"Tsagaan hol"

Mongolia has really good dairy products, or "white food". There are milk sellers at different places around town. A litre of milk, straight from the cow, is 800 tugruks - about 30p. You have to boil it before you drink it as it's not pasteurised, but it's still really really tasty. The kiddies at school regularly have rice cooked in milk, and babies get dried curds as rusks. I've bought really good hard cheese in the market in Ulaanbaatar, though I've not seen it in the market here in Choibalsan - maybe because it's all taken to UB for to be sold at a better price, or maybe because the grazing around here is so poor that you can't really make much cheese. The dinner lady at K#12 makes fabulous cheese and yoghurt - it's the highlight of my week.

I read a report last week that talked about poverty and malnutrition among school-age children. Now, with people migrating to UB, many families no longer have access to fresh milk and so there is a growing incidence of calcium-deficiency. Around 30% of the children under 6 go to kindergartens. There is no fee, but the families have to pay for food, paper, pens, clothes for special presentations etc ... so many can't afford it. Also, you have to be registered as a resident in the district, and many nomadic or migrating families are not registered (there used to be a hefty registration fee and it has only recently been lifted).

On top of this, it is the teacher's job to collect "dinner money" from the families of her pupils, and if a family does not pay the monthly food charge, then the teacher's salary is docked. Yet another reason why children from less well-off families come to school.