No. 8, 2003
Editor’s column
The Day of the Reindeer revealed an unfortunate situation in the Nenets Autonomus Okrug (NAO). The officials had not succeeded in coordinating the visits to the reindeer farms made by the representatives of various levels of authority as well as by the representatives of the oil sector. Some of the farms received “greetings” in abundance, while others went unnoticed. Nevertheless, the reindeer herders from all the reindeer farms within the NAO managed to organize this festival for themselves. Let us hope that next year the organization of the Day of the Reindeer will be more coordinated and the reindeer herders will truly the attentiveness by municipal organs on all levels.
The Echo after the Festival
According to a proposal made by the party “United Russia”, the public movement “Yasavey” Association for Nenets People, represented by Vladislav Peskov president and Alexandr Belugin executive director, participated in the festival “Day of the Reindeer” held in the Kanino-Timanya territory.
On August 2, we visited settlements along the Nizhnaya Pescha, Indiga and Vyucheisky. In Nizhnaya Pescha we were present at a meeting between A. Barinov and the head of the municipal establishment N. Fedotov. They discussed the problems that exist throughout the settlement. First of all this concerns: absence of good potable fresh water, delay in paying wages to the ZHKU workers, delivery of necessary food products and goods through Archangelsk, etc. Then we stopped at the only SPK reindeer farm brigade “Zapolyare”, congratulated them and exchanged some words. The next stop was Indiga. “We flew in as the festival was in full swing. We also visited Vyucheisky and talked to the elder Andrei G. Yavtysy”. Unfortunately, the celebrations were taking place in the settlements and only a handful of reindeer herders attended.
On August 4, we flew to the Kanin peninsula. The first stop was in Oma, where we had a meeting with the leaders of MO “Om AgroCouncil”. Once again the same problems as in other settlements within the NAO: no potable water, unemployment, housing problems, etc. Then we left for the Mikulkin inlet to celebrate the “Day of the Reindeer” in the SPK “Vozkhod” brigade. The place of the venue was the river Nadtei, where the camp of the fifth brigade was situated at the highest point of the peninsula. The festival this year was abundant in helicopters: two of them! The first a special flight for the Board of the agriculture administration in the NAO, which brought the reindeer herders food stuff, canvas, jackets and prizes. The second flight was the one we had arrived on together with the federal inspector - A.V. Barinov, I.V. Koshin - deputy of the NAO Assembly of Deputies and representatives from the party “United Russia”. There were also presents for the inhabitants of the tundra: Yasavey Association brought food products for the family of the guide V.V. Latyshev (the aborted “Kanin Krasnyi Chum 2003” project), and “United Russia” took care of all the reindeer herder brigades including the “Kanin” commune. V. Peskov - president of the Association, and A. Belugin - executive director, flew out to meet with V.V. Latyshev the guide and with the reindeer herders. A plan for future actions was agreed upon with the guide.
On August 8, Vladislav Peskov, Alexandr Belugin and Vladimir Kotkin project coordinator, Galina Arteeva - deputy for the main doctor of the NAO hospital, and Nadezhda Chuprova - senior specialist of the R.F. Ministry of Justice Department took part in the “Day of the Reindeer” celebrations at SPK “Puts Ilicha” (Ilya’s Footsteps). The festival was being celebrated by the river Velikaya about 50 km from Amderma. Five brigades managed to celebrate this festival. The following oil companies supported the festival by providing food stuff, prizes and presents: “Polyarnoe Siyanie”, Severnoe Siyanie”, and “Total FinaElf RRR”. An open meeting of the SPK reindeer herders was held, sport events were organized and a cultural program along with races on harnessed reindeer was arranged. The occasion was topped off with a festive dinner. While drinking a cup of tea we spoke about the activities of Yasavey and tried to explain to the reindeer herders the essence of the work being performed by the Association and to answer questions which interested them.
(based on a report by A. E. Belugin)
NEWS FROM AROUND THE NAO
In the kindergarden “Vynderko” (Tundrovichok) an overhaul of the facilities took place. Funds for this undertaking came from the NAO budget.
On July 26 guests arrived from Telviska. Under the leadership of Galina A. Durkina, exciting matches took place between the Telviska team and the Krasnoye tea. After a few rounds, the young people discussed their problems at a round table: unemployment, housing problems, drunkenness. This was followed by a concert presented by the guests and a disco finished off the evening.
