Mash Paradox learned about the life of reindeer herders in the tundra

Every year in Yamal, about 280 people move from the tundra to the cities to a sedentary lifestyle. Last year, this figure doubled. Anton Starkov, the author of the Mash Paradox project, went on a trip to the Far North to find out how indigenous peoples live.

A family of Venengo reindeer herders lives four hours by snowmobile from the village of Aksarka in the Arctic Circle. Over the 28 years of marriage, Ivan and Ulyana have had 13 children and 11 grandchildren; part of a large family lives together in a house that costs about a million rubles. An electric generator can be connected on site, a tub with melted snow can be installed, satellite TV can be watched, or a washing machine can be used. There's just no Internet: as the mother of the family jokes, "then the children will stop helping with the housework."

"Deer are the most important thing for a nomadic lifestyle," Ulyana explains. Depending on the number of heads in the herd, the capital of a family living in a hut made of hides and sticks can reach up to 45 million rubles. And the family can live in this "hut" only during "work". To relax and meet with her family, Ulyana and her husband recently bought a three-story house in the village. It is not surprising that one of her sons, Pavel, dreams of going to Dubai and utters the phrase from the headline of the report: "A million is not so much." The first deer are given to children at birth, and then their natural "capital" grows so that by adulthood the child has his own wealth.

The generation gap is one of the main problems of the tundra now. While the zoomer generation has a growing trend towards solitude and shift work, where the Far North fits in perfectly, the young alphas who follow them have other dreams. For example, "to become someone, but not a reindeer herder." Young people complain about bad weather conditions. Some of them leave for the nearest cities.

How to leave people in the tundra? How can we ensure that a small nation does not become even more numerous? This is told by Grigory Lymar, head of the support department for indigenous peoples of the North, recognizing that "this is a separate civilization. If the asteroid falls, these people will continue to live." The state supports those who choose nomadism from all sides.: subsidies and payments cover the basic minimum of household needs. The support package includes: plague poles, cloth, basic necessities, tools, fuel, and even communication costs. The state buys deer meat at a price that is sometimes twice the market price.

They also help those who decide to leave the tundra. There are even "lifting fees" for first—year students - after entering college or university, young people are paid 80 thousand rubles each for their first expenses. Sergey Chesnokov, a lecturer at the Yamal Multidisciplinary College, explained that despite the fact that the science of reindeer husbandry is passed down from generation to generation, special education also provides the basics of economics — that is, students learn how to manage their farm more effectively and make it profitable.

But even after studying, even after living in the city, children of the tundra can then return to it. And this is an amazing unity: everyone who took part in conversations with the film crew called the main reason for living in the tundra the freedom that the locals are imbued with. Residents of the Far North are jealous of their rights and form the rhythm of life themselves — they are very proud that no one can tell them how to live.

The new report "A Million is not much" by Mash Paradox was released with the support of the Internet Development Institute.