It has been far too long since a post has made and I apologize for that! It has been the off season for this project so we've been working on some other projects. However, this project is continuing on!
Currently, we're researching ideas for raising $660 in order to ship a huge batch of helmets sitting in somebody's garage in America to Mongolia. If you have any ideas about this, please let me know! (iheartmongolia@gmail.com)
We'll also be working on finding new ways of getting helmets into the hands of child jockeys.
Sorry it's such a short update, but more info to come later! Thanks for following this project!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Audio Slideshow: Child Jockeys Train for Mongolia's Naadam Horse Races
Here's a cool audio slideshow made by a freelance journalist living in Hovd, a province in the far west of Mongolia: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/61602
Saturday, July 24, 2010
More About Distributing Helmets at Naadam
As you can probably discern from the pictures in the previous post, the distribution of helmets for the Naadam festival in the Arkhangai province was very successful! Here's a little more about how it went...
Naadam is a two-day event in Arkhangai and the day before the first set of races began my coworkers and I loaded up an SUV with all of the helmets. Then we drove around, meeting up with previously contacted horse trainers and the family members of jockeys. My coworkers led the entire process (which I couldn't do anyway with my limited Mongolian language skills) by talking to them about the importance of the helmets and how to wear them. They also collected people's contact information so we could recollect the helmets after the races concluded, to be used again next year.
The next morning we rose early to meet all everybody at the start of the race at 6:00am. My coworkers were also responsible for registering the children and their horses for the race. As children start arriving, I was delighted to see that many of them were wearing helmets!
The races continued on through that day and onto the next. Admittedly, it was still a rather small percentage of children who wore helmets. There still needs to be more education and awareness raising about this issue. However, the idea for this project stemmed from my coworkers and they are all very dedicated to the cause. In the Peace Corps we talk a lot about making our projects sustainable, and I feel very confident that my coworkers will continue their strident efforts to protect children and keep them safe through this project.
Also, one of the reasons many children were not wearing helmets is because they came from outside the provincial center and my coworkers hadn't been in touch with them. Next year we will make a better effort to reach these children who are from even more rural parts of Mongolia.
As for the continuation of this project, I need to talk with my coworkers about it some more. I would like to work on getting helmets donated for children in other provinces and continue to raise awareness about the importance of riding safely with more and more people. Each province has their own branch of the Department for Children (the organization I work with) and we could work alongside them. More information to come!
Naadam is a two-day event in Arkhangai and the day before the first set of races began my coworkers and I loaded up an SUV with all of the helmets. Then we drove around, meeting up with previously contacted horse trainers and the family members of jockeys. My coworkers led the entire process (which I couldn't do anyway with my limited Mongolian language skills) by talking to them about the importance of the helmets and how to wear them. They also collected people's contact information so we could recollect the helmets after the races concluded, to be used again next year.
The next morning we rose early to meet all everybody at the start of the race at 6:00am. My coworkers were also responsible for registering the children and their horses for the race. As children start arriving, I was delighted to see that many of them were wearing helmets!
The races continued on through that day and onto the next. Admittedly, it was still a rather small percentage of children who wore helmets. There still needs to be more education and awareness raising about this issue. However, the idea for this project stemmed from my coworkers and they are all very dedicated to the cause. In the Peace Corps we talk a lot about making our projects sustainable, and I feel very confident that my coworkers will continue their strident efforts to protect children and keep them safe through this project.
Also, one of the reasons many children were not wearing helmets is because they came from outside the provincial center and my coworkers hadn't been in touch with them. Next year we will make a better effort to reach these children who are from even more rural parts of Mongolia.
As for the continuation of this project, I need to talk with my coworkers about it some more. I would like to work on getting helmets donated for children in other provinces and continue to raise awareness about the importance of riding safely with more and more people. Each province has their own branch of the Department for Children (the organization I work with) and we could work alongside them. More information to come!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Pictures from Naadam
Here are some of the pictures of the helmets being distributed, horse race prep, kids wearing helmets, kids not wearing helmets, jockeys and horses crossing the finish line, and the winners!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Naadam!
I just got home from taking part in two full days of the Naadam festival here in Arkhangai! This is the big annual event that occurs every year all over Mongolia. It involves three sports: wrestling, archery, and horse racing. It was these horse races that the helmets were primarily collected for. This is just going to be a brief summary, but I'm happy to report that helmets were distributed amongst kids and many of them wore them in the race! A longer description and more pictures will be coming soon...
Again, thanks so much to all of you who donated time, energy, money, and your helmets to this project!
For now, here's one teaser picture of some adorable kids wearing their helmets, getting ready to start the first horse race.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Naadam is this weekend!
That's right, Mongolia's biggest festival featuring three sports (wrestling, archery, and horse-racing) is this weekend! The festival is celebrated at provinces throughout the country. It will be on July 10-11 here in Arkhangai. I'll go with my coworkers at the beginning of the festival to check out helmets to kids. I'm really looking forward to it!
Come back to this website sometime after Naadam to see pictures of all the kids in their helmets!
Come back to this website sometime after Naadam to see pictures of all the kids in their helmets!
Friday, June 4, 2010
T-Shirts for Sale!
Indie designer Elektra has designed a t-shirt to help raise money for this project!
She will donate a portion of the proceeds from each shirt to this project so that we can purchase more helmets for kids! Elektra is also a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and according to her Etsy page, a "...fashion design graduate with a silkscreen printing addiction, a passion for entrepreneurship, and an insatiable appetite for urban design." Her clothing has been worn by Madonna on multiple occasions and in April, Sarah Jessica Parker ordered custom apparel and art from her!
