Dzud Emergency Relief

Thousands of herder families are still experiencing the slow-moving disaster of the Dzud disaster in Mongolia.  Many are weak, exhaussted and faced with insufficient food and fuel supplies.  They are rapidly losing their livelihood because of mounting losses of their livestock and newborn animals.  Reports indicate the worst is yet to come as millions of animals will die, mostly in the spring, because the livestock are already weak and there is no fodder left.  And because it will still be many weeks before temperatures will warm the ground enough for grass to grow for their livestock.

A report by the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization states that now the only means of generating cash for most herder families is to bring the dead carcasses into their homes, warm them up, remove the skin and sell the skin for approximately 50 US cents each.  Many are moving their few remaining livestock into their gers with their families to keep them warm.

Deseret International Charities donated about $50,000 for food, medicine, matches, clothing, candles, fuel, and sanitary items to three of aimags (provinces) and to the Ministry Education to help fix heating systems of school/dormatories for the herders' children.  DIC has received back some detailed reports on how the assistance was administered, who received the assistance, and photographs showing the aid being delivered.  The following are photos of assistance are from reports sent in by Uuvs and Khovd  aimags (provinces).  DIC also received letters of gratitude from each province and a request for more assistance to help the herder families and their animals through the rest of the winter.  

Much of the world is already experiencing wonderful spring time, but spring and growing grass will not come to the people of Mongolia for at least another month or two.  Also there are some areas where there is no snow, but the people there are experiencing a "black dzud." There nothing is growing because of cold temperatures and the drought.  

The Mongolian government continues to appeal for donations for:  food, fuel, medicine, clothing, fodder for the animals, and other basic needs.  Deseret International Charities (sponsored by donations from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints world wide) has received additional requests for assistance from seven aimags  (provinces) and has just requested another relief package to help the herders who are still in dire need.  Our office in Ulaanbaatar just sent this request off to the Asian Area Office, so we don't know yet how much will be approved, but if it is approved, it will be a sizable donation.

Update:
The effects of the Dzud continue. Many herders have lost all of their herds. It is expected that thousands of herder families will be forced to move to the city to survive and will come looking for work, but because most of them have no other skills and because there are not many jobs, it will bring some terrible challenges to Ulaanbaatar and the other cities. In Mongolia, about 37 percent of the population is below the poverty level. Some companies are starting to do a lot of mining here for coal, copper, silver, gold, etc., which over the long run, will bring a lot of money into the Mongolian economy and create a lot of jobs, but that will all take time.

Deseret International Charities requested and received another $150,000 in emergency relief aid from the Church/Emergency Relief Fund to help support the herder families. DIC signed agreements with the governors of seven provinces (like our states) and transferred the money to them to purchase and distribute basic food supplies, medicines, fuel, sanitation items and fodder for their animals. Many of the herders are destitute and near starvation because of the loss of their animals and thus their livelihood. Also, late winter-spring is the season for the young animals to be born, but their mothers aren't able to produce milk so part of the funds will be to provide a milk substitute for the mother's milk. This brings the total emergency relief donation to $200,000, which is a lot of money here in Mongolia.

Utah missionary: Mongolians hit hard by harsh winter

Story on KSL.com
By Jennifer Stagg

SALT LAKE CITY -- Like many parts of the world, people in Mongolia are experiencing a heavy winter. But in a country where much of the population lives in remote areas as livestock herders, this is more than some extra snow -- it's become life or death. Though the country is used to extreme winters, this one has been devastating.

"They say it's the worst they've had in 30 years," Richard Lasson says.

Lasson and his wife are serving a humanitarian mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mongolia. The country is having a weather phenomenon known by locals as a "dzud" -- a summer drought followed by a terrible winter with heavy snow.

"They went into the winter unprepared because they weren't able to have enough hay stocked up for their animals, and then the animals weren't that fat because they didn't have that much food in the summer time; and so now they've got a real severe winter; and so a lot of the country is covered with heavy snow, and they've had temperatures as low as 58 degrees below zero," Lasson says.

Nearly 40 percent of Mongolia's population is livestock herders, and close to 2.7 million livestock animals have died so far. Analysts predict another 3 million to 4 million animals could die before the end of the year. The snow has also made getting medical attention to those in need nearly impossible. "These people are losing their livelihood, and they've had several pregnant mothers pass away. They've had children, babies -- they cannot get to hospital help when they need it," Lasson says.

West Jordan resident Garrett Wilson served an LDS Mission in Mongolia, and his wife is Mongolian.
"Mongolia is just such a poor place that when they have an event like this happen, it's something that they can't really help themselves out of," Wilson says. Wilson's wife has family still living there. He says the people rely heavily on foreign aid in disasters, and the worst of this one may be yet to come.

