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| Skinetuya writing in a notebook in the class offered by the SOS Social Centre |
The voices of children reading aloud from textbooks fill the room. The mumble is oddly rhythmic, even though the books are all different and each child is reading at his or her own pace. Skinetuya is twelve years old and is very concentrated, sitting at the end of a narrow table. His voice is rather low. He is one of more than 30 children who have come to the SOS Social Centre in Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar to learn how to read and write.
Skinetuya has a round face and a winning smile. His parents moved to the city three years ago in search of work. Both used to work in a gold mine in a rural district, but the mine closed and no other jobs were available. Now his parents work in a big market in central Ulaanbaatar. His mother washes cars in the parking lot and his farther manages a small baggage carrier.
"Life is better here because my parents can work. Earlier, they had no jobs at all, so it was difficult to find money for food. Here, there are also many nice people and I can meet other children. In the mine there weren't so many other kids around," he explains.
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| Skinetuya with his parents |
Skinetuya lives near the SOS Social Centre in the north-eastern suburb of Bayanzurkh. It is a particularly poor area with more than 70 % of the population living below the poverty line. The children's right to an education is not fulfilled there, as most are migrants from the countryside who lack the resources and documents necessary to register with the authorities and claim benefits. This is a problem Skinetuya knows about all too well. "I used to look at the other children going to school and I felt jealous. I also wanted to go. My parents are not registered here, so I cannot go to school," he explains.
The twelve-year-old boy and his parents live in a traditional Mongolian yurt - a round tent with one large room inside. Beds are pushed up against the sides and a stove with a long chimney takes up the space in the middle. Skinetuya's 20-year-old sister and an uncle also live here. Toilet facilities are outside the tent, a few metres away from the entrance, where a wooden shed covers a hole in the ground.
Since he began attending classes at the SOS Social Centre, he feels that "life is getting better" and Skinetuya hopes that after one year of classes at the centre, he will be able to go to school. He is wearing shoes and clothes provided by the centre, as are most of the other kids in the small classroom. He is a polite and well mannered boy, and is grateful and happy about the support he is receiving.
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| Washing cars to earn a living |
Skinetuya is hopeful; his parents are finally making some money now. When they have enough for food he is sometimes able to buy a pencil or a notebook for himself. A cheap pen goes for 500 Tugrik, or the equivalent of Euro 0.25. His mother will get 1,500 Tugrik for washing a small car - or 2,000 for a larger one. On a good day, she will wash some ten to twenty cars. During the cold season, from October to March temperatures easily go below -35 C°, so it is impossible to wash the cars with water. Then she can only polish them. After his classes at the SOS Social Centre, Skinetuya goes to the market parking lot and assists his mother with the vehicles. Still, the family goes to bed hungry two or three times a week.
There are estimates that more than 300 people, including 150 children, earn a living at the market washing cars in Ulaanbaatar. At the SOS Social Centre there, a team of three teachers provides informal education daily to the children, who have four classes to choose from. In the morning and until lunch the teaching is aimed at grades 3 and 4, and the early afternoon classes are for first and second graders. On Fridays, the centre provides medical check-ups and lessons in handicrafts.
Unfortunately, many of the children attending classes at the SOS Social Centre go there less regularly once winter is over. In this time they help their families collect garbage, though the earnings are meagre. The SOS co-workers often remind the parents about the importance of education. After a year of attending classes, the SOS social centre assists the families in organising documents and resources to facilitate the children's entry into normal government-run schools.