Daphne Bundros joined the Peace Corps in 2003 and signed up for a two-year commitment to work with the Mongolian people, most of whom live as nomads
Letter from Mongolia
Friday, March 26, 2004
By Dave Steffenson-- Assistant Editor
Special to The Dispatch
Daphne Bundros rides a camel over the Mongolian landscape.
Special to The Dispatch
Bundros with a Mongol family.
Special to The Dispatch
A group of Peace Corps members pose for a group photo in Mongolia.
Sub-zero temperatures, rust-colored water and showers once a week may not be anything close to paradise, but to Daphne Bundros, a Gilroy native working in Mongolia, it’s a way of life. And she loves it.
“The sight of a person riding through town on a two-humped camel never ceases to fill me with awe, along with the blood-orange sunsets,” wrote the Gilroy native by e-mail.
Bundros, a 28-year-old graduate of Gilroy High School who attended Gavilan College before graduating with a nursing degree from the University of San Francisco, joined the Peace Corps in 2003 and signed up for a two-year commitment to work with the Mongolian people, most of whom live as nomads.
She thought about being in the Peace Corps several times while in college, but it took a leap of faith to make the commitment.
“It was during nursing school when I got the idea in my head that I wanted to ‘do something different’ with my life and do a sort of ‘medical mission,’ ” Bundros said. “I kept putting off the idea of doing the Peace Corps because I never felt ‘ready enough.’ ”
After five years of working as a nurse, Bundros finally decided to give it a shot.
“I had never imagined myself nor had any desire in going to Mongolia before; heck, I didn’t even know where it was located on the map,” she wrote. “After frantically checking out an atlas and searching the web, I decided to bite the bullet and do it.
“And it has been an amazing experience thus far.”
Bundros is one of about 90 peace corps volunteers who work in a variety of fields: environment, teaching, business and health. She is a health volunteer and works at a medical college helping teach students. While Bundros said the the traditional role of a nurse was to act was so treat illnesses and empty bedpans, Mongolia is now open to new ideas, including preventive health and critical thinking.
“The Mongolian people are fun to teach to because they are so open in wanting to learn new concepts and ideas,” she wrote.
Bundros teaches a popular monthly cooking/nutrition class, making foods like spaghetti, garlic bread, curry, chili and apple pie. Bundros teaches about the health benefits of fiber, reducing intake of fat and salt and the importance of eating a variety of foods to the Mongols, who mainly eat meat because of a lack of vegetables. She also teaches sex education classes, a doctors class where they choose the topic and two English classes a week.
And Meanwhile, she has taken in the experience of living in a place nothing like her South Valley home.
“The best part of being here in Mongolia is the whole experience of being in a developing foreign country - being somewhere so completely different from what I’ve ever known from the small community garlic town like Gilroy,” she wrote. “It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to live here for two years, learn the language and attempt to integrate into the community and society, as opposed to a fleeting passing by as a tourist.”
Bundros said she has made friends with several volunteers and also with the Mongols.
“The hospitality and generosity of the people is touching, and I am always being invited to come to people’s home to drink some hot milk-tea (with salt and butter in it) and eat some buuz (steamed meat dumplings),” she wrote. “The people are very kind, generous, even though they have very little. They love their Mongolia, and I can see why. It’s a simple life here.”
Still, there are parts of Mongolia that make her long for home.
“The challenge here is the intermittent longing of the comforts back home, like diners or full breakfast places to go to eat - where I can order eggs, pancakes, sausage and fresh orange juice,” Bundros wrote. “I miss going into a supermarket and seeing all of the different varieties of lettuce, fresh vegetables and grains. Here the fare is meat, meat and meat. I miss the ocean as well. My dreams here revolve around food and swimming.”
And, while most people would consider her living conditions as unbearable, Bundros says they’re “great.”
“I’d say I’m spoiled and live in luxury. I have a single room apartment. The apartments here are from when the Russians were here, and so they are all concrete buildings,” she wrote. “For the winter time, I have warm, rust-colored water that I get out of my radiator that I use to wash my clothes and dishes with. Then in May, when the warm water shuts off, I will resort again to boiling water.”
Bundros considers that luxury because half of the other volunteers who live in Gobi-Altai, called aimag center -basically a big town - live in a traditional style Mongolian house. Called “gers,” the houses are circular, felt-covered single rooms with a wood stove in the middle.
“These volunteers have a lot more maintenance to do, such as hulling water weekly from either a water truck or a well and chopping wood and building fires daily,” Bundros wrote.
Water is a valuable resource in Mongolia, and its scarcity makes it difficult to do many daily activities, including shower.
“There are shower houses in town, but it is pricey, so its a weekly treat to have a shower,” Bundros wrote. “Otherwise it is spitbaths. My standards for cleanliness has definitely gone down living here.”
The weather in Mongolia certainly doesn’t resemble the Bay Area, either.
“The weather and surroundings are harsh and bleak. Winter is freezing, with temperatures dipping down to -30 F,” she wrote. “In the spring, there are severe dust storms where sand and dirt blows fierce - you have to cover your eyes, ears, mouth (any orifices) with scarfs to protect yourself. Summer is the best time of year, with an ‘Indian-type summer’ that lasts from June until August. Then the cycle begins all over again.”
Bundros has agreed to remain in Mongolia serving the Peace Corps until August of 2005, and she said anyone who has thought about joining the organization - which entered its 73rd year this month - should give it serious thought.
“If you are looking for a different way to live for two years, have a sense of adventure, are kind-hearted and want to give of yourself, and have your bachelors degree, then go for it,” Bundros said. “Peace Corps is great because they do take care of you financially, and they provide you with more then enough to live on.”
Bundros also said there’s an incorrect perception that the Peace Corps is just for young men and women.
“I think that many people have a perception of Peace Corps being geared toward the 20-something age bracket, fresh out of college,” she said. “This is a misconception. It is open for any one over the age of 18 years old. In our group there are three retired people who are volunteers, and many people in their 30s and 40s. I would love to see more of this age group doing this.”
The Mongolian desert has changed Bundros’ life, and she said that it may be a perfect fit for someone who want to see the world.
“If you desire a change in your lifestyle, want to experience a whole new culture and way to live, want to give of your skills and knowledge for two years, and want to challenge yourself in ways that you never thought possible, then Peace Corps may be just what you need,” she wrote. “You can never even imagine or dream where you may end up and how it can change you.”
For more information on the Peace Corps, visit www.peacecorps.org.
Assistant Editor Dave Steffenson edits lifestyle stories for The Dispatch. You can reach him at daves@gilroydispatch.com.
