Word: chingeltei
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...nowhere to go, no job to occupy the bitter day ahead. So he stands here idly, amid a dense cluster of shacks, while haggard cows pick through garbage piles. After all his wanderings, the 30-year-old nomad has ended up here in the ramshackle neighborhood of Chingeltei on the western edge of Ulaanbaatar, living in a frozen slum...
...dressed oddly, behaved differently and used paper money instead of bartering. His wife and infant son came with him (he and his wife have since had a second son), as did his two brothers, one of whom also brought a wife and child. They rented 500 square meters in Chingeltei for $90 a month, then set up their ger. One brother found work selling coal. But with so many other former herders vying for jobs, Bayarsakhan can't find anything steady, so he sporadically joins his brother at a nearby coal market, where they buy bags for resale to locals...
...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 a matter of food and shelter, they would eventually be okay. But these animals were passed down from generation to generation. If they lose them, they lose the meaning...
...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...
...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...
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