Habitat News

MONGOLIA 'SPECIAL EVENT' BUILD

A team of 10 New Zealanders from all over the country are getting together for an adventure of a lifetime.
The Team of 10 Kiwis are flying on Air China on Friday 25th June. Stopping over in Beijing for the night and then straight to Ulaanbaatar.
They are going to a ‘Special Event’ build where there will be 100 international and 100 national volunteers working together to build houses as part of the special event.
This is HFH Mongolia’s first ‘special build’ commemorating the 10th anniversary. They have built 1600 houses to date.
The six countries partaking in building 30 houses in 5 days are:
US x 30, NZ x 10, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Nepal.

Our New Zealand Team

Devie: Team Leader – Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator from Auckland.
Owen: Semi-retired engineer from New Plymouth.
Linda: Homemaker from Hastings.
Jacque: Shopping Centre Manager from Auckland
Shane: 18 years old Student from Whangarei
Lou: Businesswoman from Rotorua
John: Driver (trucks and tractors) from Reporoa
James: Manager from Rotorua
Tania: Care Administrator/ Volunteer Ambulance Officer from New Plymouth
Dick: Paramedic/station manager from Tauranga

Some Mongolia Facts

Many Mongolians who live in both cities and nomadic, live in the traditional Ger (tents) which are moveable. This is a round, cone-shaped tent. A ger has only one door and no windows. But it has a small opening at the top, called a 'toono'' which allows smoke to go out of the stove's chimney. It is made out of boards with a wool covering so that it is easy to put up and to take down.

The land is more than twice the size of big state of Texas, it is even bigger than Alaska. It is 1,6 million square kilometres which is four times of Japan and almost the size of whole eastern Europe. This makes Mongolia sixth largest country in Asia and nineteenth in the world. Pretty impressive. But the population is only 2.9 million which makes Mongolia one of the least dense areas in Asia.

Almost another 40% of population are scattered all over Mongolia with their thirty plus millions herds of sheep, goats, cattle, horses and camels.

Mongolia has 21 provinces, called aimag. Each aimag has a central city or town and about 15-22 sub-provinces called soum.
More than 50% will say they adhere to Buddhism which is very much mixed with Shamanism, close to 10% will claim to be Christians of all forms and less than 6% follow Islam.

70% of Mongolia is under the age of 35. Gender ratio close to 1:1. Ethnicity: 84% Khalkha Mongols, 6% Kazakhs and 10% other ethnic groups.

The official language is Khalkha Mongol. English and Russian are widely understood but less spoken. If you speak one of the two you will survive. It is fun if you learn few phrases in Mongol before you come. Everybody will love you and try to understand you no matter how you say it.

For more information Click Here