A tower of strength

Chiselling lumps of coal from a less-than-rich seam after squeezing down his self-dug hole, the miner looked forward to seeing his new baby as he laboured to earn as much as his could for his pregnant wife and son, Battulkhuur.

Recalling that tough time, his wife, Otgontsetseg, says, “We didn’t have a home, so we used to live in a house with its owners who were very unfriendly. My husband was the only one who worked, but he could only do so seasonally.” 

“Living in someone else’s home was really hard, especially as they were alcoholics,” she adds. “We didn’t feel comfortable.”

Desperate for any other accommodation, the landless couple were stuck without full-time jobs to afford a place of their own – or so World Vision’s local team, who went to visit the family’s sponsored son, thought.

Arriving at their former abode, the outreach workers were told the family had moved out in favour of an old ‘ger’ – Mongolia’s traditional nomadic home – they had borrowed from a friend.

“That was a really happy time for the family,” the mother says.

It wouldn’t last. As Otgontsetseg approached her due date in the winter of 2012, her husband died unexpectedly after a fall. “I gave birth three days after his funeral,” the widow says in tears.

“World Vision’s staff visited us and gave us 20 [US] dollars and some food,” the 32-year-old continues, “but after my husband died, his friend wanted his ger back. We were homeless again.”

“I asked World Vision for help,” she says, rediscovering her smile, “So they gave us a new ger, which we assembled on a small piece of land that my husband’s former boss gave us.”

Suddenly left to care for his mother, who was still recovering from childbirth and her emotional turmoil, and his baby brother, 14-year-old Battulkhuur says, “It was great to have our own home.”

During the school holidays, the teenager still takes care of his now two-year-old brother, with his mother saying, “He’s a tower of strength because I need to work to earn money for my boys. But I don’t worry about them because they’re safe at home when I’m out.”

Aware of his untimely responsibilities, Battulkhuur studies hard in grade eight at school. “I want to be a chef,” he says, “and I love playing basketball with my friends in the gym when I have time.”

Hopefully, in the warm atmosphere of his small family, his dream can come true.