Word: bayarsakhan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Stranded in a roadless region of Gobi-Altai that had been rendered inaccessible by snowdrifts, Bayarsakhan's family herd of 500 dwindled to 10. After a while, the family even stopped disposing of the corpses, instead piling them around their ger?a felt-covered Mongolian dwelling?for extra insulation. They burned furniture to keep warm. "If you don't have animals," says Bayarsakhan, "you have nothing." To survive, he left everything he'd ever known for a place where people dressed oddly, behaved differently and used paper money instead of bartering. His wife and infant son came with...
...Many new arrivals?some aid workers use the term internally displaced persons, a designation often given to refugees uprooted by war?become disoriented and depressed. Some take to cheap vodka; brawls are common. But Bayarsakhan says, "I can't afford to drink." Children here are malnourished and sometimes abandoned, says Didi Kalika, who runs a local orphanage. Some residents can't afford heat. Domestic violence flares. Families split. "There have been suicides," whispers Dulamgav, 63, who settled in Chingeltei last year. "The nomads are exhausted," says Rabdan Sambandobji , secretary-general of the Mongolian Red Cross. "If it were only...
...Back in Chingeltei, Bayarsakhan crawls out of a sleeping bag on the floor of his shack one evening in late November. The cuts on his face have almost healed, and he looks younger tonight, dressed in sweatpants and a blue sweatshirt. His mood has improved, too. He's still not comfortable in the city, he says. For one thing, the coal smoke scratches his throat. But for the moment, he seems relaxed. Or perhaps just resigned...
...Bayarsakhan never expected it would be so hard to find work in the city. By pooling resources, his family can pay the rent, but he worries about his kids' education. So far, he hasn't been able to afford the $50 registration fee that would make them eligible for school. Still, Bayarsakhan's children seem happy and healthier than most in Chingeltei. Tonight, they're bouncing around the ger, cheerfully impersonating Mongolian wrestlers. Tsengune, the 3-year-old, throws his younger brother to the floor, then picks up an old guitar and hands it imploringly to his father...
...16th birthday, Bayarsakhan was given this guitar by his own father, a renowned singer in Gobi-Altai. Now, almost 15 years later and hundreds of kilometers away from that stark idyll, Bayarsakhan starts to play one of his father's songs. The tune is rough, but the melody sweet. Words flow from memory?about Gobi-Altai and the land, about saddling up your best horse to ride across the valley. When it's over, Bayarsakhan stares at the ground. "I get sad when I play that," he says. "I wish I could take you to my home...