Inhabitants of small places have joys and sorrows of their own. They face difficulties just like people from the big cities.

A small village Koyanbay inhabited by 300 people is located 200 km Semey city in Kazakhstan. 

To reach the small place is not that easy. You will have to overcome many difficulties including travelling along the road which is impossible to cross in winter.

Every family here is engaged in cattle breeding. Cattle posts are located 20 km away from the village and animals have nothing to drink in summer. Two wells on the post need repairing.

The villagers are now busy with launching a new project according to which the well will be reconstructed, cleaned and supplied with new equipment.

As soon as animals felt thirsty before the project implementation they had to run to the village. But the point is that they mustn’t cover over 9 km a day or they will lose the weight and will become sick. It has become much better now.

The local school can embrace 200 pupils.  However, only 80 kids attend the school today.

The school lacks sports gear. The boy has to use a piece of carton instead of a tennis racket.

Elder kids dream of going to the big city and become students of Universities. Those who can’t pass their exams stay in the village to help their parents.

The village also lacks cellular communication. If local inhabitants need to  use their cells they need to go to bigger villages.

Sovetskaya St.

The person used to be a sheep herder. He liked his job though it was hard. Now he gets pension from the state.

The women don’t work and are busy with their kids at home.

Local shops are open only when some goods are available. One can buy products and clothes from city traders but their price is 20% higher.

Less and less people stay in the village. More house are left abandoned.

This deserted place was occupied by a big shop.

Villagers have found a way to earn some money: they collect mushrooms and sell them at a low price.

It takes 7-8 days to make mushrooms ready for sale.

The mullah says that now the mosque is open only on Fridays and sacred days. Only some time ago it used to work every day.

Pine forests occupied an area of 2 mln hectares.Today the area is reduced to 569 thousand hectares. The forests are burnt and sold later.

In case of a fire the entire village can be burnt to ashes.

The former inhabitant of the village now stays in the city and often supplies his friends with products purchased there because he knows how hard it is to lead a life like this.

The villagers hope that soon they will be able to overcome the difficulties. One doesn’t need much to be happy.

Location: Koyanbay

via voxpopuli