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Sona Avagyan

Martiros Village Life: Anoush Wants Work to Survive and Vergineh Wants to Work for Youth

06_07-martiros-11“I was born here. I got married here and it’s where we live. If there was work no one would leave the village. The natural surroundings of the village and its facilities are much better than those in the city. What does the city offer?” This is what Anoush Frangoulyan, a 45 year-old resident of the village of Martiros in Vayots Dzor told us when we recently visited there. We met her at the post office where she had gone to pick up the supplemental income allowance from the government. This is the third 10,000 dram ($28) monthly allowance that the family had received. With the allowance, Mrs. Frangoulyan paid the 3,550 telephone and 5,500 electric bills. Anoush lives with her husband and two sons. “We’re a family of five. One got married so now there’s the four of us. None of us work,” she said The family owns a cow, ten sheep and has some land for cultivation. “We have five hectares but a portion isn’t irrigated. We don’t plant anything on the land, say tomatoes or cucumbers. We just use the grass to feed the livestock,” she said She says that the lack of water isn’t the only thing stopping them from working the land. “If only things were a bit cheaper. We can’t buy wheat seed. Not because it’s expensive but because we just don’t have the money.” Anoush sells walnuts but village youth need jobs The family’s main sources of income are the sheep and the walnut trees. They can sell a lamb for about 15,000 drams “The come here to buy. They dictate the price and we villagers comply. What else can we do? We have debts to pay. We also have a garden and some pasture land but what kind of income will they generate. Luckily we have a few good walnut trees and they get us through the year,” Anoush explains. They either sell or barter the walnut crop in the village, or else they sell the shelled walnuts in Yerevan. Anoush relates that during different years the shelled walnuts sell for 2,500 – 4,500 per kilo and that the most she sells during the year is 100 -150 kilos. Right now the family has debts of 200,000 drams. “I buy food and flour. Or else I get credit when someone’s sick and must see a doctor. I needed surgery and was eligible for the government plan. But they still took a lot,” Anoush said, adding that she wound up paying 100,000 for an operation that cost 300,000 in Yerevan. More than anything, Anoush wishes that there was work in the village. “If there was work, the kids would gladly stick around. But there’s no work to be found and young people wander like refugees,” she said. Her 22 and 25 year-old sons have worked in Vayk, the regional center, and in Yerevan, at a bread bakery and sausage factory. Anoush only has worked for five years; from 1989-1994. She was the cook at the village kindergarten. “The school closed down and we were out of work,” she said. Vergineh, a 23 year-old dedicated to improving village life for young people 06_07-martiros-12“This is my center. The building first housed the kindergarten then it was transformed into the military base,” says 23 year-old Martiros resident Vergineh Stepanyan, pointing to the two story building. Repairs to second floor will soon be completed and a youth center will open. Vergineh, a student at Yerevan’s Mesrop Mashtots University’s Department of Psychology, is president of the “Martiros Youth Organization”. “Once the renovations are completed, we’ve decided to clean up the grounds and erect some sort of small summer pavilion, to plant trees, so that young people can meet here,” Vergineh said. There are no art clubs in the village and cultural events aren’t organized. Vergineh assures us that it’s not because young people aren’t interested in such things. “There is a lot of interest. Of course, there are many talented youngsters here. A few years back, some of the more active tenth graders got together and formed a music group. Every month they’d perform folk songs and some sort of theatrical play. It was interesting and all of us went. When they graduated each went their own way and the group broke up. It would be nice if a similar group were formed today,” she said. New youth center hopefully will attract kids Vergineh told us that once the center opens they plan to start a dance group even though there is no instructor in the village. “We have no dance instructor, but I can teach a few things. The school had a dance group and I attended classes back in the fifth and sixth grades. This is a project that I really want to tackle myself,” Vergineh said. She told us that the renovation work on the center would probably start in Mid-July and that the place would open this fall. 4 million drams has been allocated for the renovations and furnishings. “Hopefully we can get some computers, a pool and ping-pong tables. This is what we were promised. I can’t say what exactly we’ll get but I hope we can get some games for the kids,” Vergineh said. Vergineh told us that life in the village was pretty monotonous. “We’ve grown used to it. As the new generation comes of age the kids become more aloof and reserved. It was much different before. Even just a few years ago young people were more active. We’d always get together for birthday parties, to attend church or even the disco. We’d always try to make our days pass just a bit more pleasantly,” she said. During her vacation, Vergineh spends most of the time at home doing chores – cleaning, reading or watching TV. She says that while get-togethers are still organized in the village they are less frequent and the girls have become much more passive. “We organize parties and such but the girls don’t attend. Only a handful, five or six, show up. We also organize games and various contests and give out awards. It’s a way for young people to meet. But the village girls don’t take much of an interest. The place is filled with boys and the few girls that show up feel uneasy in such surroundings.” Vergineh said, adding that such get-togethers can still be considered a success and that the boys behave in a very “gentleman-like” fashion.” Vergineh confides that in general boys and girls in the village meet in secret right until the wedding day. “Otherwise, if people found out…Well let’s put it this way; you’d be blacklisted for life,” she said. When she got her job at the center it became a hot topic for discussion in the village. People would question if it was “proper” for Vergineh to work at the center since only boys went there. “I told those tongue-waggers that I’d prove to them that not only boys went there and even if they did, so what?” Vergineh’s family is very supportive of her and the work she is doing in the village. “My family doesn’t hinder my activities in the slightest. On the contrary, they’ve always wanted me to get out and meet people and do things on my own. Lately I’ve been thinking of resigning from my job at the center since I don’t get paid. But it my parents who advise me to stay so that I can rub shoulders with the best and the brightest people around,” Vergineh said. Vergineh has lived her whole life in Martiros. Her parents were born here as well. “My grandmother’s grandfather also hails from this village. Our family tree in Martiros runs deep,” she says proudly.

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