Bolormaa

Khadjisureniin Bolormaa, First Lady of Mongolia, gave a talk yesterday at the Woman's National Democratic Club in Washington D.C. (see here).

I was lucky enough to be able to hear her speak. Primarily, she addressed women's and children's issues in her home country. For example, Mongolia is introducing education reforms for compulsory universal education from ages 6 to 18. New hospitals to specialize in cancer-diagnosis are also being built there. Additionally, she discussed a Gender Equality Law currently being mooted in the Ikh Khural's various committees.

She also talked about her and her husband's experiences raising five children, four sons and a daughter, and de facto adopting twenty-five more from an orphanage near where they live. As she put it, when traveling she shops not for five but for thirty! Those twenty-five don't live with her, as you might imagine, and her family is instead constructing new housing specially for them.

Bolormaa also mentioned the Bolor Charity that she runs, and their programs to help street children. Currently, Ulaanbaatar has about forty centers designed to help over 1,400 homeless orphan children in that city. The First Lady hopes that her charity will be able to make an impact of some kind on the plight of those children. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the Bolor Charity's website, so if any of you readers know it, please do tell me so I can link to it.

After her speech, the floor was opened for audience questions. Regarding the quota for women in the Ikh Khural, Bolormaa indicated that though that quota had recently been lowered from 30% to 10%, the current government is considering re-instating the old percentage. When asked about continuing education opportunities for women, Bolormaa noted that recent years had seen the growth of night-course-programs in the cities, and expanded ger-education programs for nomads.

About the role of Buddhist monastic education in Mongolia, she said that Buddhism is of course traditionally revered in Mongolia and that such values must be taught by parents and families.

Following the questions, a survivor of the Mongolian orphanage system emotionally thanked the First Lady for her efforts on behalf of orphans and Mongolia's children. She also gave the First Lady a small gift, which Bolormaa gladly received.



All told, First Lady Bolormaa was very kind, polite, and conversational. I enjoyed her talk, and was honored to meet her afterwards. All I really know about her husband is what is already public knowledge, but if he's anything like her at all, then Mongolia is in good hands.