The main event in August was the festival dedicated to the Day of the Reindeer. Reindeer herders from SPK “Kharp” celebrated in the vicinity of Vangurei where the first brigade headed by Egor S. Rochev was located. All necessary food products and medication were delivered to all the brigades on August 1. Reindeer herders, heads of reindeer farms, A. V. Antonov - the deputy head of USKH, representatives from OOO “Naryan-marneftegaz” and entertainers from Makarova gathered together to celebrate. A meeting was held and the results of the work performed by reindeer herders during the first six months of 2003 was discussed. Traditional types of sport events took place such as: the triple jump, sled jumping, throwing an object with accuracy, harnessed reindeer racing between men and women. “Naryan-marneftegaz” was the sponsor of this traditional festival and brought prizes and presents to the residents of the tundra.
Another festive event took place in Krasnoye on August 2. Two teams stod against each other: “Nerm numgy” (North star) - a team representing the younger generation and “Mel khibyari” (talented people) - a team representing the older generation. Competitions in different disciplines were held. There was an exhibition of decorative applied art and an exhibition of national foods. In the evening the reindeer herder veterans were toasted and then we drank tea together.
On the 11th of August, representatives from ORT - the State television and radio broadcasting company - landed in Archangelsk from Om. They took part in the Day of the Reindeer celebrations at SPK “Vozkhod”. We are anxiously waiting to see a broadcast on channel 1 about the reindeer herders and the Day of the Reindeer festivities which were held on the Kanin peninsula.
In the beginning of July two graduate students Fiona Susan Dunks and Florian Marcus Stammler from the Arctic Institute, Cambridge University, of Scotland arrived in Naryan-Mar together with their assistant-interpreter Elena Sergeevna Ilinova. The objective was to work on the project “Safeguarding and developing traditional ways of life of the indigenous population as the main compound towards survival of small peoples”.
Yasavey together with the head of MO “Malozemelsky selsovet” (AgroCouncil for those who have insufficient land to have a farm)* - Mikhael S. Taleev rendered assistance to the graduate students of the university in implementing the project and coordinated their activities. A trip was organized to Nelmin-Nos for this purpose from July 3 31, 2003 to collect data and investigate the nature of the life led by the Nenets people. A trip to the reindeer herders was also undertaken.
* Malozemelsky rebellions in the countryside (literally not enough land) translator’s note
On August 16, an accident occurred at the river Nes. At 4 a.m. a pontoon caught fire aboard the vessel “Vostok”. The reason for this incident: noncompliance with basic safety rules. The river Nes, as all rivers in the tundra, is extremely winding, and on one of these twisting bends the pontoon with propane flew off and this brought about its explosion. As a result 3 people suffered one was killed and two women with severe burns were brought to the NAO hospital in Naryan-Mar.
Repair is being carried out on an Orthodox church, which is planned to be ready by September 16. The new secondary school in the village will open its doors for pupils on the first of September.
This summer eleven children who worked at the SPK “Vozkhod” (Om) rested at a spa in Sochi. Five children from among the low-income families rested in Podmoskovye on tourist trips presented by the deputy of the Sate Duma A.N. Chilingarov.
On July 30, 2003 the deputy from the State Duma A. Chilingarov held a meeting with the villagers. Many questions were asked of him about pensions, the age limit for retiring , telephone communication within the village, merging with Archangelsk. A member of the Council of Yasavey Galina A. Arteeva is also part of the deputy’s working group. Many questions were also put to her concerning the allocation of subsidies in order to finance housing repairs, and about social welfare.
In July the opening of a new 2-story office building took place belonging to the Administration MO “Om AgroCouncil”. But there was no room in this new building for an office to house Yasavey department and all the questions must be settled at the home of N.A. Bobrikov. Let us note that until this time the head of the village T.A. Okulova promised to present one room.
On June 22, in Indiga, the opening of a monument took place to honor the soldier countrymen who fell during World War II. An honorary guard was set up, the flag of the R.F. was raised . Veterans from the home front came to pay their respect to the soldier countrymen and their children and grandchildren. On the day of the village a competition for children took place in front of the House of Culture to draw on the sidewalks with colored crayons “Indiga my home”. The mobile fair was in operation “Baker 2003”. A festive concert “For you I sing, my Indiga” was warmly applauded by the audience. In the evening, the Administration of the village and the staff of the cafeteria organized a reception buffet for the villagers.
The Czech documentary-director Zdenek Novotny and his assistant Aleksei participated in the festival for the Day of the Reindeer in the SPK “Putj Ilicha” by invitation from Yasavey. The film director is planning to release a documentary film in March of next year.
