 In the spring of 1918 a smallpox epidemic in the region claimed her father and one of her sisters, leaving her mother to care for Anchimaa and her four other siblings alone.To help make ends meet, the six-year-old Anchimaa was fostered out to a more prosperous branch of the family.A Russian protectorate was established over Tuva in 1914, however the region became a battleground in the Russian Civil War after 1917, where effective control over the territory and capital Belotsarsk changed between the Red Army and counter-revolutionary forces several times.