Elena Tolstenko makes her living herding reindeer in the same way her ancestors did. This is why she laughs when asked about her ‘Woman of the Year’ award for innovation.
- I’m not a businesswoman, Tolstenko says with a smile, and there is practically nothing innovative about what she is doing with her family’s reindeer herd.
Still, what the Tolstenko family is doing in their community near the village of Loparskaya is a model for the revival of the traditional Sámi way of life in Russia. Recently, Tolstenko and her family erected a hedge as a fence to contain the reindeer on their property.
To Tolstenko, there’s hardly anything new about that. It is the same practice her grandfather would have taken up years ago to solve the same problem.
Her family’s reindeer herding business took a major hit when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Many of their reindeer were sold and many Russian Sámi could no longer rely on their traditional way of life, Tolstenko said.
Since then, the Tolstenkos have struggled to re-establish their reindeer herd. They have made use of allowances and loans from the government to rebuild what was once a herd of 300 reindeer. Today they have about 70 animals, but hope to purchase more over the next year.
-It used to be better, Tolstenko says from the Sámi community centre in Loparskaya, about a half-hour drive from the city of Murmansk.
The community centre looks to be the best maintained of all the structures in Loparskaya. Around it others are crumbling and the shell of a home that burned down years ago still stands. Elena Tolstenko’s mother died in the fire trying to save her youngest daughter.
When asked how the family manages with such few reindeer on top of their other struggles, Tolstenko replies with “You’d better not ask us.”
She says Sámi have had to eat less reindeer over the past years while they focus on raising and breeding their animals. Only now are herds reaching levels where the Tolstenkos can see an end to their problems in site.
- If we get funding, maybe in three years we will have enough reindeer, Tolstenko says. Tolstenko received her award at a regional ceremony in February 2011with 16 other recipients who won under different categories, including medicine, culture and social work.
In March, Tolstenko traveled to St. Petersburg for the inter-regional contest. There, she was awarded for her input to the socio-economic development of the region. The presidential plenipotentiary for Northwest Russia Ilya Klebanov presented Tolstenko with the award. This award is a better match for Tolstenko’s accomplishments.
A Sámi can’t live without reindeer
Elena Tolstenko’s work is important not only to her family’s business, but to all Russian Sámi, and the award recognizes that.
- A Sámi can’t live without reindeer, Tolstenko’s teenage nephew Semyon said.
- It’s like being without a leg or arm.
Semyon plans to continue practicing the family business of reindeer husbandry when he grows up.
- Sámi people in Russia, and even in Norway and Finland, can be shy about their nationality, Semyon said.
But he is the opposite. He often wears traditional Sámi boots made from reindeer skin when he goes in to town. When people notice and stare, he has a chance to explain Sámi culture to them.
Elena says Semyon is an exception, a fact that highlights the importance of her work to keep Sámi traditions alive in Russia.
Following in his aunt’s footsteps, Semyon has plans to continue the reindeer husbandry business in his family’s community. He says he will always promote the Sámi traditions and make them an important part of his life.
