summertime blues

I went out with some friends on Saturday to see the horse racing events for Naadam festival, the most celebrated festival in the country. Naadam takes place every year in July and people flock in by the thousands to view the horse races, wrestling events, and archery events. You can read more about Naadam at Wikipedia. UB litterally empties for a couple days as people from all over migrate out of the city to camp and picnic. As I walked around the streets of UB on Friday, I felt a slight lifting of the weight that has plagued me these past couple months. With the streets empty, I wondered if it hasn't been the explosive increase of population in the city that is bearing down on me,, as tourists deluge the country and residents come out of hibernation.

Although I initially enjoyed city life and a toilet that flushes regularly, especially after 3 years in rural and semi-rural Africa, I am unaccustomed to the constant barrage of people, noise and traffic. Perhaps it weighs on me at a level out of my awareness. More likely, however, I am simply suffering from a need to be useful. I left the States 4 years ago, after Joel died, because I needed to connect with something meaningful. 3 years in Africa combating HIV gave me a sense of purpose. Granted, we saw too many people die, but there were mothers who did not have to bury their children because we were there.

At the end of my time in Africa, I struggled with what to do next. When I got the invitation to come to Mongolia to help set up an HIV and STI prevention program for sex workers, it seemed like the perfect solution. HIV prevention is important, and we might actually be able to do it here. That said, there are plenty of highly skilled and well educated Mongolians who could easily do this job, and spending the money to bring and keep me and the other international volunteers here is probably not the best use of anyone's resources. Certainly I am finding ways to make a contribution, but the need here is not as significant as the need elsewhere and while, yes, I can make a contribution here, it is quite different from being in a place where your contribution is palpable. There are places all over the world where pain and suffering are commonplace and where they don't have the human resources to set up public health and assistance programs. I want to go there.

Mongolia is green and beautiful after all the recent rain.