Mongolia Ministries:
Literacy
What: In co-operation
with local government, establish literacy
classes in needy areas throughout
rural Mongolia. New work in other
areas begins each September. Classes
are especially focussed in areas where
church-planting/strenghtening is a
priority.
Why: People's health
is generally consistent with Mongolian
countryside living, involving a diet
high in animal protein and low in
vitamins and minerals. With high unemployment
and poverty has come a high rate of
alcoholism.
Of the 12,000 school age children in
Bulgan province, approximately 1800 of
these do not attend school. Many
countryside schools are now operating
once again but there are a large number
of children who were “lost” during the
worst of the time of economic crisis.
These children are unable to re-enter
the normal school system because of the
lack of educational resources necessary
to bring them up to normal class
standards. Unless these children are
assisted to re-enter the normal school,
the cycle of poverty will continue as
without even a basic level of literacy,
mathematics etc, they will not be
employable in the future.
Cost: The cost of
the project is being shared with the
local government which will provide
buildings, cover maintenance costs and
provide some of the teachers.
As part of that overall budget, an
amount of £100 per month for twelve
months is required to help provide basic
uniforms and shoes for the children to
attend schools. It is with this
particular aspect of the program that we
are interested in helping. This amount
meets the need of the 270 pupils at a
cost of just under £5 per child per
year.
Prayer: The
consequences of the desperate economic
plight have been corruption, suffering
and exploitation — leading to family
breakdown. Crime, promiscuity and
alcoholism are widespread. The number of
abandoned street children is increasing.
Pray that this project would change the
lives of hundreds of Mongolians. Ask the
Lord to bring life where there has been
none.
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Mongolia has around 3 million inhabitants, 90% of whom are of direct Mongolian descent with Turkic, Chinese and Russians making up most of the remainder. There are 12 different languages. The most serious change Mongolia has undergone in its long history began within the last fifteen years with a rejection of Marxism in 1990 followed by the sweeping change from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. There is widespread breakdown of family life, crime and suffering as a result of the current economic plight. Buddhism and Islam receive full recognition from the national constitution while there is freedom for all to worship as they want in so far as there is no perceived threat to national security.
There is now relative openness to foreign relief and educational assistance and many expatriate believers working in Mongolia . The 1990s witnessed great growth in the number of congregations. Where there had been less than ten believers in 1989, now there are over 4000 congregations meeting. These are spread throughout the capital as well as in each of the country's 22 provinces. Rural churches especially lack trained leadership.
The nomads trail some of the most remote Mongolian territory. These are sparsely inhabited regions. Among the Kazakh (185,000) living in Bayan Olgiy, there is a strong Muslim majority though also a few believers among them. There is no known witness among the Evenki or the Tuvinian (Uriankhai) peoples. The 1992 Constitution of Mongolia guarantees freedom of conscience and religion to all its citizens equally, along with requiring separation of religion and the state. National laws allow proselytising by registered religious groups, as well as contacts with co-believers outside the country. Yet, in 1999 a Mongolian citizen of ethnic Kazakh descent was sentenced to 13 years in a prison labor camp in western Mongolia on charges of propagating the Christian faith. Under the court verdict, the Christian was ordered to pay a fine of 50,600 Tog (at the time equivalent to £5, roughly a month's wages). All the Christian literature and media items in his possession were confiscated and destroyed, and he was forced to sign a statement confessing his alleged "crime" and renouncing any further contact with Christians in Kazakhstan , with whom he had been corresponding. 