Walking the Gobi, Part Two

In February, I wrote about Helen Thayer and her trek across the Gobi. Last night I finished her book, Walking the Gobi: 1,600 Mile-trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair. I found it enthralling. Every evening as I read, I felt more and more immersed in the culture of the nomads in the Gobi desert. The interview with Helen I wrote about previously inspired me with her courage and determination to accomplish a 1600-mile trek across a desert while in her 60's. The book caused me to turn my attention from Helen to the people of the Gobi.

The story of Surenjav presents a stunning example of the depth of poverty on the Gobi. Helen and her husband, Bill, arrived at their ger, or tent-like home, a few hours after the first of Surenjav's first child. A teen herself, she was weak from the delivery as she suffered from severe malnutrition. Her husband, mother and father, and younger brother and sister all lived with her. Over the past two winters the extended family had lost almost all of their animals - the source of their livelihood. The family was extremely malnourished. Their clothes were in tatters, held together by safety pins, the soles of their shoes worn practically bare. All suffered from infections in their extremities where skin had cracked during the severe cold of the winter.

Despite all this, the family was happy and peaceful. The arrival of Helen and Bill so soon after the birth of the baby was considered auspicious. As was common among the nomads, guests were welcomed, seated in places of honor, and what food as existed, was happily shared. Life on the desert was accepted, not fought. Like so many nomads that Helen and Bill met on their trip, the family was optimistic - next year will be better.

The good news to this story is that for Surenjav, her small child and her extended family, the next year was better. The Thayers left what supplies they could and then arranged a means for the family to receive more supplies that would see them through the next winter and give them a step up on mother nature. Happily, six years later, when the Thayers return for a visit, the family is thriving. They meet a beautiful little six year old little girl who has been named Helen - the baby born shortly before their meeting with the family.

It is so easy to forget the extent of poverty in some reaches of this world. I know that right now many Americans are stressed and fearful with the current global economic downturn. Given the media attention it is not hard to get into that mindset, and certainly loss of jobs and homes are devastating tragedies for anyone. A book like Walking the Gobi helps us regain some balance and perspective on our own tragedies.