On August 25 a fair was opened in Krasnoye and stalls were put up for selling school accessories. The organizers of this fair were visiting entrepreneurs. The children with their parents could look and buy all the necessary things they needed for the beginning of the new school year.
As the season for picking berries and gathering mushrooms arrived, the weather turned for the better. It was the right time for the villagers. Not only could they save for the long arctic winter but they could also earn some money and add it to their budget. One kilo of cloud berries when handing it in at the collection point can bring 110 roubles into the family’s pocket. The residents of Nes receive 200 roubles for the same amount.
The commune “Enabz” is an undertaking for sewing and making clothes for reindeer herders and fishermen. They also sell their services to the villagers in Krasnoye and at the same time they continue with work on the orders received. The Skilled workmanship and quality items are best defined by the attention drawn on behalf of the consumer.
Repair work is continuing in the kindergarten in Krasnoye on the construction of new facilities to be used by the food unit. The old complex as been shut down due to the state of emergency. The hall where the children organize games is under repair as well. The kindergarten will not open its doors until October and the reason is the absence of heat.
On August 27 in SPK “Kharpo” coral works are beginning in the reindeer herders brigades Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 6 located in the summer pastures for reindeers in a place called “Melkoye” and “Yarei-yu”. The plan of action includes a vaccination campaign against gadflies, selection of reindeer heads for winter slaughtering.
A group of children returned to Krasnoye on August 20th. They had been on holiday using tourist trips provided by the Russian Ministry of Nuclear Industry. The children arrived from their vacation relaxed and in a happy mood.
In the Krasnowsk House of Culture cosmetic repair work on the rooms is continuing. In the beginning of September the cultural center of the village will receive visitors in the newly renovated rooms with warmth and comfort. The base of the House of Culture has a library, a disco, a hall for holding parties and opening nights, a video hall and creative facilities for work shops under the authority of the House of Culture methodologists.
Through an invitation by Z.A. Agapova, a deputy in the NAO Assembly of Deputies, a hairdresser appeared in the village. This help provided by the deputy proved to be not in vain and turned out to be even profitable a haircut with a discount was 30 roubles.
Due to the lack of funds in the Nizhne-Pechorsk “consumsociety”, the bakery in Krasnoye will have to be closed down because it was in a state of emergency. The requests made to allocate funds from the NAO budget for repair and renovation operations for the bakery were ignored by the NAO officials.
A power plant in Krasnoye burned down during the night from August 26 to August 27. Investigations are going on. Work in all the organizations has come to a stop, there is no telephone line, the tanks are not being filled up with water. Periodically the gas is switched off due to repair works in the line. The villagers have gone back to using kerosene lamps and collecting rain water. Thanks be given for yesterday’s downpour.
The villagers do not take the risk of drinking river water because of possible bacteria and bacilli. What a loss has been experienced and it is not known when the power plant will be running again. And ahead is a training process!
Khorei-Ver experienced the same problem, whereby the villagers remained without electricity for more than two weeks.
An acute epidemic of hepatitis A has been registered in Ust-Kara. Here is the latest information provided by Maria A. Filippova, fulfilling the duties of the head of the department for contagious diseases at GUZ “Nenets NAO hospital”:
“The first two cases were registered in March one adult and one child, in May eight people seven children and one adult, in August three two children and one adult. Children from 5 to 12 were treated as well as a toddler of 1 year and 11 months.
The only source of infection is man. The factors of transmission are food products which have not been heat processed, water, dirty hands. Large-scale eruptions of the virus is caused by water intakes which are contaminated by feces. Among groups of children the infection can be transmitted through dirty hands and various objects used every day such as toys, dishes, etc.
The course of the acute virus hepatitis “A” for those who came to the hospital usually has a semi severe and mild form. The reason for this outburst of virus hepatitis in Ust-Kara must be uncovered by the SES, but already now there is evidence that it might be potable water which was contaminated “.
The children from Indiga had a holiday in the summer camp “Ignatovsk” located in the Ivanovsk Oblast. Maria Ushakova would like to share her impressions with us: “Every day there were competitions and concerts either in the club or in the court yard outside. There was this competition called “Kaipovaya alleya”. Our team placed a clip for songs from the repertoire of the group “Otpetye moshenniki” and M. Grebentschtikova. Pavel Okladnikov was one the main heroes in the film. We won first prize in this competition. This clip was so popular that they played it two more times the day of the visit and the arrival of the new shift. Our team also took first place in the competition “Zooestrafeta” and the dancing competition “Startinedzher”. On June 21 we made an excursion to Ivanovo where we visited the zoo, the aquarium for dolphins from Anapy. Disco dancing took place every day.
