Thousands of miles away, is a tiny, remote village - Krestyakh
Located on the banks of the river Vilyui
deep in the west of Yakutia
the largest region of Siberia
Today, we will explore the village, meet some locals
and learn about how they live in one of the world’s coldest and most fascinating regions
Yakutia
Many people have never heard of Krestyakh. However, this village has a deep history involving
one of the most beloved gems on the planet - the diamond
During the dawn of the 20th century, several scientists noticed geological similarities
between South Africa and Siberia.
In 1947, geological expeditions were sent around the river Vilyui - near Krestyakh village
- and the hunt for diamond deposits had begun.
This is Mikhail.
At the time, he acted as a guide for the geologists, who had no experience traversing the area
Mikhail vividly remembers the first contact with the Russians as their
expedition teams arrived at his village.
In 1949, after 2 long, tedious years of work, the first officially registered Yakut diamond
was found and the birth of the world’s largest diamond mining company Alrosa, had begun…
Because the first Yakutian diamond was discovered in Krestyakh village, the diamond mining company
Alrosa built a new school to give back to the community.
This building is home to a variety of new facilities for kids to learn in and school
is seen as the pride and main focus of the village.
In Yakutia, education lasts 11 years before going to university, during which kids learn
how to speak 4 whole languages: Russian, English, French and Sakha - the native language of Yakuts
Now lets talk about the salary and the cost of living in Krestyakh.
While the teacher’s salary is $700 per month, the average salary in the village is much less
Most people are earning about $500 and they
spend more than half of their salary on groceries, about $300 a month.
Irina has been working in this shop for 14 years, and she - along with the rest of the
village - is well aware of the steep costs of having products shipped a lengthy 6000km
all the way from Moscow.
However, some locals are making more money by breeding their cattle, like next locals
I’ll introduce. Marianna and her husband are engaged in breeding
their cattle, they don't buy much from the shop because everything is made fresh from their own farm
Marianna was born in Northern Yakutia and
is part of a small indigenous group of nomadic hunters and reindeer herders called Evenks.
Marianna is very in touch with her cultural roots, and has even built a northern-Yakutian
style house in an effort to continue her traditions and teach them to her children and grandchildren
Krestyakh is a village so small and remote that there are no surgeons or obstetricians,
only general practitioners like Liubov. Those who need surgery, or even mothers who
are giving birth must be transported to a bigger hospital, the closest being around 100 km away
As Liubov mentioned earlier, most people in the village believe in shamans and traditional
medicine… and here we have Izabella, who collects a variety of herbs to make healing teas
Izabella is also a well-known Shaman and custodian of cultural traditions in Krestyakh.
She can heal people and has also used her psychic powers to help police solve challenging
cases such as missing people and more
Both locals and visitors come to see her from far away to seek answers to questions they
cannot figure out themselves.
When meeting guests, Izabella asks every guest to perform traditional Yakutian rituals of
worshiping spirits before entering the house.
With all the rituals complete, Izabella’s guests are now invited to the dining table,
where she and her family have lovingly prepared a delicious, hearty feast for everybody to enjoy
Isabella’s home was built in the traditional Yakutian style. It’s a small wooden house
with a big stove and lots of fur like our ancestors used to keep themselves warm during cold winters
Now, you can see this is a small village, but there are lots of talents and big personalities.
During the weekends, women in Krestyakh are singing in a local choir.
This is Albina, she does vocal training, with a focus on embracing Yakutian culture through the song
Meanwhile, the local kids are busy creating cartoons.
Sharply dressed Anatoliy leads a class where he teaches kids how to make cartoons and anime
with Yakutian ideas and references.
They’ve won several animation contests in the region and they dream that one day, Yakutian
cartoons might become famous all over the world, and now they will show us one of their creations
But before we go further, I want to introduce ExpressVPN, who is sponsoring this video
ExpressVPN is the fastest, most secure and best VPNs around.
Did you know that without a VPN, your internet service provider has access to everything
you do online and sell anonymized data about you
Travel sites also use our data to track us and calculate the price you see on flights
But with just one click, you can change your online location and save hundred of dollars on flights within minutes
So, I always use ExpressVPN whenever I go online to protect my network data and to access
worldwide deals.
And because ExpressVPN is sponsoring this video, you can get 3 months for free by visiting
ExpressVPN.com/kiunb
Feel free to download it and try it out, there’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee, you can
always get a full refund, if you are not satisfied.
Anatoliy and kids are now happy to watch their one-minute clip cartoon which took them 2
months to create. Feel free to support their creations on Anatoliy's Youtube channel: Anatoliy Afanasyev
Krestyah is a small, remote village that is most likely unheard to most people around the world
Despite this, the people here are hard-working, immensely talented, and in love
with the lives they live. From Izabella’s spiritual guidance, to Marianna’s preservation
of northern culture, and even Antoliy’s desire to spread his knowledge of computer
animation - it is clear that while the village is small and has the toughest living environment,
the hearts and motivation of its people could not be any bigger.