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bne November 2021 Eurasia I 69
get married”. She explains that often, after the baby came, the father just disappeared. “So, the girls would send the baby back to the countryside, to live with the grandparents and the girls would remain in the city working. When summer came, they would quit their job and disappear to the countryside.” To prevent them from leaving and not returning, Sara would have the teachers sign a one-year contract, and she would withhold a week’s salary. But even forfeiting their wages did not dissuade them from disappearing back to the countryside in summer.
Other herder children, in her estimation, were spoiled. “They
come to the city and live off of their parents’ money, while studying. After graduating, they continue to live off
of the parents’ money, rejecting job offers, allegedly holding out for the best one.” Meanwhile, they were living a comfortable lifestyle that did not motivate them to find work. “From time to time, they would take jobs,
for a while, then quit, then remain unemployed for a while, then find a job...They would fall into a cycle of working a few months, with a few months of unemployment in between.”
Sara goes so far as to say: “Over a period of years, I have known people with five jobs and six periods of unemployment.” And of course, in summer, she says, these people did not even look for work. They just headed back to the steppes. “They really want to be in the countryside in summer, but want to be here in Ulaanbaatar in winter because it’s easier.”
Munkhbat confirms that the herders’ relationship with money is difficult to understand. “Herders do not know much about economics or markets. So, they think only of increasing the number of animals in their herd. It
is hard to get them to form a union together to import and export from the city to save money or to make higher profits. They don’t think like that.” So, they sell their cashmere, wool, milk, and meat to low-bidding middlemen, always believing the only way to increase their income is by increasing the number of animals.
Debt is a problem in Mongolia, in general. There are multiple pawnshops on every block and roughly 80-90% of the population is living in some sort of debt. “Herders live debt to debt,” says Munkhbat. He remembers a typical herder family he interviewed. “The family had 100 sheep, 20 horses, 20 cows, thre school-age children and a grandmother who received a small pension, which went to support the animals. School fees had to be paid, school uniforms and winter clothing bought...” The family was constantly borrowing money to pay interest on previous loans.
“A European woman told me that she was opening a holiday camp in the countryside and had hired several herders to work for her,” says Munkhbat. “The moment they received their pay, they took off. Most did not come back until they needed money again, at which point, she told them that it was too late and their jobs were gone.”
“They don’t have bills, so they really have no idea about budgeting,” adds Munkhbat. “When we get paid in city, we need to pay rent and bills. We learn to budget. In the city, a family buys one or two lambs and eats for the whole winter. In the countryside, they will slaughter a lamb today, and feast on it, devouring the whole thing in one day, and have nothing to eat tomorrow.”
When your correspondent stayed with a family in the countryside, they slaughtered an animal in the morning and we ate till we were sick. Then, that night, they said: “Sorry there is nothing for dinner.”
“When they come into the city to sell their stuff, they have very specific ideas about what to spend the money on,” says Munkhbat. “But, in the countryside, they have no idea. The father has a better understanding because he has to sell the animals and buy things for the family. But the sons need to learn. Young people don’t understand about money.”
A report, prepared by a large, international non-governmental organisation, claimed that financial illiteracy was one of the leading threats to health in Mongolia, right after heart disease and cancer. “There are government programmes to teach economics and finance to the herders but they aren’t interested in that. They only care about their animals,” concludes Munkhbat.
Faced with economic and lifestyle hardships, many herders are drawn
to the city. Those who remain on
the steppes typically find it hard to marry and continue their traditions. Meanwhile, a certain percentage of herders love the life, seeing it as an integral component of the Mongol identity. They will never give it up, no matter what happens. As the couple from Uvs said: “Herders don’t require anything from anyone. By raising our children as herders, we will make it so that they will be self-sufficient.” The couple felt that herders were the freest people, not beholden to anyone. They end by saying: “I think the herders are the real Mongolians.”
Some herders that love the life will never give it up no matter what happens.
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