileged enough to find themselves placed in an SOS Children’s Village. These kids are the ones who are more likely to achieve in life but we can’t help but think that what we’re seeing merely scratches the surface of a much larger issue.

All that’s stopping them helping more orphans like the ones in Pushkin is the financial backing from donations. To support SOS Children’s Villages please back our project and donate here.

We’ve been driving for a little over two weeks now and visited 3 SOS Children’s Villages along our route. As I write this entry we are circling Moscow through a thick blanket of smoke from the forest fires. We’ve driven through the night from St Petersburg and our most recent charity visit in the Pushkin district.

The European roads have been flawless but since passing into Russia they’ve become less consistent and we frequently have swerve to avoid debris on the road. Also, now we’re in Russia, communicating with people who have absolutely no idea (or care) in the world about what you are saying / doing / trying to achieve is becoming increasingly difficult. They speak literally no English. So, trying to explain why your car is covered in doodles and that it hasn’t been vandalised, has become our new favourite game. And the Border Police seem to think it hilarious.

The forest fires have caused some debate; do we avoid the Moscow area altogether and add 5 days to an already tight schedule or do we risk the fires and plough on through, make Kazakhstan by Tuesday sundown and risk the fire. We’ve decided to risk it and are now heading for the border. 2 days left in Russia .

The visits have all been very different. Our first was unannounced but we were welcomed with open arms by the Vitolds the director who cycled in when he heard we’d arrived – despite being on holiday. The second took the form of a highly competitive football game against a team of
5 – 12 year olds (which we lost miserably).  And last night we were fed traditional Russian tea and presented with a large framed painting by one of the kids – we love it but are struggling to find room in our already fully packed car. We’ve written about the individual visits in more detail on the blog.

Our car trundles on undeterred and we have two more visits before the finish line in Ulaanbaatar, so things are looking up. But – and this is a big BUT – we’ve yet to hit the Kazakh roads and our trusty little one litre engine has been known to struggle against the incline of Battersea Bridge. Fingers crossed she holds out for the remaining 7,000 miles…

We’ve been keeping our blog up-to-date (at worst we’re 2 days behind) and our twitter is always ‘live as we drive’ but If you’ve missed it, then follow this link: www.thedoodlecar.com/blog.

But is this about to change? The Indian Government has developed a tablet type computer which it wants to manufacture and make available to students across the country.

It seems that this might be the project to finally succeed.  Firstly, it has the support of the Government which makes it a serious proposition from the get-go and importantly opens many doors to implementing a robust manufacturing process to get the product to market.

The other major reason that this has a stronger chance than its predecessors is that it is in tablet form, not PC or even laptop which have come before.  Tablet technology offers a completely new way of engaging in technology easily fulfills the needs of the Indian market as it stands today.  In this way, it’s not just financially viable on a large scale but practically as well.  Just as the iPad is a step-change in media consumption in addition to that which is already so inherent in our lives, so this gadget will be step-change in widespread digital engagement in India.

For the Indian market to fulfill the potential that it offers, the population needs to be technologically mobilised and this initiative could be the solution to this.  At the moment it is just a plan but a plan that I for one feel has a good chance of coming to fruition and that can only be a good thing for all of us.

By
Carol O’Mara
gyro London

“Run Glasson Run” was born out of Richard’s determination to honour his mother’s legacy after losing her to cancer last summer. As part of his challenge Richard has already raced the toughest section of the Tour de France and completed an IronMan 70.3 Triathlon. After running the New York City Marathon on Sunday, he will be tasked with tackling the madness of the Hellrunner cross-country ordeal, before rounding things off in December with the off-road Helly Hansen Adventure Race.

Commenting on Richard’s challenge, Katy Chaytor, of Macmillan Cancer Support said “Richard’s legacy to his mother couldn’t be more impressive. When he recovers from his exhaustion, he should be very proud that his efforts will help so many others affected by cancer to the practical, emotional and financial support that Macmillan provides. Richard’s hard work will mean the difference between a good and a bad day for many cancer patients and we hope he’ll receive plenty of support for such an ambitious fundraiser!”

To give a donation to Richard’s extraordinary challenge please visit www.justgiving.com/glasson

By
Patrick Danaher
Marketing Manager
GyroHSR