“I’m ashamed to wear a dress like the other girls because of my scars” The village of Gishi, located in the NKR district of Martuni, lies approximately 40-60 kilometers from the capital, Stepanakert. If one takes the road from Ningi, the distance to be traveled is 40 kilometers; the Aghdam road is 60.

15 year-old Tzovinar, a Gishi resident, stands up straight with her back against the wall to take another measurement of her height. She periodically keeps a running record. Seeing that her height hasn’t passed the two meter mark set by the physicians, she breathes a sigh of relief. On May 3, 2004, nine year-old Tzovinar and her eleven year-old brother Albert, as was their custom, went to a nearby mulberry tree after school to bring the family cow back home. A fragment mine scars young girl “My brother came across a fragment mine in one of the garden bushes. He knew enough to realize it was dangerous and could kill. At first, Albert wanted to take it home to give to father. He then changed his mind and tried to hit it with a rock. I immediately grabbed the rock from his hand. He tried again and this time I couldn’t stop him. The mine exploded,” recalls Tzovinar, who survived the accident out of sheer luck. After the incident, Halo Trust, a British organization that conducts demining work, went to the site and found another seven mines in the field. After the explosion, Tzovinar tried to lift her brother, now unconscious and covered in blood, to his feet. But her right foot was injured by the shrapnel and she could hardly walk. Somehow, she collected all her strength and made it to the fence. Nine year-old Tzovinar was exhausted. A passing motorist saw the girl sprawled over the fence and stopped. The Good Samaritan took the young girl to hospital. They found Tzovinar’s brother later on, dead. “My girl’s blood pressure was very low and her entire body had been scorched by the mine fragments when they admitted her to the Martuni Hospital. Of her internal organs, her liver was injured the most. After surgery, the young girl lapsed into a three day coma. Her chances of survival were very slim. It was only on the fourth day that Tzovinar showed signs of life,” recounts the girl’s mother, Armineh Arstamyam. Tzovinar undergoes eye surgery Neither the doctors nor the girl’s parents had noticed that one of the fragments had injured Tzovinar’s eye. They noticed the injury only later, when the girl’s life was out of danger. “We were in the hospital when we noticed that the child’s eye was getting smaller by the day. Some tests were run and the doctor told us about lodged fragment in her one eye. In addition, Tzovinar couldn’t place her right foot on the floor,” says the mother. They took Tzovinar to Stepanakert to see a neurologist. They said there wasn’t anything serious about the leg and that some massage sessions would fix the problem. As for the girl’s eye, her mom says, that by a streak of luck, doctors from the A. Malayan Eye Surgery Center were in Stepanakert to perform surgeries throughout Artsakh for free. “Professor Malayan examined Tzovinar personally. When he found out the circumstances of the accident, he said that they couldn’t take a risk and operate since they didn’t know what metal the fragment was from,” says Armineh. The doctors took Tzovinar back to Yerevan with them, to the Eye Center. They successfully operated on the young girl on May 28, a state holiday. Doctors tell parents not to worry about girl’s leg; they were wrong “At the time, my girl still couldn’t extend her right leg to the floor. They sent us to the Nork-Marash Hospital after the eye surgery. They also told us not to worry, that things would be fine. “They also told us to massage the girl’s leg regularly,” continues the mother. Taking the doctors’ word, Tzovinar’s parent brought her home. Two years hadn’t passed when the foot problem started acting up again. This time the parents went to the Caroline Cox Rehabilitation Center for assistance. Armineh says that the massage regiment they offered helped for a while, but that it wasn’t a permanent cure. The mother says that after another year and a half, the girl’s leg started to become deformed. The parents had no idea what was causing the deformity. A further examination revealed that one of the bones in the girl’s shin wasn’t growing in a normal fashion. Thus, Tzovinar’s left leg was growing normally and was now longer than the right leg. This one was curving, Armineh explained. “We took the girl to Yerevan again. The doctors confirmed the findings made in Stepanakert but they advised holding off on any operation until the time when the leg pain became a threat to the spine,” says Armineh. Parents can’t afford another operation Tzovinar’s parents paid all the medical bills themselves. It was only, when the parents after got the proper documentation from the hospital with great difficulty that the NKR Ministry of Health compensated the family in the amount of 800,000 AMD or 60% of total expenses. Even now, when there’s a change in the weather, the girl’s acts up. The numerous scars on Tzovinar’s body, from the mine blast, prevent her from wearing dresses like other girls her age. Tzovinar’s mother confesses that the blast damaged her daughter by physically and psychologically. The doses of anesthesia given the girl during her many surgeries, has left Tzovinar with lapses of memory and a nervous condition. “All this, of course, are consequences of the operations. Being a calm girl by nature, Tzovinar can usually control her emotions. Her teachers take an understanding approach to her memory problem,” Armineh says. Ashot Arstamyan, Tzovinar’s father, fought in the Artsakh War and was disabled as a result. He has promised his daughter that whatever the cost, she will get plastic surgery. Armineh says that Ashot has already noticed that the girls’ right leg is shorter than the other. This means either surgery or at least a medical exam. But it all depends on the cost. Armineh shakes her head and says they won’t know where to turn if the doctors say that Tzovinar needs another operation. “The last surgery two years ago cost a great deal. I can only imagine what it will cost today. We’re at our wits end but we’ll think of something. It’s our daughter, after all,” says Armineh, gazing at her daughter who’s gone through quite a lot for a young girl. Knar Babayan