Meeting with Mercer University Students
On the 18th of June Mend-Ooyo received a group of students from Mercer University and Adjunct professor Jonathan S.Addleton, former Ambassador US to Mongolia, in his studio. The meeting occurred after his return to Ulaanbaatar after trips to the countryside, visiting Khovd, Khuvsgul and Arkhangai provinces and their cultural and historical areas.
The 16 visiting undergraduate students from Mercer University in Macon, GA (USA) are spending three weeks in Mongolia, both to learn about the country and to implement a summer enrichment camp for children living in the ger districts in partnership with the Mongolian NGO "Children of the Peak".
Before coming to
Mongolia, they were taught lessons on the economics, politics, literature and culture of the country. As part of his lessons, professor Addleton also showed them many of Mend-Ooyo’s works. One student, Rhette, had written a report on “Gal” which recounts the history of the underground poetry group of the 1970s of which Mend-Ooyo was a founder and core member. She and her fellow students asked him questions about the Gal group, his childhood, and looked for insight into how he writes his poetry. The students left the meeting with promises to write to him, visit Mongolia again, and ask him more questions.