«True people» (Nenei nenecha) – self-name of Nenets, the indigenous people of the Yamal peninsula, and the name of the complex 2015–2016 ethnographic expedition. Project participants and the visitors of the resource will be the part of the reindeer herders's family during the whole year just to «dive» in the casual life of the modern XXI century nomads.
Toady we had an unexpected visit to the reindeer-herdsmen's brigade #20 together with the YNAR vice-governor's social policy dept. representatives. This brigade has had a functioning nomadic kindergarden group for one year already. While in our expedition we are migrating with private-owning deer-herdsmen (and we will organize a kindergarden group with private nomadic families), it is rather interesting to find out details about how such a kindergarden group functions in an organized brigade.
There are currently 4 nomadic kindergarden groups in Yamal, ours will be the 5th.
There were more than 20 representatives of the dept visiting the brigade with us.
Nomadic kindergarden group teacher - brigade's foreman's wife Anastasia Hudi. All the classes are held in their family tent.
Anastasia tells us about the day schedule and types of classes they have.
Anastasia has 9 kids in her group. The day we came to visit them, there were only 5 kids there, since other 4 were still migrating with their family from the last camp. Cristina and Denis are her own children. Anastasia wants to teach them well, so that they could go straight to the 1st grade, bypassing the 0 grade. Most of tundra kids go through the 0 grade, where they get acquainted with the fundamentals, needed for school (e.g. basic russian language, letters, numbers etc.).
Little soccer fan (with the red Moscow soccer team scarf). Well, that's a joke, of course, since tundra people do not find soccer amusing, and don't watch it. We do.
One of the snowmobiles which they got as a deer-race competition prize from the Reindeer-herdsman Day. Brigade 20 hopes to get another prize at the next celebration in Yar-Sale. We hope they do!
These women are medics, they can visit other brigades as well, when needed.
There was a little show for the social dept. representatives by the herdsmen, named "Yorkolava". Herdsmen make deer go into a special enclosure, which they make by placing sledges and ropes. Then they choose animals for teams. Those of the animals who don't get into the enclosure (usually the young ones, who have not yet learned to go into the enclosure) are caught with a lasso.
