In the four pictures taken in and outside the Ger, a lady, her neighbors and her cute little photo hungry son, gather around the stove in the center of the Ger and make ropes for Gers out of Yak hair. The Yak hair they use has been discarded by the factories that use the good Yak hair to make clothing. They form a loosely organized coop and gather in her Ger and make this rope. It is used on the outside of Gers to keep the felt in place. They work all year on the rope and are able to sell a little over a thousand dollars worth of rope a month during the four warmer months of the year, when Gers are primarily being built. This is definitely a cottage industry. The lady and her neighbors have been doing this for several years and are now trying to move into a new venture. They have been able to obtain some scrap leather but need to buy some additional material so they can make switches/whips to sell to the guys who ride the horses and there are a lot of horses and riders in this country. They were applying for a mico finance loan out of the CHF branch office in Edernet.
The other picture of Brian and the three ladies was taken in the urban area of Edernet. This lady and her friends make fresh fruit jam and distribute it in the grocery stores in Edernet and Darkhan. CHF staff had been assisting her in applying for a loan at the local bank but the banks in Mongolia are just like the banks in the rest of the world, they don't want to loan anything to anyone. Brian, the Deputy Director of the CHF program in Mongolia was present to try and and get creative with the structure of the loan. My only thought was that some fresh bread and butter with a little of the great tasting jam might loosen up the bankers but Brian's idea was probably the better way to go.
