Dear members of the Association franco-évenke Sekalan,
Here are some news of the French-Evenk nomadic school that you are supporting since some years. We thank you, on behalf of the members of the board and of the Evenk communities concerned by this project, of the trust that you gave us.
News and events:
March 2009:
- March 22 : Reindeer herder Festival, display of hand made objects by school children on the initiative of one of the mother-teachers. Official visit of the new Governor of the Amur region, said to be favourable to native peoples.
- In the next days, a mission of Médecins du Monde should come to the village to teach about twenty nomads, the majority of which are part of the nomadic school, how to perform first aid medical care with the help of a local Russian doctor and the support of the Health Ministry of the Amur region. The nomads should receive free medicaments in the frame of this program. This plays a role of sensitization for the local authorities, which were giving before with many difficulties the authorization for the air evacuation of the sick nomads. This participation in an international program should allow the village to keep its little hospital, menaced with closure three years ago and hardly saved. To know more about the program existing since several years under the direction of Armelle Lapaire, see the Médecins du Monde website.
- A great part of the nomads has arrived in the village to sell meat, furs and buy goods. The school level of the children was found very satisfying. The children of more than 13 years of age, compelled to stay in the village, still request the right to join the nomadic school.
- Other encampments and villages of this geographic area would like to be able to profit by the nomadic school, but teachers and financing are too scarce.
- One of the families of the nomadic school, with very little children, which stayed in the village between January and March, is soon leaving again for the taiga unto next November. The youngest daughter, aged of 4, already knows to read.
- The young Evenk mother, Asia Tatakanova, who is as well the chief of the family cooperative, goes on studying how to be a schoolmistress, studies she began in October in the capital of the region.
-Two young boys of 13 and 14, Youra and Slava, young hunters, are now masters of the monitoring programs and make for their grandmother, chief of a family cooperative, the counts and the bills on internet, between two hunting parties during their vacations in the forest.
Government Evaluation Commission of February 24- 26 2009:
- A national and federal commission of the Ministry of Education and Research, as well as the National Institute for Professional Formation, visited one of the encampments of the nomadic school. The mayors of the other Evenk villages of the region were present as well. The commission had to check the real efficiency of the nomadic school as an experimental pedagogical platform of the Amur region, a statute it received in 2005. The commission, involving different ministers and local representatives, travelled in a truck to the encampment. The school won esteem of the commission that was impressed by the level of the children as well in the traditional techniques as in the subjects of the national program and in computing. It declared the school to be “necessary” for all the Evenk villages of the Amur region. As to the financing of this nomadic school or the creation of other schools of the same kind in the region, the government will not decide before the beginning of the year 2009-2010. This commission looked at a series of films showing the steps of the evolution of the school between 2006 and 2009.
- The Association franco-évenke Sekalan wrote an official letter to ask for an extra financing and supporting to the school that was read during the commission.
- Several TV channels attended this evaluation and shots of the nomadic school were broadcasted during a week on the local TV.
- The children of the Russian schools of the capital, who ignores until then the existence of the Evenks, now write papers about the nomadic school.
May 2009:
Véronique Coeffet renovated the blog of the nomadic school, that you can now look and comment on http://ecolenomadeevenk.over-blog.com. Your commentaries will be welcome.
The French peoples of Moscow, among which Denise Fahi, led several actions to raise funds.
First results of the school year 2008-2009:
The organisation of the third season (March-June) is going on
Second season (January– March)
- The school was operational in five encampments located in about 1600 kms2, with 16 children of pre-school and primary level and 7 working activities created, most of them among the nomads.
- The nomadic school started in a new encampment on the heights of the Stanovoï Mountains. The section of the nomadic school of last season on the Olëkma could not go on by lack of teacher. The children went back to the school of the village.
First season (September – December)
- The school was operational in six encampments located in about 1600 kms2, with 18 children of pre-school and primary level and 8 working activities created, most of them among the nomads.
- The nomadic school started in a new encampment on the banks of the Olëkma River.
The village boarding school, victim of serious cracks after an earthquake, was officially closed by local officials. The children of the nomads who were compelled to go to the village school live with parents or are sent back to their nomad parents.
Budget:
10 000 euros have been spent for the salary of 8 teachers’ wages, school equipment, petrol for transportation and food products for the families of the paymistress in Russia, during the period from September 2008 to March 2009. All along this period, the association almost entirely financially sustained the nomadic school. Only during the last three months, a third of the salaries of three teachers nave been paid by the local Ministry of Education.
The cost for running the association itself is not higher than 100 euros each year.
Hand made objects by the women of the nomadic school and collected between 2006 and 2008 are on the catalogue of Survival International France 2009. The benefits will mostly go to Survival and Sekalan.
Equipment:
One of the second hand portable computers offered by Michelin is now out of order following a fall during a winter nomadisation. After having been used by Michelin for 4 years and by the nomadic school for 2 years after hundreds of kilometres and temperatures of – 50° C, it should be acknowledged a nice efficiency. Three others stay in good shape. One electric alimentation cable of one of the computers burned with a tension gap of one of the motors. The rest of the equipment (generating sets, solar panels…) is going well.
News from the film
« School on the move », a 50' documentary film by Michel Debats (Production Lagaptière), is distributed by the Canadian ONF. It has been selected in 20 festivals and won 7 prizes in France, USA, Russia and China. www.lagaptiere.com
- It has been broadcasted on the Japanese channel NHK
- The children of the nomadic school were enthusiastic and look at it quite often.
The film happens to be a real ambassador of the nomadic school and of the Evenks, as it is widespread in all the Evenk villages and the ministries of the region. We hope that at the end it will convince the financial officials of the region. Carried in China by Aurore Dumont, it had a great success among the Evenks of the other side of the border.
The two main dangers for the school stay the lack of Evenk, teachers and the problem of a long term financing. The Rolex financing should be spent in about one year. If some of you have ideas to find some money, all the counsels and help are welcome.
For those who would have forgotten to renew their cotisation, the bulletin is in the attached file.
Le Bureau de l'Association franco-évenke Sekalan (loi 1901)
Alexandra Lavrillier - President
Colette Chausson - Treasurer
Henri Lecomte - Secretary
