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Mother of 6 Loses Job, Told to "Go Raise Your Kids"
35-year-old Haykanush Grigoryan, a mother of six, was let go from her job as a nurse at the outpatient clinic last year in the village of Hovuni in Shirak Province for taking her ill son to France.
She immediately appealed to the director. "The head of the clinic, Yughaber Avetisyan, refused, saying you go raise your kids," says Haykanush. "But I need work to support the children, right? Perhaps my children can survive on air? Is having six children a crime that they don't hire me? I don't understand. The director, of course, then hired someone from the village of Mayisyan. But would it be bad for the employee to be from here? The nurse from Mayisyan comes at 9 amand leaves at 1 pm, so if someone falls ill the second half of the day, if there's a need for an injection or taking someone's blood pressure, there's no one to do it."
The Grigoryan family settled in Hovuni 5 years ago, previously living in Gyumri then in Mayisyan. Since they lost their home in Gyumri to the 1988 earthquake, they were allocated $4,000 USD through the USAID's Housing Purchase Certificate program with which they were able to buy a four-room house in Hovuni.
The family of three boys and three girls live on the monthly 55,000 AMD (about $135 USD) provided by the state to families with many children and the father's, Artyom's, casual earnings. "My husband is a plasterer; he doesn't have permanent work. Sometimes he has work for two months out of the year, but he never goes to work abroad," says Haykanush. "He prefers to be by his family's side."
The oldest daughter and son study at the no. 12 cultural school in Gyumri: during the weekdays, Gohar and David live in their aunt's house. The family had to make this decision because of the uniqueness of the school. The mother explains that if the children studied at the village school, she wouldn't be able to send them to a visual arts or music school. "But [at] that school […], the kids study painting and music after school. They both paint; my David also sings very well."
12-year-old Gohar dreams of becoming a designer, while 11-year-old David wants to be a dentist. "Supporting them [the kids] is becoming harder," says Haykanush. "When they were young, I would knit their clothes; now they're grown, and it's hard to get them to wear each other's clothes. And we buy cheap clothing, it doesn't last — a few months at most. At school they ask them, wasn't this your last year's outfit? Why are you wearing it this year as well? Well, she's a girl, she's affected [by these things]. Wasn't it good, those times when everyone would go to school wearing the same uniform?"
The Grigoryans say it's hard raising six kids under such circumstances. Having a lot of kids, Haykanush says, on one hand, is a joy, but, on the other hand, a responsibility — and there are many difficulties to overcome. She tries, however, to instill only that which is good and positive in her kids.
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