When we reached Hatis, a village near the slope of a mountain bearing the same name a 40 minute drive north of Yerevan, we were greeted by cold winter winds and empty streets.

We were headed to the village municipality and thus were on the look-out for the Armenian flag, which by law, must fly over the local government building.

Luckily, we spotted the flagpole and the flag, by now waving violently in the strong wind.

In the courtyard, there was a huge pile of mowed grass and about 10 munching sheep. The large village dogs keeping watch threw us a curious glance but luckily didn’t approach this group of strangers.

Inside the municipal office, a game of backgammon was in progress. Onlookers were freely advising the players as to how to move their pieces on the wooden board.

Hatis village mayor Samvel Garsevanyan told us local residents flocked to the municipality to while away the time playing backgammon and chess.

“The men folk take care of their animals and then head down here. There’s not much else to do,” said Mayor Garsevanyan. Hatis feels the wrath of winter almost half the year.

The building was freezing and what little heating was available was funnelled to the mayor’s office. There was a computer on his desk and some blank public notice boards on the wall.

Mayor Garsevanyan told us that the village had just drafted its new budget and that some modifications had yet to be finalized. By law, each municipality must post such decisions for community residents to see.

The municipal building also houses a library and modern outpatient health clinic. The building itself is slated for renovation in the four year development program.

Mayor Garsevanyan said street lights had been installed with local taxes on a one kilometre stretch of road and that more streets would get lights this year.

The village’s annual budget, that’s to say revenue base, is 5 million AMD ($13,000). Thus, paving the streets and improving the drinking water system are out of the question.

Hatis gets its water from a source some 20 kilometres away. It flows freely until the summer, the time when Yezidi families tend their flocks up on the mountain

The Yezidis tap into the pipe in order to water their sheep.

“We go up and close the pipe. When we leave, the shepherds reopen it. So Hatis residents are forced to transport water from a neighboring village with its own spring,” explained the mayor.

Mayor Garsevanyan says that there’s a supply of wat6er some 120 meters below the ground but that it would take 30 million AMD to drill and erect a holding reservoir. The government hasn’t expresses any interest in financing such a project.

Animal husbandry is practiced on a small scale in Hatis and there are no plans to organize larger holdings.

Most households own on average 7 cows and 10-50 sheep tops.

What Hatis residents really need is a place where they can sell their milk at a decent price.

The last few years the village has been selling to the Tamara dairy products company, but residents complain that they are being short-changed.

“They buy milk from us at 150 AMD per litre. In the summer, the price drops to 120. The company then sells the milk at 350 AMD to its customers. It’s crazy,” said the mayor.

Hatis is a community of 328 residents. The mayor said that people had started to move out in the last two years or so.

“Many leave to work in Russia, especially the young people. In the past, it wasn’t possible. Now they can leave,” Mayor Garsevanyan noted.