"They have all of these dead carcasses lying around, that are frozen right now, but when the weather starts to warm up, those carcasses will start to rot; so that's going to be a big problem," Lasson says. There are still several more months of winter left in Mongolia. When it does start to get warmer, there could be outbreaks of disease from the dead animals, and also flooding.

Friday, the LDS Church released a statement to KSL News about the situation in Mongolia. It reads: "In response to severe winter weather in Mongolia the Church is partnering with Mongolian officials to distribute food, clothing, medicine, candles, fuel, and hygiene items to herder families and is providing funding to repair broken heating systems in school dormitories."

If you would like to help the people in Mongolia, Lasson suggests donating to the LDS Church's Humanitarian Fund, UNICEF or The American Red Cross and specify you want the funds to go to Mongolia.

E-mail: jstagg@ksl.com
For pictures that accompanied the article, to go:  http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9829662

KSL TV News Story on Dzud Disaster, February 27, 2010

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

The Dzud/Zud (it rhymes with wood)

From an e-mail Richard sent to his brothers and sisters, "A severe drought last summer followed by a severe winter has left over 2.2 million livestock dead here in Mongolia with a projection of many more dying before warm weather and summer grasses come in May.

Through Deseret International Charities (DIC), we requested and received disaster relief funds from the Humanitarian Fund and have distributed those funds to help repair broken heating systems in 10 kindergarten-school/dormitory complexes in four aimags (Mongolian states) which house the children of herder families who stay in these school so they can get an education while their families are out on the plains with their herds. DIC is also supplying funds to three other aimags to buy food, fuel, medicines, and sanitary items for the herder families who are suffering from hunger and malnutrition.

Here in Ulaanbaatar, things are not that bad and you would never know there was a disaster. We have been attending meetings with government agencies,  and other international non-governmental organizations like DIC, so we can coordinate DIC's disaster response.

We are doing well ourselves and hope all is well with your families." 

The Dzud has turned into a disaster in many of the Aimags in Mongolia.  It's really heart-wrenching to see news reports of Mongolian herders surrounded by carcasses of their dead animals and to know that many of the herders are suffering, too.  As they lose their animals, they also lose their livelihood and for many of them their traditional way of life.

An NGO acquaintance sent us the following link on YouTube to a recent Sky  video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04e_QAztUKU
He also sent us the following updated Zud reference in Wikpedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zud

Another Wheelchair Day

January 7, 2010

Today was another amazing wheelchair day.  We delivered five DIC wheelchairs to a small Khoroo clinic in Khan-Uul District's 7th Khoroo.  Several people were waiting for us.  One was a 59-year-old man who had experienced a stroke.  He only had partial use of his body.  As his son and some of the hospital workers helped him into his new wheelchair, he just cried and cried.  It was a really touching thing to see him so grateful for his new wheelchair.

Later, we held a wheelchair ceremony at Bayanzurkh building where we gave away 23 DIC wheelchairs to needy individuals and 9 more to a Khoroo who will deliver the chairs to people in the countryside. 

One woman was picking up a wheelchair for her sister.  When we presented her the wheelchair, she sobbed and sobbed.  It really stuck me because I could just imagine how grateful I would be if it were my sister in need of a wheelchair. 

One man took the microphone and shouted praises to us for his new wheelchair. 

And one man offered to have us smell his snuff bottle.  Which I think is an honor.  I just pretended (just in case). One wheelchair recipient is a young man who is a member of the Church and who is also going to school on a PEF loan.  He was thrilled with his new wheelchair.

I wish all of the members of the Church who donate to the LDS Humanitarian fund could experience just one of these moments.  They would want to give to it for the rest of their lives.  I know we do.

NRT Miracles

November 5, 2009

Again, we’ve had a week filled with little miracles.  We have been working on DIC's Neonatal Resuscitation Training Project (NRT) which will bring doctors and equipment from the USA next year to teach birth attendants how to resuscitate newborn babies who are having breathing difficulties.  As the time neared for Dr. Michael Preece to arrive here in UB to help us plan the project, however, we became more and more worried.  We have really tried to make contacts and set up appointments so we would be ready to meet with him.  We have talked to many government officials and doctors, but even though we have tried many times, we have been unsuccessful in setting up appointments with the Ministry of Health.  We have worked at it from several angles and still no appointment.

