Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Humanitarian - Page 1

Some of you may have seen this story in the Church News. Perhaps we can add a few more details.

The Relief Society here in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and surrounding cities, got together one Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago to put together some newborn kits. The biggest part of the project was the making of 500 baby quilts. Quite a project. And they did it all in one day!
These were given to local hospitals who, in turn, gave them to mom's as their babies were born. Most here have nothing to wrap their babies in when they take them home.

The brother sitting in the first picture is President Odegerel, president of the Ulaanbaatar District (the mission field equivalent of a Stake). He is quite a character but is also one who is eager to learn as much as he can as quickly as he can about the Gospel and how to run a district.


You can see the room full of sisters behind Elder and Sister Caldwell and in the following picture. That room also doubles as the chapel. There were also sisters in the basement area and in a room on the third floor - just about anywhere we could find space to put them. They put in a long day, but got everything pretty much done before it was over.

And believe it or not, they were done by about 5 o'clock! They had quite an assembly line going, including a 'quality inspection' area to make certain everything was finished properly.



And this was the final result as all the quilts were stacked at the front of the chapel when they were completed. We've never seen so many quilts in our lives!





This is a couple of the Elders hauling loads of blankets to be stored in a closet until they could be taken to the hospitals.




We've also included a picture of the racks of little socks we dried in our apartment after washing them. These were purchased for the new born kits, but it was felt prudent to wash them, not knowing where they had been before we got them.


Next: Wheelchairs, Volume 1.

5 comments:

The Fendleys said...

Wow, that is a lot of quilts!! And they are so beautiful! That sounds like a wonderful thing that was done. Having such a pretty blanket to wrap your baby in in the hospital means so much and I bet that all of the Moms really appreciate it(and the babies, since it is so darn cold there!). I bet Rebecca washes that many socks in one week. I know that I sure seem to wash way to many, and I only have two kids. Did you have to match them all up and fold them afterward? FUN!!

Ryan Cowley said...

That is amazing! I can't believe they were able to do that all in one day! And yes, I probably do close to that many socks a week but I have a dryer to put them in (which then eats one of each pair). Do you not have a dryer?

cindy-stitches-n-stuff.blogspot.com said...

That's awesome!

David Osborn said...

Melba, I can see tyhat you have put all that valuable experience in a sewing factory to good use! When you get back let's talk about starting a Baby Quilt production line!
Dave

Anne Bennett said...

That's incredible! Good for you guys!