SpECIaL Olympics NatIonAls. 2.0.

Last week we had the National special olympics. it was very last minute but worked out wonderfully. I had two athletes that were able to come and they had a really great time. Three days of events! I took pictures on the last day because that's when everyone would be there. As last year, there was table tennis with one child who had a disability and one child that did not. There was short jump (although it should be long jump because that is the real event in special olympics) and athletics. While this is my third special olympics in the past year, it is exciting and incredible to see how it has caught on. I absolutely love that it is starting to gain so much acknowledgement. There was also a camera man. He has a disability and is successful in life. He and his coworker are creating a documentary about special olympics to share. It was an incredibly humbling experience to meet him.

Davaa Showing off bracelets that she received when the contracted ESPN news team was here.

Adra, the successful camera man who has disabilities.

EsPn ContrAcTeD DoCumEnTarY CrEW

Davaa was one of 7 athletes from all over the world recently chosen to have a 5 minute documentary created about her to air before the LA Special Olympics. The documentary crew came over the course of 2 days and I spent the entire time with them. The 12 hour days were exhausted but yielded some amazing footage of a day in Davaa's life. Her parents were there as well to participate in the documentary. The community has really come together to support her and views of disabilities in Mongolia are started to shift. The past year with this little gal has been an incredible experience!

 These guys were amazing. Pictured left to right Tess, and Rob. Tess on camera and Rob does sound!

 Amanda brought Davaa bracelets. She loved them! She was the producer for Davaa's Story.

CoS ConFerEnce!

THE END OF SERVICE!

This was an exciting time...but also bitter sweet because of the fallen. We met for three days to discuss how to market ourselves post Peace Corps, how to translate our experience into skills that people would want. In the Peace Corps you learn skills that you would not otherwise learn in the real world and I value everything that I have done here! Here are some pics from the last day. I received my COS certificate.

ThE InTerNaTiOnaL CrEatIve WriTiNg ComPetItIon

I started collecting data for this activity in November because I had to complete a grant to legitimize it in Mongolia. The grant that I wrote covered certificates, medals, candy, and other small prizes for the competition. 15 aimags had signed up and all but one participated! 22 Peace Corps countries signed up all over the world and at the conclusion, 16 participated. The grant itself was difficult. It was a government grant that I had to write, with budget included and once accepted funds were raised online through crowdsurfing.  Volunteers were asked to make sure their CP's participated and that they held classes that focused on creative writing. I collaborated with international coordinators and a couple of other country coordinators to choose culturally acceptable prompts. Each grade had two prompts that they chose from. In order to make my life a bit easier in translating the slew of prompts, I had aimag (province coordinators) work with their counterparts to translate two prompts. This was helpful because this competition entails grades 6-12, University students grade 1-4 and young professionals. The certificates were all made by another PCV volunteer, and he also eventually created the Write on Competition Logo that will be used from now on for the write on competition! The competition itself had three levels. The Aimag level-coordinated by aimag pcv's...the winners essays then continued to the national level where a group of us chose first place from each grade to be sent onto the international coordinators. While Mongolia did not win at the international level, it was still fantastic that there were so many participants 1,180. 
The competition itself finished early March. Since then I have been retrieving receipts, writing up the completion report and working with Peace Corps on the final report. As of last week, I finished it. It was by far one of the hardest projects I have coordinated simply because of the grant, however it was very beneficial because before the project I had no idea how to coordinate a grant. I am pleased that I now have this skill under my belt!

SPeCIaL OlYmPiCS ArkHanGai!

It has been months...literally months. So i guess I have to backtrack a bit before discussing the current.

DeCeMbEr
I had a special Olympics and it was small but wonderful..It happened in December and 11 athletes attended. Volunteers from the teachers college and the social work college helped with the activities. It was just lovely. The day before the competition, we had a health training that taught athletes and parents healthy eating and stretching skills. The children seemed to have a great time and I think the parents were pleased as well. Special Olympics Mongolia provided funding for the metals, and FLOM provided funding for lunch and snacks during the trainings. The local bed and breakfast Fairfields donated sandwiches and soups for the event as well.
Like most activities it was not completely smooth sailing. We got to the gym and it was being used for vollyball. My CP had double booked with the school director so I was anxious that it would not work out. Thanks to fairfield staff, they talked to the team and explained that they would not play and that this event was for children with disabilities. After going back and forth we were told we could use the gym for an hour and a half. We finished the jumping portion and the shotput portion (with a regular soft dodge ball) in the music gym. After athletes received their medals for first second and third place, hugs were given all around. It was so amazing to see how happy parents and children were alike.
While coordinating a project can be difficult at times, when it is completed and is successful it feels wonderful.  If there were no barriers in place and everything was simple and easy going it would be difficult to be as excited at the conclusion of it's success!

Initial meeting with the social workers. I brought in  the athletes that had gone to Special Olympics Mongolia to discuss their experiences.

Students Learning about Healthy foods

Students learning how to stretch before working out!

Competition day!