Thanks to the wheelchairs DIC donated to Mongolia and the good media coverage DIC received, many doors to governors’ offices and hospital directors’ were opened to us.  We have met with the directors of all of the main hospitals in Ulaanbaatar and had VIP tours of some of them. We have also met with the Governors or Assistant Governors and the Ministries of Health in Bayanzurk District, Darkhan, Bulgan, Zuun-Kharaa, and Erdenet who are all interested in being part of the Neonatal Project.  We also met with the directors of the maternity hospitals in those cities/aimags and had tours of their hospitals.

Soyolmaa arranged for us to meet an  influential woman in the Office of the President of Mongolia who came to Buyanzurkh to meet with us as a favor to Soyolmaa. Normally, meeting with the Ministry of Health should have been our first contact, but as of the day before Dr. Preece arrived, we still hadn’t been able to make an appointment with anyone from the Ministry of Health, and we still didn’t know who our champion was going to be.

However, the day before Dr. Preece arrived, Soyolmaa finally gave us the phone numbers she had received from her friend in the Office of the President.  Chintuya called them and even though they were in the middle of the Swine Flu panic, Chintuya was able to get appointments for us to meet with them.  She, also, set up appointments for us to meet with the head doctors of the Maternity and Child Care Research Hospital (MCH), Enkhee from the Swanson Family Foundation, and the head of the Association of Small Clinics. 

Our first appointment was with the head of the Maternity and Child Care Research Hospital.  When we arrived at our appointment to meet with him, he told us that he had to leave because he had to attend an emergency meeting about the Swine Flu.  As he turned the meeting over to his able assistant, he told us that she would speak for him.  Then he hurried out of the room. As we talked to her, we found out that in addition to her job at the MCH, she is also the secretary for the Association of Neonataologists and her boss was its director. She said they tried to have an annual meeting, but because of a lack of funds, hadn’t been able to meet this year.  Dr. Preece was really excited.  He said that it would be a dream come true to be able to have these doctors come to Ulaanbaatar and be able to train them to be trainers and then for them to go out into their Aimags and train other doctors and midwives on how to do neonatal resuscitation.   She agreed.  She said it has been her dream to have all of the doctors/midwives who assist in births to be trained to save babies who have asphyxia at birth.  We found our champion! 

Perhaps if we had met with the Ministry of Health first or if the head of the MCH hadn’t had an emergency meeting because of the Swine Flu, it wouldn’t have turned out like this, but Dr. Preece is excited because things are falling together very well. If they turn out the way it looks like they will, within two or three years, all of the doctors/midwives in Mongolia who assist in births will receive training in this procedure and the equipment they need to use it.  Hopefully, the lives of many Mongolian babies will be saved.

We had more follow-up meetings and more talking and more planning, but it looks good.  We are grateful for the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit and for the tender mercies we saw this week.

A WELL FOR ZUUN KHARAA?

Soylomaa and her husband drove us to Zuun-Kharaa.  When we arrived, Soyolmaa, Elder Lasson and I received a warm reception by the Governor of Zuun Kharaa, who was excited we wanted to put a water well in his city.  Also, during Elder Lasson’s introduction, the governor’s eyes lit up when Elder Lasson mentioned our neonatal project.  He said that during the last year eight babies in his town had died at birth and they were really concerned about it.  He immediately called the head of the local hospital to come and talk to us.  We followed her to the hospital where she told us that her staff had been really distraught over having eight babies die this year. She said they were really wondering if they weren’t good doctors and they had even had counseling sessions for their doctors who felt very distraught.  She said they performed autopsies on the babies and discovered exactly what we had been describing.  The babies’ lungs were not inflated.  She said we were sent from above.   She said they were really interested in taking DIC’s neonatal training and would love to have the opportunity of sending some people to the training. 

We then met with the Governor of the First Khoroo who said they had needs for clean water, however after a tour of his Khoroo, we found them to be well supplied with either wells or dump stations.  Even though we would love to provide a well for them, we felt we should continue looking for a greater need.  The Governor of the Second Khoroo was preoccupied, so we left, hoping we would find someone else to talk to.  The Governor of the Third Khoroo was very interested in our offer to examine his Khoroo for a place to put in a well.  He said that over 7,000 people in the Valley didn’t have clean water.  Many of the dwellers had shallow wells of about 10 feet deep with their outhouses about 30 to 40 feet away.  When we talked earlier to the doctor at the hospital, she told us that putting in a clean-water well would really help lighten their load at the hospital because many people got sick, she thought, because of the poor water quality.  Anyway, the Governor of the Third Khoroo seemed excited about having a well in his community, so he took us to a site he thought would be a good place to put one.  While Soyolmaa, Inkbold, the Governor, neighborhood children and a few cows looked on, Elder Lasson set up his laptop with a portable GPS device attached and got a GPS reading of the latitude and longitude of the proposed well.