Report April 19

By Dirk

Visit to our children’s project in BaruunUrt

BaruunUrt, a village of 11,000 inhabitants in the east of the Gobi Desert.

One of our children’s projects was built in this village, with the money I raised in 2007 during the Beijing-Paris trip.

During construction in 2008, I visited here with Trudy. The project was officially opened on October 10, 2008, with our son Dirk-jan and I present.

Very special to be here again after 16 years.

The project is a so-called Kindergarten, where children from 3 to 7 years old are cared for. It was originally built for approximately 90 children, but now has 180 children. The classes are therefore quite full.

The children sleep from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, so we agreed to visit the project after three.

We are warmly welcomed by the manager, Amarjargal. She and her team proudly show all the classes. From the youngest children aged 3 years to the oldest aged 6 years. The children are brought in around 7 o’clock in the morning and then receive breakfast. They also have lunch and dinner at this school.

There is a large kitchen with two chefs.

During visits to the different classes, the children sing songs for us. Trudy has a typical Dutch song that she shows to the children.

All children love it.

Afterwards I give the school a check for $5000, which of course they are very happy with. It is part of the sponsorship money we have raised so far.

In the evening, we were invited by the teaching team to go to a karaoke bar. I can perform my Mongolian songs beautifully.

This was a pleasant end to this special, emotional day.