A Hike to the River Belaya (travel notes).
On June 29, we started out on a hike for several days along the most beautiful places of the Timansk tundra up to the “Great Gates” Kanon. The group consisted of 14 people: 12 students from class 8 to 10 and two leaders. At first we followed along the bank of the river until we got to Voronovka. The weather was not the best - it was cold, and up front the fog was gathering. Once we crossed the river Voronya Kurya, we stopped for a while. We still had 26 km to go to the Bolvanskaya hill and the road was not an easy one: it takes a lot to climb up to the top and then descend into the swampland and get lost in the mud. But the desire to see these sacred sites of our small country was stronger than fatigue. We set up camp on the bank of the Kamennaya Viska. Tired and frozen we drank tea and counted our first blisters.
June 30 the sun is out. We went fishing, the catch is small: we caught one fish. But what a good fish soup came out of it! We prepared to leave straight southward to the Zhelezny Karal. The entire road in this area up to the river Belaya is sliced up in multiple canyons. In some of them lies a river bed and the height at times is more than a five-story building. When ascending and descending it took a lot of strength. And for this reason after changing our plans slightly we decided to camp not in Zhelesny Karal but at the river Belaya closer to the place of the crossing. In the evening the fellows made quick salted fish.
July 1 starting in the morning we walked along the cliffs. What beauty surrounds you. Quite incredible and you start thinking about what our nature is capable of! The water is crystal clear and even at a great height you can see fish swimming in the river. Here we ran into tourists who had come to this area by helicopter from Naryan-Mar. Having driven around to our heart’s content on the permafrost snow along the slopes of the cliff and having confirmed everything by taking pictures we returned to our camp. After having a bite to eat we left for the canyon Great doors. The five kilometers seemed very long to us particularly now that we had also mosquitoes to cope with. Having arrived at the site the fellows started fishing . After dinner everybody hid in their tents away from the mosquitoes.
July 2 - a very hot day and plenty of mosquitoes. The fellows don’t feel like walking around the cliffs they are just sitting in the tent. After lunch we got ready to depart. A helicopter flew overhead our friends from yesterday. Yes, somebody is going somewhere and some travel on foot! The crossing over the Belaya river was a difficult one a very strong current. We rested up a while, took a swim and then got on the road again. On the way we saw fresh wolf tracks but we were not afraid. We have a guard - a dog. We were feeling slightly sad because we were leaving this wonderful place. We are back to the first stop we made. There is still a long way to go (almost 50 km) and the road winds among familiar places leading home.
July 3 - in the morning after climbing up to the top of Bolvanki we left some treats for the host of the tundra and thanked him for the wonderful warm days. From the hill we could see our village on the horizon and we became homesick. The rest of the day we spent fishing: every one of us wanted to bring something to Indiga. We decided to leave at 11 p.m. We walked all night, it was cool but the mosquitoes were around.
July 4 We came to Vyucheisky at 8 in the morning on the other side of the river Indiga. Many thanks to Anisim Khantanzei for having sent us to the village. At school the children fell asleep not even waiting for their tea. I also wanted to thank Marta P. Taibarei for having fed tired travelers. Egor I. Belugin took us to the bay Sorvannyi inlet. We rested a bit and then off we went where relatives and the sauna was waiting for us. The sauna will take away any tiredness left. And we will be left with only memories of this difficult but interesting hike.
(page 4 continuation)
The following persons traveled on the Belaya river: Valeriya V. Latysheva the guide - Aleksei N. Dvoinikov, the smallest participant Denis Paranov, the latest Aleksei Shiroky, the first to cross the river Belaya Andrei Kryukov, the best breakfast was prepared by Sergei Apitsyn, the one with the biggest catch of fish was Fedor Apitsyn and Alexandr Nosov, the one who did not forget to feed his four-legged friend Leva Dvoinikov, the most careful during crossings Stepan Vyucheiski, stayed up all night without falling asleep Ignat Nosov, and the heaviest backpack was carried by Anatoly Ivanov.
I think the fellows remained happy with the hike: even though difficult but they saw many new and surprising things with their own eyes.
Notes were kept by V.V. Latysheva
Gymnastics teacher, Indiga Secondary School.