Building A Village for Homeless People
Village for homeless people? Yes we built a village for homeless people in Mongolia. At the time I am writing this letter, I heard that the temperature is 40 degrees below zero. That is -40. It is very, very cold. Can you imagine being homeless in this kind of cold weather? When I saw their struggles and suffering as I met them, I was so determined to help at least a few families to have homes of their own.
Within a few months we built a village for 23 homeless families. The government officially named the village as Triple Gem Village. The inauguration ceremony was held on the 15th of Oct. 2015.
To accomplish this challenging task, I had to seek help from many people. First I met with the governor of Songinohairhan district near the capital of Mongolia who agreed to allocate an appropriate government land. The most difficult challenge often is finding the money. Well, as always, Mr. Perera and family came forward and offered to finance the cost of the whole project. You might think that if we had money the rest of the work would be easy. It is not that simple. When we get the money and then decide to build the village, actually that is when all the challenges start.
Permits, land clearance, choosing the deserving people without interference of politicians or special interest groups, and finding the proper contractors can often take a lot of work.
First I met with the governor of Songinohairhan district near the capital of Mongolia and discussed a proper location. Although the government did not give any money for the project, we consider the government as our partner because the government gave us land for free. Of course they should be our partner.
We created a team with two main leaders. First, Mrs.Togtokh, a retired senior government officer and my long time friend in Mongolia. Second, one of my Mongolian students, Sujatha who is an ordained Buddhist monk. I adopted him when he was 11 years old and currently he studies in Sri Lanka. He flew to Mongolia twice during our project to organize and manage our program. Dr. Baatarzorig, Chairman PPR Munkchuluun, Chairman of the Administration Department was also of great assistance in accomplishing our mission.
I share my heartfelt gratitude with everybody who played a role in making things happen, especially the Perera family who trusted me and funded the total cost of the project. By no means was it an easy task. Now we are happy that 23 families have warm and comfortable homes to live in.
