Ms. J. Dorjkhand, who has been living in poverty since the death of her husband in 2023, found shelter with her five children in an old and badly neglected building in 2025.
The family was allowed to stay there during the following winter months, as long as she made sure the heating in the building was switched on and off at set times.
Their ‘living room’ was a cold, damp and mouldy room without proper ventilation, of less than twelve square metres, which they had to share day and night.
Her sons are between eight and fourteen years old. Three of them have a mild intellectual disability and attend a special needs school.

Her contract was due to end on 10 April 2026, after which the family would have to leave the building and would be homeless. Shortly before that, she got in touch with our staff member in Ulaanbaatar.
Through his mediation, the Steppekinderen Foundation donated a ger with a stove to the family, which he built in great haste with the necessary help.

The family currently receives 120 euros a month per child in financial support from the government, but that is not enough to live on.
The foundation has rented a plot for the ger and paid six months’ rent in advance, so that Ms. Dorjkhand, who used to work as a cook, has enough time to find a new job and continue on her own.