Habitat for Humanity

August 20, 2008 by Karin.

Let’s get to the real reason I was in Mongolia…

For my BIG birthday in June, Nico decided to help me realize my dream of going to Mongolia. (To get beyond using it simply as a homepage motif and a personal metaphor for unattainable fantasy).

He signed me up for the Habitat for Humanity build in Kharkhorin http://www.habitat.org/cd/gv/trip_desc.aspx?type=1&code=gv9300 and after the four days of traveling in Mongolia, I met up with my group of fellow builders at the Sun and Moon B&B in Ulan Bator. Angela and Kimberly were the leaders of our group of 17 and at the neighbor ger bar, they took us through the orientation, generously highlighted with get-to-know-you games and reminders to Drink Water.

That night, team member Steve wrote the first entry of our group journal. His was an edge-of-your-seat account of the adventure survived by a third of the team members upon arrival in Mongolia in the dead of the night. After negotiating their own transport into town, the group of 6 found themselves locked out of the B&B. And Steve, who got out of bed to speak to them through the mosquito screen, realized that the rest of us were locked inside the building…and the caretaker was nowhere to be found.

Click below to read Steve’s entry.

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