Dariya Subkhankulova, 24, environment designer
I’ve been living in Orenburg since 2011. The Kazakhs are indigenous here, so there’re many of them. According to the 2010 census, Orenburg is the second in the number of Kazakhs in Russia.
Our Kazakh community is active. I’m the member of organizations carrying out events aimed at Kazakh culture promotion. We have "The Kazakh National team of Orenburg" KVN team, "Baiterek" football team, and a creative team as well.
We’re engaged in holding our customs, traditions, language, culture and we’re really missing the Mother tongue. The locals tend to visit all the large-scale events to feel the atmosphere and hear the Kazakh speech. The youth is highly interested in culture and the language as well. We prefer playing Kazakh songs at parties.
Some traditions not preserved in Kazakhstan are arranged here, e.g. betashar which isn’t popular in the North Kazakhstan.
In 1920 Orenburg was the capital of the Kazakh SSR or the Kirghiz SSR. I have to admit that most of us aren’t aware of that. Anyway, I and some people are interested in history.
I often visit Kazakhstan these years. In 2016 I was lucky to travel to Astana, Almaty, Aktau, Atyrau and other cities for the first time. I’d been to Aktobe region as a child before. Unfortunately, I hadn’t known all the beauty of Astana and Almaty. I was born and raised in Russia, and my dad says that he was born in Russia and he’ll stay there. However, I think about moving to Kazakhstan, as it's my homeland.
Aivat Baymeshov, 26, IT-engineer
I’ve always been living in Russia and moved to Orenburg nine years ago. I rarely meet Kazakhs, but they’re believed to be many in Orenburg, especially in the OrSMU and the Agrarian University.
Being Kazakhs we’re inherent to Kazakh culture, even though I do not speak Kazakh. I’m planning to learn it once becoming older, as there is no need for it now.
I don’t liken Orenburg to the capital of Kazakhstan, yet I feel the connection between the country and the town.
I’m subscribed to the Kazakh communities in social networks. They gather, hold events, dance, relax, and get acquainted, but I do not attend them, as I'm not a fan of such events.
I’ve been to Kazakhstan a couple of times, and I think of moving there. I do understand that the country is enormous and assembles many nationalities. We’re proud of having such a big state. Kazakhstan needs to protect its sovereignty, and develop the economy.
Altynai Zhanaeva, 27, brow-master
I entered the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in 2008 and have been living in Orenburg since then. I’d lived in the village of Druzhba in the Orenburg region for 15 years.
My mother is from Aktobe, and I often travel there. Comparing the life in the countries I dare say there aren’t many Kazakhs in Orenburg – about 10-15%. We hold some traditions, make shelpeks on Fridays and try to go to the mosque as well. The thing is that Kazakhs living in Russia are different. We hardly speak Kazakh, we’re some kind of Kazakhs inherent to Russian life.
Anyway, there’re Kazakh communities arranging events and concerts. As for me, I used to sing songs and organize events being the member of the "Aray” team.
I often travel to Kazakhstan, but I’m used to living in Russia. I don’t’ think that it’s appropriate to say that Orenburg is a land of Kazakhs. Things have changed and we are used to living like that.
