Lyanh
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990109
Name: Lyanh
Parent's name: Süh
Ovog: Mongol
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1949
Ethnicity: Urianhai
Additional Information
Education: higher
Notes on education:
Work: illustration teacher
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Mönhhairhan sum, Hovd aimag
Lives in: [None Given] sum (or part of UB), Ulaanbaatar aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
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education / cultural production
urban issues
work
democracy
NGOs
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Summary of Interview 090201A with Lyanh
Lyanh was born in 1949 in Hovd aimag. Mönhhairhan sum was founded in 1959 and the first school was established in the same year, and she enrolled in the school when she was 10 years old. At that time herders did not like their kids to go school and got them to run away from there. But Lyanh's parents had a positive attitude in this respect; consequently, she kept going to school, studied in university, and then came back and taught in Hovd aimag after graduating from the Teacher’s University in 1973. At first, she taught in Manhan and Myangat sums for 3 years, and went to her native Mönhhairhan sum in 1976 as the first person who had a higher education. Even when she returned to her sum as a teacher, parents’ and children’s indolent attitude toward school still remained. That people who went to school and obtained a higher education were coming back and teaching in their home places influenced people’s attitude to certain extent, and they served as a kind of exemplar.
The Urianhai live in Mönhhairhan sum, Hovd aimag and it tends to have under-developed infra-structure and communication due to its distant, rocky and high mountainous range. This situation has influenced its development and any novel thing came late to the sum. For example, the first secondary school was established relatively late, 1976 in Mönhhairhan. In addition, she said that “even the teaching staff was insufficient”.
During the socialist period, teachers were responsible for not only teaching but also participating “foremost” in any organized cultural or educational endeavours in the rural areas. According to Lyanh’s reminiscences, in the summer-time she participated in the preparation fuel and voluntary unpaid work for the winter time because her sum was not wooded.
She worked as a chairman of the Party cell since the late 1980s. Although this work had a special position, salary, and welfare at the time, it became unofficial as a result of the democratic revolution, and then she returned her former position as teacher. “People were supporting the democratic system even though the democratic movement was not known in rural areas yet when it first appeared. Generally, rural people were used to being political. Wife versus husband or father versus son - such divisions due to their political views occurred within the same family” Lyanh recounted.
