There, we can see the nine-member Kirakosyan family living in a small, wooden, two room “shelter” with three cats and a dog named Chalo.
The middle aged man tries to grab the wood. He moves slowly, barely moves his fingers; his feet, despite the cold weather, are weak. He tries to hide his feet but doesn’t know where. The father of the nine-member family is 46 year old Aramayis and his “property” are his 7 children, his small villa, the endless debts and worries.
Aramayis wants to smile and tries to hide the feeling of guilt for his family’s conditions. In the village he is known as someone who knows about agriculture. Head of the Akor village Kamo Simonyan says that when the villagers feel the need for advice, they go to Aramayis. “He always helps. Thanks to his knowledge, we have peach juice in the village, we grow apricots and apples,” says the head of the village.
Aramayis helps others, however, he can’t do anything for his own small villa since he has no water. He just helps the other villagers and shares his secrets with his older son: “Well, what can I do?” he heaves, “if I had an opportunity, I would do something and I would have my own field.” Aramayis says that despite the fact that they didn’t even have a home before independence, however, he used to work at a construction site and went along with all they had.
As in all residencies in Armenia, life in the village of Akor in the Lori Marz also got difficult after the collapse of the Soviet Union when people lost their jobs due to liquidization of production factories, bankruptcy and other reasons.
“I worked at a construction site for 15 years. Everything was fine-we were making a living. It never crossed our minds that we were going to be living like this later on,” says Aramayis Kirakosyan. “Everything disappeared and we were left in this situation.”
The rubber toy hanging from the ceiling which can’t be seen clearly is the only thing remaining in the “empty” home. The woman with the white hair appears to be 50 years old, however, she hasn’t even turned 40 yet. “I grew white hair after all the depression,” says the mother of nine Ruzanna Kirakosyan.
Ruzanna hugs her one and a half year old child Azniv close to her chest. The elder child is 17 year old Edgar. He helps his parents, brings wood from the canyon so they can stay warm and make food because Aramayis can barely move his fingers these past years due to a mysterious illness. “My son Edgar will go to serve in the army next year and we will be all alone,” says Ruzanna in a sad tone.
She tries to straighten out the bed that she, her children Azniv, 5-year old Arthur and 10-year old Karine sleep on. Karine has epilepsy. Ruzanna says that Karine got sick when she was 4 months old.
“A doctor came to the village and said that if the child eats well, she will get better,” says Ruzanna. “But since we don’t have the opportunity now, my 8 year old boy Hovhannes takes his sister to and from school since she can not go alone. Who knows, maybe she will faint.”
The other “ornament” in the room is the television set but it doesn’t work. That is what Ruzanna brought with her when she was married. The two cradles are old and broken. Eight year old Hovhannes fits somehow in the cradle, the other one is for Azniv and it is made from metal and has some cushions, but it is not a good one. Aramayis, Margarita and Arpine sleep in the other room- black from ashes. 16 year old Arpine is shy. She doesn’t like to hear stories about her family’s hardships. The girl doesn’t have any friends because most of the villagers evade dealing with families that have problems.
The only thing she sees in her future is getting married, but the parents find it hard to believe that anyone will get married with a girl that has family issues. The family doesn’t even have a home since that home belongs to one of their fellow villagers currently in Russia and who is going to return this winter. But the Kirakosyan family had nowhere to go. Azniv starts moaning. The children try to calm their sister down. The three cats that consider themselves as the owners of the home try to do that. “I brought these cats so that the children can be calm,” says Ruzanna. “At first, there were mice in the home, scorpions, snakes and rats, but now there is nothing.”
The kitchen is located at the entrance of the house and the only items that show any signs of a kitchen are the thermos and some plates. The family eats only once a day. The menu is always the same-soup with noodles and bread. The only “income” for the family is 34,000 drams. Ruzanna says that it is not enough for the family and it only pays for noodles, oil and flour. The villagers sometimes give the family old clothes and shoes and the children are able to go to school once in a while.
“I send them off to school with those ragged clothes and old shoes. I am ashamed,” says the mother.
The parents remember their children’s birthdays once in a while and the children only hear about New Year’s Day from their village friends…