Khusvegi Museum and English Library in Mongolia
Khusvegi Museum & English Library Grant
The award-winning, globally recognized Khusvegi English & Nomadic Culture Camp in Sagsai, Mongolia, will soon build the Khusvegi Museum & English Library, thanks to a US$5,000 grant from Crooked Trails, to showcase their culture directly to visitors and tourists and allow adults and children to access English books year-round.
Launched in 2021 by Equity Global Treks, the Khusvegi (pronounced cooz-veggy) English &
Nomadic Culture Camp is a 30-day cultural immersion program led by the eagle hunters where tourists are invited to live with the nomads and teach English to community members as a way to create language equity and economic opportunities. It further aims to cultivate a generation of community storytellers, ambassadors, and leaders to preserve nomadic culture and eagle-hunting traditions.
The Issue
The Khusvegi English & Nomadic Culture Camp successfully engaged 50 local participants in English-speaking classes in 2022, generating confidence in their language ability and inspiring them to pursue careers that require the English language as a skill. The community sees the need to preserve the nomadic culture of eagle hunting and continue providing language equity education to community members.
The Solution
As an extension of Khusvegi English & Nomadic Culture Camp, the community wishes to build the Khusvegi Museum & English Library in Sagsai - a first in the community - to provide an opportunity for the community to showcase their culture directly with tourists and for both adults and children to have access to English books year-round. The museum and library will serve as the focal point of tourism for the Sagsai community.
The overall goals of the Khusvegi Museum & Library will be an extension of and elevate the mission of the Khusvegi English & Nomadic Culture Camp by serving as a focal point of tourism for the community and an opportunity for them to learn English year-round. The museum and library will be operated and managed by the community.
Moving Forward
The community of Sagsai is fully invested in the project as they design the program and oversee the renovation of an existing building for the museum and library. The decisions are made jointly with the community and with the co-founder, Bakhitgul Altay, serving as the liaison and representative of Sagsai community.
Crooked Trails has provided a $2,000 grant to support the renovation efforts for the museum and library.
The Khusvegi Museum and English Library Project 2024 Update
The full renovation of the building planned for the Museum and Library is complete and this project is moving onto its second phase. The second phase includes furnishing the building with English books, museum displays, hiring a curator, and other purchases that are necessary to complete the classroom and the project.
In its pilot program, the camp had five foreign teachers from the U.S. and Germany who taught English with three local teachers. The camp taught a total of 50 students, ages between 5 and 18. The project gained the support of the 5000-person community of Sagsai, the Mongolian Parliament in Ulaanbaatar, and the local government and school in Sagsai.
The Khusvegi Camp, a key component of our project, has been a resounding success. It has not only provided a unique cultural immersion experience for our students but also served as a platform for them to become the storytellers of their own culture and traditions. This initiative aligns with our mission of creating language equity and preserving eagle hunting and nomadic culture, bringing us closer to our community's aspirations.
The museum and library will be 100% managed by the community. They will serve as the focal point of local tourism in Sagsai, inspiring the younger generation of nomads to work as guides and storytellers of their history and culture within the tourism industry.
Khusvegi English & Nomadic Culture Camp is the winner of the 2021 Social Entrepreneurship Competition in Tourism—Launch Track, hosted by UNWTO, ITB Berlin, Travel Massive, TUI Care Foundation, SINA, and Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. Khusvegi Camp aims to achieve the following UN Sustainable Goals: Quality Education, Reduced Inequalities, and Partnerships for the Goals.
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