I would like you to meet two of our friends, Jonathan and Marielle. They're the newest couple to Erdenet, though they both came here a few years ago when they came as a part of YWAM. Like so many of the couples out here they're international; Jonathan is from Oregon and Murielle is from France. They are somehow both fluent in English and French and are now becoming trilingual with Mongolian.

Their work in Mongolia is really unique, and that's why I wanted to share it with you. The Mongolian educational system, to put it lightly, needs a lot of work. One of the biggest problems is that the government says that children must buy all of their books for school. If they cannot afford the books, they cannot go to school. This obviously does nothing to help the over 36% of the population living at or below the poverty line. For many families, especially those living on the outskirts of cities and in the smallest towns, the $20 per year they spend on books is a question that can come down to a decision between buying books or food (especially with the global increase in gas, wheat, and rice prices).

Jonathan and Murielle run their own non-profit called EduRelief that raises money to buy, print, and distribute books for students in the poorest areas of the country and to start libraries in the impoverished schools.

You can read all about EduRelief and what they do here. If you like what they do, send them a nice email or ask how you can help.

Jonathan was featured in a commercial for a school recently. For those of you who've never heard Mongolian, here's your introduction. (It still blows my mind that Kim can speak it.)