A vacant kindergarten in Masis, a town on Armenia’s Ararat Province, now serves as a shelter for those displaced from Artsakh. 

A photo of a soldier is placed on the windowsill of one of the rooms. Nearby, a woman sits silently with her four children on a bed. 

Nazik Nalbandian's family is from Artsakh’s Aknaberd village. She now lives with her four children, mother, brother, his wife and three children in one of the rooms of kindergarten. Her husband, Aram Tamrazyan, was a soldier. He was killed on September 20, during the Azerbaijani attack on Artsakh.

The large crack in the colorful wall of the room seems to express the broken fate of hundreds of Artsakh families.

"It's me and my four children. My husband was killed," says Nalbandian in a low voice.

Her mother, Lusya Nalbandyan, continues to describe the family’s plight.

"When the attack started, the children were at school. They came home crying, running. The menfolk were at their military posts. Cars came and took us to Stepanakert. We stayed for five or six days. We were told to go to Armenia. We have nothing here. We left what we had done. I don't know what they will give or if they will but no matter what happens, we have to be together,” says Lusya Nalbandyan.

The family is one of many who, for various reasons, rejected Armenian government housing in the country’s regions. The Nalbandyans made their way to Masis, winding up living on the street. This prompted the Masis Municipality to allocate the disused kindergarten, that needs repairing, at their disposal. The family does not receive state subsidies. Private individuals and organizations have stepped in to fill the gap.

Mher Nalbandyan, Nazik’s brother, says he needs a job to take care of his family.

"Here, our demand is that they give us one house and let the two families live together. I am the only man in the house, I must work somewhere and take care of the kids," he tells Hetq.

Ninety other displaced Karabakh Armenians now live in the kindergarten. They too don’t receive any state aid because they failed to register with government agencies after entering Armenia.