Two charity soup kitchens in Goris provide more than 250 meals a day to a large percentage of the city's poor and socially vulnerable residents. More than half of those who line up for their one meal a day are families that were forced to flee their homes in Azerbaijan; others are simply impoverished families or elderly people living alone.

According to Armenuhi Chiroyan, a social worker at the soup kitchen run by the non-profit organization Mission Armenia, their guests have had to overcome a number of psychological barriers in order to avail themselves of the opportunity to have at least one meal a day. There are more than 2,000 elderly pensioners in Goris, and a great many of them live in miserable conditions. However, no matter how charitable the intentions of the benefactors are, people avoid accepting free food.

“Around a hundred people eat at our soup kitchen; some of them take food home for their family as well. However, you can't help but notice that it is very difficult and shameful for them. The kitchen also feeds 12 poor children at home, but even when their parents take food for them, they try to avoid attracting attention to themselves as they walk home,” Armenuhi said.

The soup kitchen run by the French charity Collaboration for Armenia has been in operation for 15 years, but people still have trouble adjusting to the idea of eating there regularly. “That's why we've offered psychological counseling for such a long time,” said Karine Avedisyan, the director of the kitchen, “It isn't easy for a former teacher, who even has children and a family, to expose herself to so many dirty looks from her neighbors just to come here and get a plate of food.”

It is especially difficult for those who could work and support their families on their own, if they were offered a job.

Manvel Aghajanyan, who fought in the Karabakh war and suffered serious head trauma, does not have a permanent work address. When the war started, he left the home in Central Asia and came to his homeland, where he enlisted to fight to defend her borders. Now he has two small children and wife who is disabled, but no source of income.

“I was injured during the war, but there was no time to get that in writing on the battlefield. Who thinks about writing a detailed case history on your medical card? Now, as time goes by, the old wounds are flaring up, but I have not been given a pension, so there is no income,” said the former soldier, nicknamed Commando, bitterly. He went on, “Is this what I fought for? To eat in a soup kitchen and take food back home for one of my children? I take back one portion and the two of them share it – that's how it is, they don't give out two portions,” said the hefty 50-year old man quickly, as he hid his plate under his worn military fatigues. As we parted he called out, “If you write anything, mention that I can do any sort of work. The only thing I can't do is driving a car. Maybe someone will read the article and have some sort of a job to offer me…”

He was not the only one dreaming of work. Angela Baghdasaryan (who lives with her daughter, son and grandchild in indescribably squalid conditions with no facilities whatsoever, communal or otherwise) said she was willing to do the hardest labor, if only she were given the chance. In the past, she and her daughter used to offer people their services as domestics, but the disease she contracted due to the difficult social conditions now seems to have distanced her from others. These difficult social conditions were also the underlying reason that her daughter left a newborn child at the hospital and returned home with nothing but the great psychological stress that resulted from this decision. This worsened the family's already miserable situation. “Her 19-year old son was denied a passport because he does not have a permanent address where he can be registered,” the neighbors said sorrowfully.

Grigor Nazaryan was in a similar situation. He had fled from Baku and was later deported from the Krasnodar region because he was not registered, leaving his 17-year old son and the grave of his young wife there. He returned to his homeland, lived with his sisters' families for a while, but was soon left homeless. He tried to get a passport, but was told to go to Echmiadzin, since that was where he had received documents regarding his refugee status. Some friendly people helped him to apply for a passport without leaving, but a man who spends his nights on the streets does not have a permanent address where he can be registered. His son, who is studying cooking, recently sent him fifteen dollars so that they could at least get in touch by telephone. His problems have not been solved, however, because in this entire country there is not a single corner where a homeless man has the right to be legally registered. Thus, the law makes no provision for a man who was driven out of his home in Baku all those years ago.

Anahit Avanesyan used to be a dancer. She settled in Goris after her nephew forced her out of the Yerevan apartment where they were both registered. “There cannot be a world without good people. I came here and am now living on a pension of 21,000 drams, 12,000 drams of which goes to rent. I also pay a monthly 2,000 drams to an acquaintance of mine who helps me with personal hygiene items. I used to be a nurse and volunteered to go to Karabakh during the war. I came back home to Yerevan afterwards, but I was like a stranger – they'd thought I'd died. I came to Goris and now have to look to others for food. We eat whatever they provide, and we don't say a word.”

Guests at both soup kitchens were happy with the service and food provided. According to Yevgine Hovhannisyan, who runs the Mission Armenia charity soup kitchen in Goris, a menu is drawn up at the beginning of each month, with an average of 200 spent on each meal provided. They also have a nurse to provide assistance to the guests. In general, the elderly and socially vulnerable need more medical aid than the rest of the population. And although the Armenian government provides each of them with free primary care, many of them are unable to make use of this right.

Lena Ghazaryan, a doctor at the Mission East Sissian regional medical center in Syunik, explains that the decline she has seen in the health of 21 elderly people who live on their own alone was due mainly to their difficult living conditions. Some of her clinic's patients were unable to leave their houses to make use of the services of the local doctors. And the doctors seldom visit these patients on their own initiative. If they are called in they usually diagnose the condition as age-related illness.

Hasmik Edigaryan, the director of the medical center, informed us that a program was being set up which would offer hygienic care for the needy elderly in the city of Goris.

Of course, it seems like charity organizations have established a firm footing in our country lately, but we can hardly hope to solve all our social problems and beat poverty by relying on the help of foreigners alone. While the authorities proudly announce that pensions are growing in size every year, other sources in the same government agencies list the gas, telephone and sugar prices that are rising on a daily basis.

P.S. I tried to photograph some of the elderly and at least show some of their living conditions in the background, but none of them agreed.