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A Mongolian Lament: Excerpt Chapter 10



Chapter 10: A Punishing Winter

Mongolian Proverb: The living are denied a table; the dead get a whole coffin.

The United Nations warned that the punishing weather could escalate and kill livestock, which would have a severe impact on the country’s food supply. Extreme poverty was certain to be the outcome. The UN warned that more than a million head of cattle had succumbed to the falling temperatures, but local Ulaanbaatar media reported up to two million livestock had died nationwide. Of Mongolia’s twenty-one provinces, nineteen had suffered heavy winter snow and temperatures of minus forty degrees Celsius. After the harsh drought of the previous summer, the people of Mongolia had little food to stockpile, especially for their livestock.

The United Nations also reported that three pregnant women in rural areas were cut off from medical faciities during a snowstorm and subsequently died in childbirth. UN officials attempted to reach the worst affected communities, but distances were far, and the weather was a hindrance. In addition, pneumonia rates among children had increased, and malnutrition was taking hold.

At the next meeting with Dr. Noyonbaatar, Jorja expressed her concern and showed him a newspaper clipping. She called for additional funding to meet the pending crisis. Dr. Noyonbaatar indicated that the number of deaths was low and that the United Nations had the situation in hand ... But day-by-day the situation worsened. Ulaanbaatar’s public hospitals were exploding with patients diagnosed with influenza or respiratory ailments, most of them children. Even Dr. Noyonbaatar seemed to start wheezing and coughing after every cigarette. Jorja tactfully advised him to reduce his cigarette intake, and he nodded. For Jorja, a nod did not constitute a commitment, but she did not persist lest she annoy him.

Dr. Noyonbaatar changed the topic. ‘What is your progress, Jorja? Will you meet your deadlines? We want to have the award ceremony in March: no later. What is your progress?’

Jorja rubbed her tortoise talisman around her neck, and muttered ‘slow and steady wins the race.’

Dr. Noyonbaatar heard Jorja. ‘Correction,’ he said. ‘Galloping horses for courses. If you don’t speed things up, we’ll be behind in our development of nutrition courses. Galloping horses for courses!’ He took a deep puff on his cigarette. ‘Have you heard the song by Burning Hearts called ‘The Galloping Horses’? It’s a clever one about cardiac disease and the sound of hearts beating like galloping horses. Get a gallop on, Jorja, we have no time to waste.’



MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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