The Hakobyan family lives in Kapan, a southern Armenian city. To make ends meet, all the children, even the little ones, are forced to pick berries in the forest for sale.

They leave the house early in the morning with their grandmother. When we arrived, two of the kids were out picking greens with grandma. "The berries haven't yet matured on the prickly bushes and vines," said their mom Medya.

The family of ten lives in a dilapidated house – the mother and father with their 6 children and the grandparents.

Four of the six kids are of school age are taken care of at the Kapan Boarding School where they are fed and attend classes. During the summer holiday they are back home helping out with the family chores.

Nine years ago the Hakobyan's purchased the house for $200. It still hasn't been officially registered in their name because the government fee costs so much. No repairs have been made to the structure.

The roof is made of wood and some of the beams have rotted away. Some of the windows are broken and the walls are not plastered. A tiny TV sits in the living room. The children told us that the set must be turned on 10 minutes before their favourite program comes on. It takes that long for the TV to warm up.

Medya said that four years ago their life was completely different. Her husband, Artur, worked in the nearby Copper-Molybdenum Combine as an auto mechanic and made enough to support the family.

Things went downhill after he got something in one of his eyes. His sight started to weaken. Doctors advised him to avoid heavy and dusty work. Medya says her husband would rather risk doing such work instead of remaining idle.

"At first, I couldn't imagine things would get so bad. My husband was making 120,000 AMD per months and sometimes did side jobs. We lived a normal life, better than many. My husband always bought bananas and oranges for the kids. Now look at us."

But they still cling to the hope of a better future. When describing the conditions in which they live, it seemed that Medya, a smile on her face, accepted current reality. The fact that the 8-10 year-old girls sleep in the one bed next to that of their parents didn't seem to faze her.

Artur wasn't home when we visited. When his wife telephoned him, saying that some reporters had arrived, we could hear him say that he wouldn't be returning because he was too embarrassed.

In addition to what they forage in the forest for sale, the family also receives an allowance of 58,000 AMD. Artur's father also gets a 25,000 AMD pension. Medya also mentioned they have one cow that provides milk.

Surprisingly, Medya also said they are able to pay-off some of their food debts to the local shopkeepers. It seems the merchants trust Artur's father and the elderly man personally does the shopping.

The family has racked up about 150,000 AMD in debt at the local grocery stores.

The kids get clothes and school materials from the care center. On a few occasions the World Vision organization donated some clothing to the kids.

Medya says that she has never received any assistance from the government for bearing and raising so many children. "If I had any sense back then, I wouldn't have had so many kids," she said.

She adds, however, that having this many children is a blessing which provides much joy despite the difficulties.

"They're good kids who don't ask for much. We play along with them and even participate in the shows they put on for themselves.

On the occasion of International Children's Day, the Kapan Municipality donated two bottles of vegetable oil, a few kilos of rice, buckwheat and lentils, and some coffee and tea.

As we were leaving, Medya showed us her small garden planted with tomatoes and peppers.

"I don't want people to get the impression that we're a bunch of lazybones," she joked.

"Take a few photos of my lovely roses. They're my pride and joy."