Alyona Bambysheyevna Ludzhiyeva ~ Yergensky

“Siberians are good people, kind people. They shared what they could. There were no shoes. They gave us some wooden blocks about four fingers thick (fabric was affixed to them with nails) and some portyanki [cloth wraps for socks] made from sacks. We worked a lot. Even now I can’t sit still, I work. That’s my garden plot, and I plant it myself, including flowers. We even ate the meat left by hunters: they gave the skins to the trading office and tossed the carcasses aside. We cooked and ate dogs. All sorts of things happened.” Along with her work, Alyona Ludzhiyeva taught children to play the domra, “so that Kalmyk tradition would live on,” she said. She continues to play it to this day.