By Delgermaa Surenjav, World Vision Mongolia communications

Ulziijargal, 16, doesn’t feel hurt by her past, although her childhood contained almost unimaginable hardship. When she was five she went underground with her mother, homeless and living in the tunnels under the streets of Ulan Bataar.

Both her parents were alcoholics, and divorced when Ulziijargal was four years old. Ulziijargal spent some time going between her parents until her mother moved to stay in the tunnel with a group of homeless people.

She remembers that the tunnels were awful, dirty and hot. Hot water was a constant threat and the tunnels were full of cockroaches.

“I saw many people getting burnt by the hot water that would come into the tunnels. It was a hard and scary time. Sometimes, I wanted to go and live with my father because he was at least living in our home. It seemed to be better than living with my mom. Besides, my mother was digging through garbage in the street to feed me, and she only ever found enough for her own alcohol. My hunger was nothing to her.”

Even so, Ulziijargal does not blame either of her parents for her hard life. “I miss them so much and want to hug them just one more time,” Ulziijargal says.

She heard that her father died in 2005. Her mother has been lost since 2007 and is still missing.

Ulziijargal has looked for her mother several times, but can never find out anything about her. She still waits, and sometimes she dreams about what she would do if her mother suddenly appeared.

“I met with World Vision Mongolia in 2000 through a friend of mine,” she explains. “At that time she became involved in the Daily Care Centre of WVM’s Children in Difficult Circumstance’s Project. I went along when I was 8 years old and I have been here ever since.”

Now she is living in a World Vision “Light House” along with other children. It is just like a family home, she says, although her family is rather big. There are 19 girls and their teachers living in a four room apartment, aged between 8 and 18. Ulziijargal has been living here for 8 years, and is the eldest “daughter” in this family.

She smiles. “My home has a very warm and comfortable atmosphere. I really like it here and feel very content.”

“I have made a lot of friends here and we share our lives. Sometimes, when I hear about my friend’s lives I feel that my sorrow is nothing compared with them. I have learnt much from theirs and my own life. I love my home mates. That’s why I feel their sorrow like my own,” she says.

Ulziijargal is a very active and talented girl. She has already received 22 various awards. She won the “Talent gold medal” from Mongolian Children’s Palace in 2004. She participates constantly in Vision Star music and sport festivals and has received several medals. She also plays table tennis and basketball.

She is a member of the Blue Sky Children’s’ choir of World Vision International Mongolia which has been operating as a professional choir under trained teachers since 2004.

She also became involved in World Vision’s Board of Child Participation committee and was head of that committee last year. She is very good at Mongolian language and history, and wants to become an international journalist.

“I am very confident that my dream will come true. Once I become a journalist I would like to study overseas to improve my professional ability. I think that when I study overseas it will help me understand myself and become more patriotic.  I know it would broaden my knowledge.”

Ulziijargal really wants to put her difficult life behind her and start afresh to carve a life for herself. This is her ultimate goal as a human being.