Check out the images below and for more information go here (unisex version) and here (women's version)!
She will donate a portion of the proceeds from each shirt to this project so that we can purchase more helmets for kids! Elektra is also a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and according to her Etsy page, a "...fashion design graduate with a silkscreen printing addiction, a passion for entrepreneurship, and an insatiable appetite for urban design." Her clothing has been worn by Madonna on multiple occasions and in April, Sarah Jessica Parker ordered custom apparel and art from her!
Check out the images below and for more information go here (unisex version) and here (women's version)!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
5 more helmets arrived!
Five more helmets and a few sets of knee-pads arrived in Mongolia last week! Thanks goes out to Pinky Roberts and her generous friends in California for sending these!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
11 helmets to go!
Thanks to some very generous donors there are a total of 89 helmets that have been collected! Some of them have already arrived here in Mongolia while others are in the mail and are being brought here personally. This means we only have 11 helmets to go to reach our goal!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Helmets arrive in Mongolia!
The first batch of helmets have arrived in Mongolia! We were worried the boxes may have gotten lost in the depths of the Gobi for a while, but now we can rest assured, they're here! I'm still waiting for some more boxes to arrive, but it's good to know that these ones made it safe and sound. Thanks again to our generous donors Kate and Jenny!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
You don't even have to pay for shipping!
In case it wasn't totally clear in the last blog post -- that's right, I'll be in Washington State in June and I'm working on getting a bunch of helmets together to bring back to Mongolia with me! This means you can donate a new or used helmet and you don't even have to pay for it to be shipped to Mongolia. The timing is perfect, because I'll be back in Mongolia just in time to distribute helmets before the Naadam festival, during which the biggest and longest horse races take place. Contact me for more details! iheartmongolia@gmail.com
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Updates
A U.S. address to send helmets to:
I'll be visiting Washington State in June! Please email me (iheartmongolia@gmail.com) if you would like to send a helmet to Washington. I can pick it up on my visit and bring it back to Mongolia. But hurry, June is just around the corner!
Other ways to support this project - cash donations maybe?
While I think it's really great to receive in-kind donations from individuals in the U.S. I'm still looking into some alternative ways of getting helmets on the heads of kids here in Mongolia. i.e. getting deals/wholesale pricing directly from helmet makers. I'm also looking into a way for individuals to make tax-deductible donations to this project instead of having to send a helmet. Maybe with these cash donations I can buy a bunch of helmets at a discounted rate - either from a helmet maker directly or from a company more closely located to Mongolia, like directly from a Chinese manufacturer. I've got some more work to do, but I hope to have a better update on this soon.
I'll be visiting Washington State in June! Please email me (iheartmongolia@gmail.com) if you would like to send a helmet to Washington. I can pick it up on my visit and bring it back to Mongolia. But hurry, June is just around the corner!
Other ways to support this project - cash donations maybe?
While I think it's really great to receive in-kind donations from individuals in the U.S. I'm still looking into some alternative ways of getting helmets on the heads of kids here in Mongolia. i.e. getting deals/wholesale pricing directly from helmet makers. I'm also looking into a way for individuals to make tax-deductible donations to this project instead of having to send a helmet. Maybe with these cash donations I can buy a bunch of helmets at a discounted rate - either from a helmet maker directly or from a company more closely located to Mongolia, like directly from a Chinese manufacturer. I've got some more work to do, but I hope to have a better update on this soon.
Friday, April 9, 2010
4-H Partnership
I'm happy to announce that we'll be working with Mongolian 4-H on this project! 4-H was just recently introduced to Mongolia by a couple of wonderfully dedicated and caring Mongolians who just moved back to Mongolia after having lived in the U.S. for a number of years. I met and talked with them and we're working out the details on what this partnership will look like. I'm excited to be able to partner with them on this project and hopefully, more projects in the future.
Check them out: http://www.mongolinternet.com/Mongolian4-H.htm
Check them out: http://www.mongolinternet.com/Mongolian4-H.htm
Thursday, April 8, 2010
First batch of helmets on their way!
The first batch of helmets donated to this project are currently en route to Mongolia! Thanks to some very dedicated folks in the U.S. at least 23 kids in Arkhangai will be safer when competing in horse races this summer. Not only will they be safer, but they will look cool. Along with the helmets, a bunch of awesome helmet covers are being sent. Also, various types of knee pads are being shipped too!
The organizer of this shipment, Kate, is somebody who I was very fortunate to come into contact with. She has taken a huge leadership role in working with me to organize this project. Thanks Kate!
Only 77 more to go until we reach our goal of 100! You can help us reach our goal!
Check out these pics of what's being sent - more pics to come of the packages arrival!
The organizer of this shipment, Kate, is somebody who I was very fortunate to come into contact with. She has taken a huge leadership role in working with me to organize this project. Thanks Kate!
Only 77 more to go until we reach our goal of 100! You can help us reach our goal!
Check out these pics of what's being sent - more pics to come of the packages arrival!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Mongol Rally Helmet Project Video
Admittedly, I'm not the first person to work on a project to increase the availability of helmets in Mongolia. In 2008 Mongol Rally worked on this same cause. However, to my knowledge none of their collected helmets were distristributed in my province. There is still a great need to protect children here in Arkhangai! But they put together a video about their project and I think it's pretty interesting. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnYejPMyFoc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnYejPMyFoc
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Our new blog is up and running!
Thank you for visiting the Mongolian Helmet Project's new blog. It is still under construction, so I thank you for your patience. More information will be coming soon!
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