Bio:


Age 16, lived on the street since he was 7, loves his mom   click to read or close full bio >>

Zola was born in May 1992, in one of the yurt districts in UB. Zola’s parents worked together in a center for physically disabled people. It sounds like they met there due to their own ailments. Zola’s dad was deaf and his mother is deaf and has epilepsy. Apparently his parents were never married, but lived together in the center. We are not quite clear about the exact facts yet, but it seems like Zola’s birth dad died in a car accident in 2004. Prior to this his mother Oyunaa married another man in 2000, and moved in with him and his extended family. Unfortunately her second husband died as well. Ouynaa and Zola stayed with Zola’s step dad’s family, who always treated Zola badly, but after the step dad passed away it became unbearable. Zola started to spend more and more time on the street. According to him, he eventually ran away for good in 2002. He has lives on the street for seven years.

Due to her handicaps and lack of education, Zola’s mother is financially not capable to take care of her child. She left her husband’s family several years ago and moved from one acquaintance to the next, until she settled with a friend, who allowed her to stay in exchange for baby sitter services. Unfortunately she was not allowed to bring Zola with her. Zola has been in and out of the care center for two years. His mother came by to visit him regularly. In early 2009 Zola disappeared. Ayurzana and his men looked everywhere for him, but couldn’t find him. Around July, Zola showed up at the care center, with a bag of dumplings for his mother. He had found a babysitting job, somewhere close to UB and had actually made some money, of which he saved a little to buy his mother a present.


Updates:


February 2010: Zola is back!   click to read or close >>

I met Zola only briefly, when I visited the childcare center. He was on his way out to visit his mother for the weekend. He waved at me, beaming, and yelled across the room “I am going to see my mother!” - and off he went.

After the failed attempt in the summer to set up him and his mother with Nasa’s former foster family, Zola disappeared for a couple of months and no one knew his whereabouts.

In December he returned to the care center. Ayurzana organized somewhat regular visits with his mom. Twice a month Zola would get bus fare and take the two hours trip to his mom. He would be allowed to stay overnight, so they would be able to enjoy a full weekend together. These regular visits seemed to make him become happier, more relaxed and less hyper.

Zola’s main wish is to be with his mom. So we developed a new plan – Ayurzana did! He applied for a small plot of land at the outskirts of the city. Every citizen has the right to get a small plot for free, which is partially the reason why the capital has spread out so much – the nomads move into the city, occupy their land, legally, (or not so legally), fence in the land - as it is the custom - and set up their yurt.

Once Zola’s land is approved, we will apply with World-Vision’s new give-a-yurt program. We will then buy him and his mom the needed furniture and household items and a cow and chicken. The animals will help them to sustain themselves and they will have eggs to barter. Zola’s mom can try to find another baby-sitting job in the neighborhood, while Zola can do some low level jobs. Once they are settled, we can find a way to send Zola back to school, so he can improve his education.

Until the land is approved, Zola will stay in the care center and continue to visit his mom.

When Zola returned to the center in December, he became an undercover agent for Ayurzana. When he is out on the streets, either visiting his mom or running errands for the center (he moved up in the care center’s hierarchy!), he calls Ayurzana’s cell if he sees homeless children, to let him know the location and number of children, so Ayurzana can send a bus and pick them up. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up on the police’s payroll soon!


October 2009: Zola moves to ‘Show-Family No. 2’   click to read or close >>

When I met Zola in August 2009, he had been in and out of the center for 2 years. He is a quiet boy, always a bit separated from the crowd. Maybe because he is 16 already and all the other kids seemed much younger, it’s hard for me to judge the age of these kids, they always look younger, due to continuing mal-nourishment and simply don’t grow in height according to their age.

Since we knew that Zola had a caring mom, we decided to try to keep them together. Ayurzana and I discussed bringing them to Mr. Dashnayngarag and Ms. Ikhbayar, Nasa’s former foster family, also known as ‘Show-Family No.2’ in the Naleikh district. They were still interested to help and participate.

The goal was to educate Zola and his mom for a couple of months in herding and living in the country. Meanwhile we would apply for a yurt through the Give-A-Yurt World Vision program. Once they are ready to live on their own, we would set up the new yurt close to Mr. Dashnayngarag’s farm, so they could have access to support and help if needed and move them with their share of animals, 8 goats and 4 sheep, into their new home.

Zola and his mom Oyunaa were excited about this and agreed happily.

In late September Zola and his mom moved in with the foster family for a five day trial period. The move must have excited Oyunaa too much, unfortunately she had several epilepsy attacks. Mr. Dashnayngarag and Ms. Ikhbayar got so concerned that they called Ayurzana, who came and pick them up again. Poor family, first they get a girl that keeps visiting their neighbors and then they get a fainting mom. I am glad they are good sports and don’t give up; they still expressed their interest to participate.

Ayurzana took Zola back to the center and Oyunaa went back to her friend. She tried again to bring Zola with her, but her request was denied.

Zola stayed a couple days in the center, but then took off. Ayurzana is looking for him in the city, but hasn’t found him so far. The whole experience of almost having a home and losing it again was quiet painful for both, mother and son. No one is giving up hope yet - eventually Zola will come back and contact his mother and then we try again.

This whole experience shows how fragile these kids are. They are tough as tough can be, when it comes to survival, but as soon as they allow themselves certain emotions like hope, they become the fragile, hurt kids they are. We have to take that into account in all our endeavors and show them that it is Ok to fail, as long as we get back up on our feet and try again. When Zola comes back, we will bring him back to the foster family and have him become a part of their life. When he is ready, he can move out into his own yurt and have his mom follow him, so they can become a family once again.