Mongolia
Life on the Mongolian Steppe
Name: Erinbayar
Age: 48 |
Place: Bayangol Som |
 |
Erinbayar's ger |
The Ongi River does not flow close to our summer camp anymore. It stopped coming here about ten years ago. In my childhood the Ongi river was two meters wide and over a meter deep. After the rains it was amazing how much it grew and how much water would flood the area. The Ongi river meant life for our family. We would herd the animals there in the summer time to drink and feed, as the grass around the river was very high. I remember swimming and catching fish with my bare hands. In winter I would ice skate. It was so much fun.
Since the Ongi stopped flowing, the impact on my life and on the life of my family has been very difficult. We used to be able to own more goats and sheep, as there was more pasture available. Even with less animals we find that many more die during the winter months as they have not eaten enough during the winter. We lose a lot of babies and mothers in the birthing period due to the lack of food. This is why life is so much harder.
Losing the Ongi has meant that we have to travel much further between our winter and summer camps. My family used to travel just twenty kilometers between the two camps from season to season, now I have to travel one hundred and twenty kilometers! It is the same for my brothers and sisters, although they have had to move away now in order to find other pastures. There was just not enough pasture to provide our animals with enough food.
The change in pastures and water has also impacted on the type and quantity of food that is available. As a child we used to have so many different dairy products. Today the variety is limited to products such as butter, dried yogurt and fresh yogurt and there are less of these available to provide to the family.
It is hard to say why there is less pasture and less water. I think it is because of the change in the weather. The summers used to be milder, with fewer sunny days. I think that the hotter weather has had an impact on the pastures. All I know is that these days we spend more hours working to manage fewer animals.
|
