From Reliance to Resilience

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

 

 

 

From Reliance to Resilience

 

 

 

Summary:

 

Otgonbaatar struggled to provide for his family. But this all changed when World Vision provided tyre repair machinery. Now instead of asking friends for money he is able to help others.

 

 

 

Text:

 

A sound of a car is coming closer and closer until it parks next to the Tyre Repairs Workshop.  Soon after that the sound of a motorbike can be heard getting louder and louder. A nomadic herder parks his motorbike to get his spare tyre fixed.  The handlebars of the motorbike are covered with animal fur to prevent the hands from getting frostbite during the severe Mongolian winters. It is another busy day for Otgonbaatar who runs this tyre repair workshop which was equipped by World Vision.

 

 

 

But in the past life was not so prosperous for Otgonbaatar. He was unemployed. He struggled to provide for his family by collecting and selling wild berries and nuts from the forest. This was hard labor.  He climbed up very tall trees, then he would hit the tree branches and his wife would collect the pine cones that fell to the ground. He put them in a sack, take it home, clean it and sell it to hawkers. He needed to drag heavy 50kg bags through the forest until he reached the car that would transport them to his home. Otgonbaatar also used to collect blackberries and blueberries which grow in rocky places. He would sell the raw berries to others who make jam.

 

 

 

After he got married he decided to go to the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, occasionally  to do construction work. During that time he completed a driver’s course and acquired his driver’s license. Then he worked in a road company for 3 years as an auto mechanic and learnt the skill of repairing tyres but was unfortunately retrenched.

 

 

 

World Vision conducted a needs assessment in his community which he participated in and he gave an application letter requesting to be involved the World Vision Program.  In October 2016, his life took a turn for the better when World Vision provided equipment for him to operate a tyre repair workshop. “Now our income has increased and we are able to pay for the school stationeries of our children and other kindergarden expenses. So now we don’t need to get loans anymore”, said Otgonbaatar. In summer his wife paints the wood of a ger (traditional Mongolian dwelling) which takes about 3 days to complete.

 

 

 

           

 

Otgonbaatar attended a business training so that he is better equipped to run a business. This training included: what is a business, what is loss, basic revenue, and low revenue, accountancy, how to increase income and profit, business marketing, how to introduce products. Otgonbaatar proudly shows his certificate from this training. “In this training we learnt to start from small with new ideas and products and to be creative,” said Otgonbaatar. One of the creative business ideas he has been doing recently is to repair tyres that have been thrown away and to sell them at a cheap price.

 

 

 

Otgonbaatar is a member of a small savings group which meets together twice a month. Each meeting they buy shares so that they can get a loan at a latter stage.

 

During the meeting the savings group discuss about the person who is applying for the loan and they determine if the person is capable of paying back the loan. The person who wants a loan, must write an application letter to the group introducing what he/she is going to do with the loan, the loan amount and when he/she is going to pay back. Loans are usually less than 200 000 Tugrugs (about US$ 83). The members often repay the loan before the deadline. The other members of this savings group called “Silver Coin” make bread, dairy products, rope for the ger, a shoemaker and a carpenter. In every meeting the members buy shares which cost 6 000 Tugrugs per share. But sometimes they buy two shares worth 12 000 Tugrug but this depends on the amount of cash they have available.

 

 

 

“Now I always have cash available, I don’t have to borrow money from others. Now I am able help others,” said a proud Otgonbaatar.  In the past life was hard he didn’t have cattle like others so he needed to buy everything for the family like firewood, food etc.

 

 

 

Otgonbaatar is a “go-getter”. He has short term and long term goals and is in the process of building a house for his tyre repairs workshop so that he does not need to pay rent. For this year, he would like to build a warm house for his family.  In future he wants to build a big garage and start an automobile repair shop.

 

 

 

Besides having a lucrative business his family also needs to be physically well also. Therefore World Vision partnered with a local hospital to conduct trainings which included healthy living and environment, and nutritious food, food preparation and preservation, creating a healthy environment with regards to water and sanitation, as well as, correct disposal of garbage.

 

 

 

“I was chosen as the best tyre repairman in my village,” said Otgonbaatar with a proud grin.“In the past I used to ask friends for money, but now I am able to help my friends”, said Otgonbaatar, with a smile. Such a radical change was made possible through the kind support of World Vision Sponsors.