Tuesday: The Street Children of U.B.

One evening this week we visited one of 38 shelters in Ulan Bator for street children. The last few winters in the countryside have been very severe with temperatures as low as -60° F. Vast numbers of livestock died. Having lost their livelihood, many families have moved into the outskirts of the capital. With some of the families now unable to support their children, some have been abandoned in the city and have started to live in the streets. Other children run away from abusive homes. Some are brought by the police to the shelter we visited where attempts are made to reunite them with their families.

Due to malnutrition, many of the young boys who look like they are about 10 or 11 told us that they are actually 14 or 15.

Deseret International Charities, the local arm of LDS Humanitarian Services and www.care4kidsworldwide.org have provided kitchen appliances, a ping pong table, a foosball table as well as food for the shelter.

To keep warm in the winter when the temperatures here get to -40° F and average 0° F, the street children climb down manholes into the sewer system to keep warm. There hot water pipes are located as part of the heating system for the buildings in U.B. One boy showed us the scars over his back from burns, which occurred when he fell asleep leaning against one of the hot water pipes.

We were touched by the sincerity of the director of this shelter who met with us and helped us to better understand the problem of the street children of Ulan Bator.