Sumiya
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990164
Name: Sumiya
Parent's name: Sharavdorj
Ovog: Gal
Sex: f
Year of Birth: 1941
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: tusgai dund
Notes on education:
Work: retired
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Erdenemandal sum, Arhangai aimag
Lives in: Han-Uul sum (or part of UB), Ulaanbaatar aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
childhood
democracy
funerals
foreign relations
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
childhood
schoolchildren's life
children's upbringing
urbanization
democracy
foreign relations
family
funeral rituals
To read a full interview with Sumiya please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 090320B with Sumiya
In the beginning she told about her childhood and the life of the herders. She didn’t have an older brother therefore she helped her father in taming foals, riding horses and pasturing horses and helping milk the mares. That time children were obedient and they never disregarded their parents’ words, and never said a word against an adult. The children used to walk barefoot; they warmed up their feet in the warm place where cows lay or they immersed their feet into the cow’s urine at the time they urinated.
When she first came to the city it seemed a big place. And looking back today it seemed it was not very developed then. She portrayed the city condition of that time. She used to watch curiously the Chinese women’s little feet. She often visited the Chinese cafeteria. Nowadays there are many tall buildings and the nation is developing rapidly. But she regrets that the river Tuul became waterless and the bushes have vanished.
When the democratic movement happened in Mongolia, her son participated in the hunger strike. The people who were involved in the hunger strike had been persecuted, and her son who had worked at the Geodesy and Cartography department was fired. She generally supports democracy and she considers it gave the opportunity to the freedom of speech.
At the end she briefly mentioned the foreign relations in the socialist period, the availability of consumer goods and nature and the environment. In the socialist period there were almost no divorces. The tax for not being married was taken from the single people who reached 18 years old. It was the policy to increase the population. Also, she briefly mentioned about the funeral rituals and technology.
