Arpineh Minasyan

“They say have children and grow the nation. That’s what I’ve done. So let them to care of them,” complains Mariam Otaryan, a mother of three small kids.

The family of five has been living in a dormitory in Sevan for the past four years.

Mariam says her children frequently get sick since given the lack of sanitary conditions. Their apartment is cold and damp. The walls are full of holes and rodents freely enter and leave.

One boy has been taken to hospital several times with intestinal infections, and a girl has pneumonia.

“In this environment, anyone who lives here will get sick. There is no money for food or repairs, or to install natural gas. We burn anything we can get our hands on – branches, cardboard, old shoes and clothes,” says an exasperated Mariam, describing how they heat the home in the winter.

Her husband Arsen had an accident when he was 18 and is registered as 3^rd class disabled. The 13,000 AMD ($33 U.S.) monthly allowance he receives is the family’s only source of income.

“You have to gnaw on rocks to care for these kids. We have racked up a lot of debt. The only way out is to either hang ourselves or pack up and flee. When I go to this or that director for assistance he tells me, ‘Hey, I’m not your father.’” says Mariam, a native of Ijevan.

At first, the family lived in one room but purchased an adjoining one with money provided by the government for maternal assistance. They demolished the wall and turned it into a two room apartment.

The photo shows her baby in the crib looking up at the blackened ceiling with its peeling plaster.