Vahe Sarukhanyan
Ararat Davtyan

“Who did we use to be, and who are we now? Screw whoever revolutionized this world, really,” said freedom fighter turned homeless man Hovik Ghambaryan.

“I used to have everything – home, family – I created everything. And now I collect empty bottles. Look, I found a TV set, some rugs. I'll take it to the flea market to earn some money for bread,” he said.

Hovik was wounded twice during the Karabakh war – in Noyemberyan and in Talish.

“I lost my carotid artery. Doctors put in 16 stitches. They said if they removed the shell fragment my neck would be bent,” the former freedom fighter recalled, adding that he became second-degree disabled. But he lost his papers and, therefore, he gets no pension.

Forty-eight-year-old Hovik is from Hrazdan. He left his three-room apartment, his first wife and two children there. Last year he happened to see his daughter on TV but he hasn't seen his son in years.

“During the war when I found myself in Manvel's detachment I didn't go home for eight months. Later I found out that my wife had had an affair with my friend at that time. So I shrugged it off and left. What else could I do?” Hovik continued. “ I came toYerevanand worked on the black market. Silva was a cleaning woman there. I got involved with her and we have been together for thirteen years now.”

Hovik and Silva rented lodgings in various parts ofYerevan. Then, unable to pay the rent, they ended up on the streets. Last February they got settled in the shelter for the homeless people in theYerevan'sFourthVillage. And there, watching the ALM TV channel he recognized his daughter as she won the title of Super Diamond.

“We were watching and crying,” Hovik said, unable to conceal his emotions.

A short while later he was expelled from the shelter for, as he puts it, “boxing his wife on the ear.” From time to time Silva's face would be covered with bruises.

“We simply had to keep only one of them here. We had no other choice,” shelter manager David Shabazyan insisted.

For four months now Hovik has lived in the underground garage behind the Puppet Theatre. Vagabond Rafik stays here too. And Silva, Hovik's second wife, comes from the shelter and spends the frosty winter nights with her husband a couple of times a week.

I'm just crying because of my nerves

 “At night I curl myself up into a ball but I can't sleep because of the cold. Vodka costs 600 drams. It's one thing if I find metal scrap, but how many empty bottles do I need to collect to get a bottle of vodka and be able to sleep at night,” homeless Rafik Ohanyan said.

Fifty-three-year-old Rafik spends his nights mostly in this underground garage. He has a son and two daughters.

“My son is married. I have two grandchildren… I'd sacrifice my life for them,” he said.

Rafik had a one-bedroom apartment in Avan. In 1993 he sold the apartment and he and his family moved in with his mother-in-law.

“I wanted to invest the money I earned from selling the apartment in business, but the currency reform happened. I went toRussiabut I failed there. I couldn't even come back. In 2002 the Armenian community sent me toYerevan. I came home and saw my wife's picture framed in black,” Rafik recalled, adding that his relations with the mother-in-law worsened with every passing day and eventually he moved out.

“I miss my children a lot but I don't want to see them – I don't want to disturb them. I'm afraid my mother-in-law will drive them out,” homeless Rafik says tearfully. “I'm just crying because of my nerves. Would a grown man cry?”

Last year Rafik spent half of the winter at the shelter for homeless people. A few days ago he went there again. He was not admitted because there wasn't enough room. But he was told to come back after January 10 th .

“My life has turned upside-down,” he said. “But I will not surrender. I will fight. Why should I perish for nothing? What have I ever done to anyone?”.