One more week and I'll be in Mongolia

It's been a while - 8 very long weeks since I've posted to this blog.

Let's catch up.

Since getting involved with Go Help, I've been busy handling vehicle approvals, working with the trustees to get things organized, and generally helping out where I can. Some time ago, I'm not sure who mentioned it first, I remember that the idea of me going to Ulaanbaatar was being kicked around. Basically I'd go to there to get a better bearing on what's going on and how I can assist with getting this charity driving adventure to Mongolia a little more organized. Seemed like a good idea.

One of the things I've been working to get done is getting together whatever I can to help the victims of the dzud. Dzud is a Mongolian word (Зуд) that describes a situation where a drought is followed by an unusually harsh winter. To the herders that rely on their livestock, this essentially means that their herds didn't have enough to eat during the fall to make it through the harsh winter. The combination of drought and the unforgiving cold winter months has caused massive losses in livestock, the lifeblood of these nomadic herders.

Before I knew it, I was booking tickets and making itineraries and helping to coordinate the shipment of relief supplies to the herders in the Dundgovi province. Talk about total immersion, and I haven't even gotten on the plane yet. So this week I get to collect those supplies, get them to a shipper, and see them off. Once in Mongolia, I hope to be able to see exactly where those relief supplies go. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone there at the Mongolia office; it will be great to meet Dulguun, Hallie, and Tsevendavaa in person.

In addition to that, I'll also be working with the Mongolia team in Ulaanbaatar to help organize an arrival event for the teams driving in from London and elsewhere. I'll also get to work on vehicle imports and provide answers to the teams that are undertaking this adventure. I'll be setting up a new computer in the office, and doing whatever I need to make their jobs easier. I'll get to meet the people behind the charity projects that Go Help supports and get updates on what they plan to do this year.

I think back to the days when I first embarked on this crazy idea to try to get to Mongolia, it seemed like such an exotic and faraway place that it constantly made me wonder what it was like to be there. It started with me buying a broken rusting car, and through a series of meetings with new friends, it has led me to this. Next week I board a plane to Korea to catch another to my final destination in Ulaanbaatar. I'll be blogging and recording video clips throughout my stay there and you'll get a firsthand picture of the dzud and how it is affecting the citizens of this country. I've a billion things to do in the next 168 hours, one of them making sure that I keep up to date with my blog postings.

But don't worry, I wouldn't want to leave any of this out of my blog. It's one of the reasons I started it in the first place.

If you want to make a contribution to Go Help's relief efforts, please click here. Any and all contributions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks and keep coming back. There are going to be some interesting posts coming up soon.