The village of Martiros, some 30 kilometers from the regional center of Yeghegnadzor in Vayots Marz, was founded in the year 1283 by Prince Prosh. The price named the settlement after his son. Due to the damage caused by sink holes, the village was relocated 1.5 kilometers to the west in the 1970’s. However, there are sinkholes common here as well and many homes are threatened with collapse. During the presidential campaign of 2008, Serzh Sargsyan promised to help local residents and allocated 7.75 million drams to ten families in Martiros. Some of the lucky families were this able to buy the homes vacated by villagers who had permanently left for Russia. Others took the money and left the village as well and purchased a place to live elsewhere. “At least fifty families are in need of an apartment in the village. It’s hard to say how the problem will be resolved. Residents would take out no-interest loans of the government offered them and become home owners. But today neither do the funds exist nor the hope and faith,” says Martiros Mayor Kamo Mkrtchyan. Family forced to live in village restaurant He singles out the young Grigoryan family as really in need of an apartment. They now reside in the village restaurant whose damp walls, according to Maria Grigoryan, the mother of the family, don’t even warm up in the summer. Both Maria and her husband are physically handicapped. She has spinal problems and her husband suffers from poor vision. They receive 6,000 drams ($17) apiece per month in disability pensions. In addition, they receive about 25,000 drams ($69) from the government for their three young children. “We can’t make ends meet on what they give us. There is no work and we have no land. We had one cow but we sold it to buy flour,” Maria says. She adds that it’s been more than a week that the youngest child, two month-old Mahari, has had eye pain but that they can’t afford to take the baby to a doctor. “We wanted to take her to the hospital in Vayk but the doctors wanted money up front. I don’t have the money to pay them. How much more in debt can I get. I owe this person 1,000, another 2,000. I’m ashamed to say it but I owe everyone in the village,” Maria says. Her name is constantly being jotted down by store owners in their credit ledgers when she shows up to buy macaroni, some sugar and the occasional sweets. Anoush Khachatryan, a village store owner, opens her fat credit ledger and says with apparent irritation, “Look here. The names of most of the young people owe me. They can’t even afford cigarettes. Is it right for a 25 year-old man to go around with empty pockets? You feel sorry for them. They either borrow to get money or scrounge up 20-30 drams to buy a smoke or two,” she says. “It’s another thing if you get a pension or have someone in Russia to send you money. If not, it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old. No one has money in the village,” says 19 year-old Gevorg Hovhannisyan. Due to kidney problems he wasn’t drafted into the army. This year he graduated from the Yeghegnadzor State College and intends to move to Yerevan to look for a job in one of the supermarkets. College grad can move to Yerevan or stay and become a shepherd “What will I do if I stay here? Nothing at all other than becoming a shepherd,” says Gevorg. There are 200 families that call Martiros home. The village sits on 5,031 hectares of land of which 700 are tillable. But since the fields lack proper irrigation and lie some 10-12 kilometers away, most remain fallow. Only a few residents cultivate grains as it’s a money-losing proposition. The villagers grow livestock fodder on about 300 hectares. Animal husbandry is the primary way most make a living in Martiros. There are about 540 long-horned and 1,000 short-horned animals in the village. Mayor Mkrtchyan says the average family tends to one or two cows with more being the exception. A villager works but gets back nothing “What we need is some type of industry here. If our villagers saw that it was possible to sell their goods, they’d produce more. They’d raise ten cows rather than two and not think about moving to Yerevan or Russia. Today, they don’t come here to buy meat. We have to take it all the way to Yerevan and are forced to sell at really cheap prices. It’s the same with milk. Those who take milk to Yerevan get 80 drams, not 100. The villager produces but inherently gets disillusioned,” says Mayor Mkrtchyan. Ten families have left Martiros for good during the past 15 years. The mayor says that while in the past about 40% of the village workforce, some 30-40,  left to find jobs abroad per year, that number has  substantially dropped due to the economic crisis. He proudly points to the fact that the number of births in the village has increased and that it’s been two years when the number of births in Martiros outstrips the number of deaths. Now, 8-10 children are born in the village per year. “If the village was supplied with natural gas it would really set things going. They’ve already laid pipe in the lower community of Zaritap and we hope to get supplied by next year,” says Mayor Mkrtchyan, adding, “Come August we’ll probably start construction of a youth recreational center so that the kids won’t be idle. The government’s allocated 4 million drams.” It’s not like it’s impossible to live her. It’s just that we work hard and get little in return,” says Gohar Grigoryan, a mother of four. She came to Martiros as a young bride from the Martakert region in Artsakh. “Thank God we have irrigation water. We’ve got a few good walnut and apple trees nearby and we grow potatoes. What’s bad is that we used to sell potatoes at 100 drams a kilo but get 20 or 50 now. No matter, we still can sell the stuff or barter the crop for clothes or shoes for the kids. A villager won’t go hungry. He’ll work; find something to do; even if he has to live on credit.  Just so long as the government helps out and fixes the housing issue. Half the homes here will fall down on our heads one day,” says Gohar.