4-H Summer Leadership Program in Mongolia
Eating Fresh Goat Just Part of the Experience
By Betsy Fradd, WSU Extension 4-H
Clark County 4-H’er Miranda Bean recently returned from a month-long trip to Mongolia. The Ridgefield High senior was one of 30 youth selected from eight states to participate in a Wyoming 4-H leadership program to learn about the culture, the people and environmental issues. Partnering with the Mongolia 4-H Youth Organization, teens stayed with host families to gain appreciation of the varied lifestyles in that country.
Why did you want to be a part of this leadership program to Mongolia?
I have never traveled off of the continent for an extended period of time so this opportunity looked really interesting.
What was a highlight of your trip?
On our second day in the province of Seleng we took a bus on a long, extremely bumpy, dirt road to visit a Ger…a type of
Miranda Bean at Mongolian Festival with dancers in native dress
What surprised you the most?
I was expecting to find a country with a completely different culture than us but they are actually very westernized. The Mongolian youth all have phones and text like we do, they like the same clothes and music that we do and have a lot more in common. I guess that I had the misconception that they were so different because on TV or in the movies you always see Mongolians living in Gers with very little access to technology. Even the Ger we visited had a solar panel, phone and TV.
Part of your trip was to become familiar with mining and water quality issues. What did you discover?
We visited the Canadian-owned Boro Gold Mine. Here we learned about their land reclamation policies and then toured the mine. We viewed reclaimed land and areas that are currently being mined. Then we saw all the machinery that was used in process of extracting gold. But we noticed the river near Selenge was dirty because of sewage runoff and many rivers we crossed were contaminated because of that or mining runoff. They are working on replanting native species over where there used to be mining operations
How do you think this experience will impact your future?
I think being part of a minority for a little while really helped me become a more tolerant and understanding individual. While we visiting we received a variety of reactions. Some Mongolians were okay with us being there and then there were those who viewed us as outsiders and did not appreciate our presence. When you are on the other side of being someone who does not fit in, you understand why empathy and tolerance is so important.
Posted July 2011
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