Gohar And Her “Ministers”

“Alone? Why am I alone?" asks Gohar rhetorically. "What about my Ministers?”

Pointing out her seven dogs, naming them Girl, Fatty, Blondie..., she likens each one to a Government Minister. She might sound crazy, but she isn't, although when she’s drunk, which is quite frequently, she creates the impression that she is. This is especially so when her nearly incomprehensible speech is accompanied by the gesticulation of her hands darkened by the smoke.

Gohar is one of the many homeless people living in Yerevan, and 'resides' in one of the unfinished buildings situated near the central train station. There are beds and chairs made from stones and cartons, and one can see her “house” even from a distance. There is washing hanging on a line and bottles stacked in a corner as well as the rising black smoke.

She makes coffee, as well as her dinner, over burning pieces of wood and paper stuffed into a bucket that serves as a makeshift stove. She also relies on its heat for warmth. “There’s very little material to burn this year,” the 45-year-old complains.

Gohar says she is divorced and has a son who is “doing business with his uncle” in Poland. “We sold our house in 1993 and planned to leave Armenia, but it didn't work out, so I stayed. Then I found myself without a home and came here,” she explains. Now she trades at the “rag market” near the train station. “There is one person who always brings goods,” she says.

Gohar even laid her own table for New Year’s Eve and says that given her circumstances it wasn't bad. Her guests included the homeless and that other market traders helped her. When she became drunk from the vodka that night, she recited a poem for her guests and hoped that she would have “the opportunity to leave this place.”

Aram

’Here’s so that misfortunes stay away from us!” Aram exclaims each time he raises a glass of vodka. “Let’s sit around a table so that bad fortune doesn't come to stay with us.”

The 35-year-old hasn't a permanent spot to live on the streets of Yerevan and sleeps wherever he can. ”On New Year’s Eve I wished myself good health,” he says, explaining that he has bad lungs and a hernia.

The complexion of Aram’s face already says a lot about his illness. A former prisoner, he served his sentence in prison in Sevan. He was found guilty of theft, and openly admits it. He doesn't want to speak about his family, however, apart from to say that he has a wife and a daughter in Russia as well as a brother in Yerevan who is aware of his situation. Occasionally, his brother says hello, but that’s all.

Aram was released from prison five years ago and worked in construction for a while. He even rented a place to live, but during the last two years has slept on the streets. “My health is too bad to work in construction now,” he explains. “I collect bottles from rubbish tips instead, but not from people's homes because they don’t treat me well.”

When the New Year comes, Aram says that business gets better because the number of bottles in rubbish bins increases. However, the number of people that live like this in Yerevan is not small, and Aram puts the number at more than a thousand.

Karine Asatryan
Photos by Onnik Krikorian