Armenian winters take children’s lives
The humid and cold air in Alvard’s place forces anyone to get out as it creates discomfort for anyone who sets foot in her apartment. It is cold and dark in her place, and the elderly are so sad that even the active sounds of children do not bring them to life as they ponder. Each child in their home is a piece of brightness with smiling faces, kind and open to humans, and even their hugs and kisses cannot make Madam Alvard forget her sadness for a while.
The winter two years ago made this family become white with every winter as they strive to survive. Similar winter repeats this year too, but this year tragedy is being late. Their electricity was cut off as they exceeded the allowed limit of their debt two years ago. “We did not have gas at that time, and we used to heat our home with electric heaters. We couldn’t make it; we had no money. We asked the electrician not to cut our power off but he did. We begged him not to leave our children without heat but he cut the power off, and it was extremely cold at home. We were doing our best and putting more clothes on our children trying to heat them up but our efforts were useless…
My son and I were working day and night to earn money to pay for power,” tells Alvard, meanwhile trying to gloat her grief as tears fall down her cheeks. On the fourth day since their power was cut off her relative called her workplace and said in panic that her child had fever. Till they would get home, they found their child very weak and powerless. They called ambulance immediately, but on the way to the hospital they saw blue signs on the baby’s body in the ambulance… The baby passed away on the way to the hospital. The baby had hidden pneumonia because of extreme cold…
Money for people in need goes to ones who pay bribe
The parents who lost their child have protected their children for the most part of winter but still they have challenges. Increased gas rates want sacrifices from Alvard’s family. In several days their gas and power will be cut off again as they have accumulated debts. It has been several days that 6 year old Seyran is bleeding.
Several days ago he was taken to hospital, and even though doctors were able to stop the bleeding, he will have to undergo medical tests. The child’s nose starts bleeding at night and he wakes up in nightmare as he cannot breathe because of blood. Alvard is afraid for her grandchild. The child’s parents are afraid too; his father does not come home not to see that scene and his child suffering. Even though they are very careful, they still are unprotected.
Alvard lives with her son’s family and husband in an apartment they rent in Katnaghbyur village of Kotayk region. The road to their shelter is full of bright casinos and restaurants, which shows the contrast in Armenia – on the one hand government people living luxury life, and on the other hand poor families striving for some heat and gas for winter. The community they live in shows a great contrast as one can see luxury villas not far from the place where they live.
This family is asking for help. “All what I am asking for is four walls, at least a makeshift. I am asking our president, I am not demanding, please do not treat us like that and do not be cruel to us. We cannot live, we are losing our children; I am asking them to give us a room anywhere where we can keep these children. We are unable to pay the rent.” Alvard is asking the chairman of Prosperous Armenia party as well; she is asking for a small shelter for her four minors. She has tried to meet Tsarukyan but his bodyguards have not let her even approach his mansion. The old lady says soon they will be in streets as the owner of the place is coming back from Russia.
“I had life threatening sickness, doctors were recommending urgent surgery, which was very expensive. There was a little chance that I would survive. We had to sell our apartment to pay for the surgery; it was about life and we had no choice. As you see, after the surgery I can live and take care of my family. However, after that we had to rent a shelter as we had nowhere to live. It is very difficult, please believe; my son and myself work day and night, and still we cannot make it. Life is unbearable now. We are paying 20,000 drams here; it is very humid here, walls are cracked but we have no choice as other places are expensive.”
The family that consists of seven people is extremely poor but not eligible for welfare support because our government has made another decision, which is again anti-human and serves the interests of backstage deals. Homeless and poor family cannot be considered eligible for receiving welfare support if they are not registered in the place where they live. This means that they have to ask the owner of the shelter to register them to be eligible for support. Will the minister of social protection do such thing and register any needy family at his address? Instead of such families, those who pay bribe to social service officials are well eligible to get the money such people were supposed to receive. The Armenian government representatives are spending money on strategies for supporting birth, while children that have been born are forced to extreme cold and die as they have no support to survive.
Alvard’s family is not one of those hundreds of families that say they cannot find jobs or have health problems and cannot work. Notwithstanding her age, this woman cleans the houses of others and makes money to keep her family. Her son goes to Yerevan from Katnaghbyur every day to work as a taxi driver and make 1,000-2,000 drams a day. However, as they have four children and pay rent, their money goes fast. They have accumulated a debt of 60,000 dram for gas this winter, and the collector of debts threatens to cut the gas supply off. “He is going to cut the gas off. The money I make is not even 50,000 drams a month. In addition to that the electricity bill is about 15,000 drams every month. We don’t know to pay for the children’s food or the bills,” says Alvard. She says that when they go and ask help from someone, they often hear people saying “why did you have so many children?” However, Alvard believes children are given by God and no one should discuss that.
Gor, their 4 year old child was looking at me and smiling in a way that he did not know about the tragedy that had happened in their house. Lilit, their 3 year old daughter, was hugging her brothers and kissing them. These children are so lovely. These children love life, and they love their guests and greet them with a smile, even though the severe winter and the cold it brings is threatening to take one more life as well.
By Lusine Stepanyan
