Afanasyeva, A. Forced relocations of the Kola Sámi people: background and consequences / by Anna Afanasyeva. - Tromsø: University of Tromsø, 2013. - 82 p.: ill., map, portr.

58 still lived on their resource territories and had everything needed for living in concern to social services, for instance in schools, shops, and medical points etc. The first step to relocating people was done by closing the social service points and announcing the closure of the village with the proposed option to move to Lovozero, where they were supposed to be provided with housing and jobs. 178 However, the quality of living changed after the relocations considerably as stated by most of my informants. In their traditional villages they were living in big family houses and after the relocation to Lovozero where they were provided with small flats for several families or old houses, where they were living for several years before they could receive a flat for one family. The system of the ‘housing queue’- the system of waiting for the new housing to be provided, was introduced for the relocated people. While people were supposed to wait for the housing in a ‘queue’, they had to find a place to live on their own. In some cases they had to wait for more than five years before they receive own housing and many people passed away before their turn in queue. Therefore, some people were settling together with their relatives or family members in Lovozero or at those who have already received housing. It was common to live two to three families in a one bedroom flat. The people who were not lucky with relatives had to find the place on their own, and from my informants I heard stories, when certain people were living at their working places if they had job. One informant told me of an example of a relative who worked with horses at stalls and lived there. The leader of the “The Kola Sámi Association” Jakovleva mentions that the Sámi people from different sijt were coming to Lovozero and lived with several families in one apartment, while at the time the promises of the government to secure them with housing and jobs were left unfulfilled and forgotten. 179 My informants from Varzino, Jokanga, and Voron’e also expressed that they had to abandon their houses and there was no opportunity to move their houses with them. The losses from abandonments of houses and assets were not covered financially and compensation was not issued. Many people didn’t receive housing on the new places and have to live everywhere they find a place. Because of the high death rates in this period many people died before they received housing. The relocated herders had to find jobs outside their traditional activities; mostly they were offered seasonal work in haymaking which was time limited and 178 Informant B, Informant C, Informant D. 179 Jakovleva 2003: 39.