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Yeranuhi Soghoyan

Hayarpi and Her Two Kids: Without Help, They’ll Wind Up On the Street in Four Months

The young woman is out of breath from walking fast. She apologizes for making us wait and immediately unlocks the door.

“I’ve locked the kids inside and went to the store to buy some bread and stuff. They didn’t give it because I owe them too much,” says Hayarpi, a resident of Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city.

The mother calls out to the kids so that they aren’t frightened. It’s dark inside. Hayarpi draws the curtains.

Hayarpi Hovhannisyan and her two small children have been without electricity since January 26. They light candles at night. Hayarpi says the utility shut the electricity off saying she owed 34,000 drams from December and 20,000 from January.

“That’s impossible because I don’t have an electric heater, a washing machine, or a refrigerator. And the TV works so bad that we hardly watch it,” says Hayarpi. “I don’t understand how they came up with such a bill or who is sharing my electricity cable. There’s only one bulb in the entire house.”

Hayarpi says she turned on an electric heater in November and only paid 16,000 drams. They used a wood heater starting in December. Fuel was supplied by the Shirak Center NGO and he director of a nearby factory producing plastic items.

“Vahan Toumasyan gave us wood on two occasions and I collected some refuse from the plastic factory. That’s what we will burn. I returned the electric heater to my sister. We have fuel now. Anyway, the heater cost too much. It’s a small room where we eat and sleep,” says Hayarpi, her breathing strained. She says that only one of her lungs works normally.

“There’s no strength in my left hand. I broke it last winter when I fell on the ice. I didn’t think it was broken and only went to social services a month later to get permission for a free operation. For the last three years I worked in the fields. I can’t perform any heavy work now,” says Hayarpi.

29 year-old Hayarpi has two children from two marriages – 10 year-old Artyom and 2 year-old Emily. Her first husband left when Artyom was one. Her second husband has never seen Emily. Neither father provides any support for their children.

Hayarpi, with little education or permanent work, makes due with the 29,000 monthly allowance she receives for the children. Her married sister is the only person helping out.

Hayarpi doesn’t own the trailer in which the family lives. She once owned another trailer but sold it to get money for food. The present trailer belongs to a distant female relative now serving time at the Abovyan Penitentiary. She’ll soon be released and has told Hayarpi she must vacate the premises in four months.

“I’ll be out on the street with my children. I have no money to rent or a family home to go to. My mom, who used to live with me, passed away. I’m not on any waiting list to get a place to live,” says a teary-eyed Hayarpi.

Little Emily doesn’t go to kindergarten. Artyom is enrolled in a boarding school and has started to attend the “Going Forward” charitable benevolent center. The first person to find out about the family’s tough plight was Vahan Toumasyan, director of the Shirak Center.

“I was coming home from school and a man approached, asking who I was. I said I am the son of Hayarpi. He asked where we lived and I brought him home. He registered us at the center,” says Artyom. “I go there now. It’s nice and warm, and they give us food.”

Hayarpi and her two kids are always coughing. The mother says she didn’t send Artyom to school on February 1. She shows me the second room in the trailer that is always shut due to the rats.

“There have been nights when I’ve held my kids on this couch all night just to defend them from the rats. A few days ago we had no food in the house. Those rats gnawed a bar of soap instead. It’s just awful,” says Hayarpi, sighing.

The hut has no bathroom or kitchen. Hayarpi fetches water in pails from a neighbor’s yard. Hayarpi doesn’t own the furniture inside as well.

“All I have is one small bed and a tiny cabinet. The dishes aren’t even mine. But that’s not my concern right now. It’s all about a place to stay. How in all good conscience can they stick me with a 54,000 dram electric bill? I only get 29,000 a month and have a 30,000 debt,” says Hayarpi.

Saying our goodbyes, Hayarpi points to a metal shack in the yard. She and her kids lived there for a while before moving into the trailer.

“You see that tiny shack? That’s my address on it. I lived in there with my kids. If I can’t get another place to live in a few months, we’ll be forced to move in there again. I have no other place to go.”

Comments (11)

Ալեքսանդր
Ինչպես կարելի է օգնել այս ընտանիքին? 094801501
Երանուհի Սողոյան
Հարգելի Ալեքսանդր, կարող եք կապվել ինձ հետ խմբագրության միջոցով, ես կօգնեմ ձեզ այցելելու Հայարփիի ընտանիքին
ARTAVAZD
vortex aprum ays @ntaniq? vor marzum?
Երանուհի Սողոյան
Ընտանիքն ապրում է Գյումրիում, Շիրակի մարզ: Գյումրեցի բազմաթիվ անօթևաններից մեկ է
mahmouzian
what is the phone of shirak center ngo thank you mahmouzian
vartan
They must be helped, and assisted, and very soon. They can not be left in such conditions. .
Ara
Poor kids. Their only fault is being born to idiots.
mahmouzian
thank you .let see what we can do . mihran
Hetq
http://shirakcentre.org/hy/feedback/......+(374 312) - 66992, +(374 312) - 52539, +(374 91) - 451337, +(374 55) - 066992
Երանուհի Սողոյան
Հարգելի Մեսրոպ Էքմէքճեան, սա Հայարփիի հեռախոսահամարն է 041038203 կարող եք իր հետ կապվել, կամ խմբագրության միջոցով ինձ հետ
Մեսրոպ էքմէքճեան
Հարգելի Երանելի Սողոյան . ինչպէս օգնենք տեղեկացրեք։

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