Near the border between Inner Mongolia and the coal mining region of China, tens of thousands of people are so poor they are still living in caves.

With no water or electricity, or even a front door — just a heavy blanket hung on a rope to keep the cold air from rushing in to their cave — these families struggle to survive the bitter cold and harsh winds every Mongolian winter brings.

It is in these harsh, brutal conditions that I was told the most heart-warming story by a woman we went there to meet. Her name is Mrs. Kiu.

We left the empty highway to take narrow, dangerous roads high up into the hills where everyone lives in a cave. The higher we went, the more difficult it was to drive as the road changed to mud.

The snow and ice got worse as we went higher.It was terrifying for all of us as the road got steeper and there were no guard rails.

After we passed a mangled truck hanging off a cliff we started pleading with the driver to slow down. There is no 911 here and if you have an accident no ambulances come and there are no blood banks.

We all breathed a big sigh of relief when we finally stopped at an old Communist commune and scrambled out. Then we started climbing a steep dirt path up towards some caves.

We were here to meet the Liu Family. They live in a one-room cave high on the hillside. They own a very small plot of land. Too small to grow enough food to live on so the neighbors help them get by. They own two chickens but they are too poor to eat the eggs these chickens produce. They sell the egg because they are desperate for money.

So poor and so desperate for money that they live in a cave. Just like thousands of other families in this very poor region.

Here is a photo of their cave. It has no door and it was 22 degrees the day we visited. There is a large stone communal bed with a built-in fireplace at the end of the bed. This blows hot air under the bed to keep it warm. And they also use it to cook. The entire family sleeps in this bed. The newspaper on the walls is to keep dust and dirt from falling off of the wall. And you can see a single lightbulb hanging from a tiny wire. I wondered how they got electricity into this cave.

But the point of this story isn’t that this family is so poor that they live in a cave, but what happened to this family that lives in a cave.

Here’s a picture of the Liu family including their 13 year old daughter and an adopted daughter, Li.

Mrs. Liu told us the story of how Li became part of their family.

Seven years ago, Mrs. Liu was walking in the morning to the river, three miles each way, to get water. She came across a newborn crying baby with a severe cleft.

The baby was stuffed in a box with a dirty blanket that had been placed behind a bush along a dirt path. Mrs. Liu stopped, looked at the baby, and then turned and kept walking.

Mrs. Liu passed by the same spot later that afternoon and the baby was still crying. She didn’t stop, she just kept walking.

One more time, Mrs. Liu passed by the same spot again. It is dusk and getting cold as snow flakes start falling. The baby is still crying, whimpering. Mrs. Liu stops. She doesn’t know what to do. Her family is so poor they can barely feed themselves and she already has a six year old girl at home. She knows her husband will be furious if she brings home an abandoned baby. Especially a baby that is deformed. Mrs. Liu has a million good reasons to turn and walk away.

But she doesn’t. She bends over and picks up that crying baby and brings her back to her cave. Her husband doesn’t say a word. Neither does their daughter. They adopt that little girl and name her Li and make her part of their family.

When Li turns six years old, the Lius hear about a free surgery program for children born with clefts. They take a 3 hour bus ride to get to the partner hospital we had just visited. And Li gets her cleft fixed.

The Lius are so happy and grateful for the surgery that changed Li’s life. They us that since her cleft is repaired, Li is now allowed to go to school and they are excited because Li will be the first person in their family to go to school.

As a token of their appreciation, Mr Liu gives three of us these small plastic bags filled with grain that he harvested from the tiny plot of land.

I am of course adamant that I will not accept this. And I thank him profusely but shake my head refuse to take his gift. My country manager grabs me and tells me if I do not accept this gift it will be extremely rude and I will humiliate Mr. Liu.

So I grit my teeth, accept his gift and thank him and his wife for letting us come to visit them. As we are all walking down the dirt path back to the van I come up with a plan to reciprocate. As we say our goodbyes at the van, I shake hands with Mrs. Liu I slip a wad of crumpled bills into her winter coat pocket without her noticing.

As we drive away down the bumpy road in the van, as I am holding on to my little plastic bag filled with grain, I look up at all the frigid caves on the snowy hills and thank God I was born in America. I am shaking my head wondering how there are people in the world who are so poor they are living in caves.

After an hour or so I tell my country manager what I did.

“I hope it’s okay but when I was shaking hands with Mrs. Liu, I slipped a little money into her coat pocket,” I said. ” I felt so bad that they gave us all that grain. I wanted to reciprocate without embarrasing them.”

“That’s fine,” she said. “How much did you give her?”

“Not sure exactly,” I replied. “Probably around 100.”

“That’s great. 100 Chinese Yuan is about $15 U.S. dollars, ” she said. “Their annual income is probably around $100 so $15 is almost two months pay. That will help them a lot.”

“I didn’t give her 100 Yuan,” I said. ” I gave her $100 U.S. dollars. It was everything I had in my pocket.”

My country manager gasped. And didn’t reply.

I went back to gazing out the window. Looking up at those snowy hills.

And kicking myself for not giving Mrs. Liu everything in my wallet.