THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502230140
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Yes, Virginians, there really is an Outer Mongolia. It's not a fictional place, but an actual country, nestled forgotten between two giants, Russia and China.
Lisa Crunk-Gabbard, 32, knows, because she traveled to the other side of the earth and saw Mongolia.
She and her husband, David, a State Department employee, lived in Ulan Bator for two years. It is the capital and largest city in Mongolia. But what really made the stay memorable was the ``turquoise'' treasure the couple brought back to America.
She is a 2-year-old with black hair and intelligent dark-brown eyes. She speaks some Mongolian and has learned some English. She is quiet and in constant motion, playing with her toys and looking around her. The Gabbards adopted Oyun-Erdene in November 1993. Called O-you-na by her parents, her name means turquoise treasure in her native language.
Lisa Crunk-Gabbard attended First Colonial High School and graduated from Kempsville High School and Norfolk General Hospital nursing program. She got a job in the Infant Sanitarium, a combination orphanage/day-care center established under Soviet rule.
``Under the system, the children were placed in the sanitarium for the first three years of their lives,'' said Crunk-Gabbard. ``The place handled multiple births, handicapped, orphans. Any children who probably wouldn't be better cared for at home.''
With an average salary of $10 to $30 a month that meant most children, she said.
Crunk-Gabbard had worked at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in the critical care neo-natal ward.
The differences she saw on the other side of the world were stunning.
``They had one unltrasound machine,'' she said. ``One in the whole country.''
She noticed other differences:
``The children weren't given too much attention. They didn't play with toys. Sometimes, there was little heat. The sanitarium wasn't too knowledgable about child development and nutrition. They just sat around, unattended.''
At 18 months, Oyun weighed 16 pounds. She had ear infections and stomach problems.
In a Mongolian ceremony that included passing a piece of silk and a bowl of milk, little Oyun's biological parents surrendered their rights to David and Lisa.
Seeing her bounce around her grandparents living room now, it's hard to imagine Oyun, who will be 3 in April, as she was early in her infancy. She wore a red turtleneck under brown corduroy overalls and tiny Reeboks. She chewed up pieces of apple cut by her maternal grandfather, John Crunk.
``She's our first grandchild,'' said a proud Becky Crunk, Lisa's mother.
Crunk-Gabbard showed photographs of the Mongolian stay. The couple traveled throughout the country and sampled Mongolian life. They visited the Tsatan, the reindeer people, on the northern border with Russia. They found dinosaur eggs on a fossil hunt in a remote region.
``I found the Mongols to be the warmest, friendliest people I've ever met,'' Crunk-Gabbard said.
And that's saying something.
The couple has lived and worked in Nairobi, Kenya and Caracas, Venezuela. They have have traveled to the Seychelles, islands off the east coast of Africa, Hong Kong, and all along the American East Coast since adopting Oyun. They will spend the next couple years in Miami. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Lisa Crunk-Gabbard holds 2-year-old daughter Oyun-Erdene, who was
adopted while Lisa and husband David, a State Department employee,
were stationed in Mongolia. Oyun-Erdene means turquoise treasure.
Table-top books show some of the places that Lisa Crunk-Gabbard and
husband David have traveled.
by CNB