“I don't know what to do - whether to have the sixth one, or not,” mused Nune Poghosyan, a 33-year old resident of the village of Azokh. “The sixth one” would be Nune's sixth child. That child is not a planned or desired baby, but rather a means to provide the other five with a roof over their heads. Nune has four daughters and one son, and lives in extreme poverty. Her husband, Yura Alaverdyan, fought in the war, has multiple injuries and is disabled with second-degree status. They are both unemployed. They survive on the 20,000-dram allowance given to families with seven members. Each month before they receive this allowance, their debts in the local grocery store have already accumulated.

They rented a house in Stepanakert before moving to Azokh. The landlord forced them to leave because they did not pay their rent on time. Nune, her husband, and their children ended up on the street. Nune's parents and her brother's family live in Azokh. This is the eighth year they have been together. “My brother's family is very big too. They are not well off, there's nobody to support us. We want to leave, but we have nowhere to go.”

A few hens and a small plot of land is not enough to feed five growing children. Nune has appealed to the government of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) a number of times asking them to provide her with an apartment, but there has been no reply. The NKR constitution states that large families are those which have at least six children. The same legal code states that the NKR government is obliged to provide large families with apartments. That is why Nune has decided to have a sixth child. “We don't owe anyone anything. Does the person who wrote that law have six children?” asked Nune.

The children were running half-naked in the middle of the village, near the fountain. She could not remember when she last bought them clothes. “I dress them in whatever I am given. How can I buy them clothes if I can't afford to buy them bread?”

The last time Nune bathed her children was 15 days ago, and she wasn't sure when she'd be able to afford such a “luxury” again. There is a water shortage in Azokh, and Nune has neither the desire nor the means to buy water being sold at 1000 drams per ton. She cannot understand how one can put a price on God's bounty.