October 11, 2010 – Wheelchair donated to Buyannemekh
Buyannemekh was a tall, handsome, college student attending the National University of Mongolia and studying Bio-technology.
In 2006, before his graduation, Buyannemekh was beaten up. His injuries left him paralyzed from the waist down and with limited use of his hands. He wasn’t able to finish his course work and, as a result, he missed his college graduation. He went to China for two or three months of treatment, but since then, he has lain at home in his bed. Buyannemekh’s younger brother, Altanbaagan, who is about a foot shorter than Buyannemekh and Buyannemekh’s mother care for his daily needs. Once in awhile his family takes him out of their home for a ride in a car, but usually he just lies on his back in his bed.
One of his college classmates, Batchimeg who is a returned missionary, delivered his request for a wheelchair to DIC. Batchimeg went with us when we delivered the wheelchair. She was saddened to see his condition but happy to see him receive a wheelchair.
Buyannemekh and his mother expressed their sincere appreciation for the wheelchair. We hope it will increase his mobility and help him enjoy life more.
On October 22
nd, Damdin Suren, who is a retired church member, accompanied us the small apartment of his life-long friend, Batmunkh who is sixty years old. Damdin Suren and Batmunkh worked together for many years on heavy construction. Batmunkh lifted and carried many heavy loads on construction sites. He has had back pain for a long time, but five years ago, he had a serious back injury. He could still walk, but it was very painful.
On the advice of his doctor, Batmunkh traveled to China for an operation. Unfortunately, the operation left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Batmunkh can sit in a chair alone and wheel a wheelchair, but someone has to assist him to sit up and move into a chair. He has a huge bedsore, and because of it, he can’t even take a shower. He said he doesn’t like laying down all the time. Sometimes he borrows his friend’s wheelchair and gets up and makes cookies. He has a secret recipe that no one else in Mongolia has. Sometimes he receives orders from Americans and Japanese people for his special-recipe cookies.
He was delighted to receive the wheelchair. He has big plans to build a bakery next to his apartment building and was thrilled because now he will be able to sit up and bake in his bakery. He said the wheelchair would be just perfect! He said he hopes we will still be in Mongolia when he opens his new bakery in April because he wants to invite us to its opening.
October 24, 2010
We delivered three wheel chairs to individuals.
The first was to the 84-year old father of Munktsetseg who is a member of Khailaast Branch. Purev Chogdov was really pleased with his new wheelchair and as soon as he was helped into the wheelchair, he took off wheeling around the two-room home.
He said he is really happy to receive the wheelchair because he gets really tired of lying in bed all the time.
The next delivery was to a woman who is an active member of the Church named Dorjpalam Ulzii. She was born in 1944 and is 66 years old. She is planning on going to the temple as soon as possible, however, because walking is so painful for her, she has been unable to even attend church for a long time. As we drove over steep, uneven, rocky, ger-district “roads” to her home, we were grateful that we were in a four-wheel drive vehicle. The Khailaast Branch President, Nassanbold, accompanied us. When we asked him how Dorjpalam traveled these roads when she came to church, he replied, “Walking very slowly.” As we arrived at her home, her son told us that she had gone to the hospital, so we decided that as long as we had time and the wheelchair with us, we would deliver it to her there. It was a long way across town and we would have never found it alone, but thanks to
President Nassanbold and Brother Otgonbayar, who went with us because he said he wanted to do service, we finally found the building nestled deep in a ger district. As we opened the door to her room, we found Dorjpalam’s angelic-looking face greeting us. She was delighted. Receiving a wheelchair was a dream come true for her.
And finally, we took a wheelchair to Baatarnyam who is about 55 years old. He has had a couple of strokes. About three months ago, he had a tragic accident. He was collecting plastic bottles around the railroad tracks when he became dizzy and passed out on the train tracks. A train came along and cut off one of his legs just below the knee.
He and his wife have been investigating the Church, so the missionaries brought us a request to give him a wheelchair. Baatarnyam and his wife didn’t know we were coming and when we arrived, the door to Baatarnyam’s fence was locked. Elder Bashka, Elder Wilson and Richard banged and banged on the gate. We thought Baatarnyam must be home because the gate was locked from the inside, but in spite of a band of loud banging, no one came to answer the door. Just as we were about give up, we had a tender mercy. Three young boys came bounding down the steep hill.
The Elders asked the boys if they knew the people we wanted to see. They said they did and before we knew it, all three, like agile monkeys, scaled the tall fence, dropped down on the other side and ran to the house. After rousing Baatarnyam’s wife, they came running with her back to the door to let us in.
Baatarnyam’s wife and Baatarnyam were really surprised. She cried and cried. At first, Baatarnyam was speechless, but as he was helped into his new wheelchair, he uttered bursts of gratitude and profuse handshaking. As we left, we received one final hug from Baatarnyam’s teary wife, then we waved good-by.
Richard wrote: Deseret International Charities' construction of five clean-water stations for Bayanzurkh District in Ulaanabaatar is complete. We had the opening ceremonies and all water stations are in operation. Both contractors were great and had several crews working on the water stations simultaneously. Construction on the first station began August 20th and the last station was completed October 9th.
The exterior walls include an outside layer of brick, a 4-inch layer of Styrofoam, and another 3 rows of brick. The inside of the walls are then coated with plaster and are painted. The walls end up being about 20+ inches thick. Each station also has a ramp for the water truck to pull up on so it can fill the tank with water.
The buildings are 6 meters square, not counting the ramp. They are much larger than the well houses DIC built, because they house a much larger water tank. The windows are high quality double-paned glass. They are quite attractive and almost look like small churches. Sometimes the operators fix them up to look really homey inside.
