Fish is caught easily
The owners of the privatized homes on the coast of Lake Sevan are very
heartfelt about the rise in the level of the lake’s water. This is what
owner of the “Dolphin” recreational zone said: “First of all, the level
of water has not risen that much and not a lot of damage has been
caused. The homes in the zone are movable and can be transferred.
Besides, the more the level rises, the better for us because the number
of fish increase. No matter how much you work during the day, you can
catch 20,000 dram worth of fish. Even when it is not the season for
fishing, you can still find some crab. The owner on the coast can rest
and get $500 dollars a month.” Fishers pay 20,000 drams so they can get
permission from the “Sevan National Budget” for fishing on the coast of
Sevan. “They get a 20,000 daily income. Can’t they give up one day of
work and get a “license”? says the young owner of the “Dolphin” zone.
Another problem is how the “National Budget” controls the field. Owner
of the “Sevan National Budget” Gagik Martirosyan did not say a word
about this because the Ministry of Ecology did not give him the right
to give out any information.
The owners of Chkalovka and Ltchashen are the ones that have suffered
the most from Lake Sevan. But the damage caused is not highly
noticeable compared to their profit: “I for one do not know anyone that
can be that offended by something” , said the owner of “Dolphin”.
“When you go into any village, you can find out the truth from a crazy
person or a child”. The Sevan psychological hospital administration is
the one that probably knows best about these kinds of proverbs. The
hospital did not let us talk or take pictures of the patients: “The
relatives complain that they see the pictures of the patients in the
newspaper.” They didn’t even let us talk with them, claiming that “the
patient has nothing to say besides complaining.”
The Sevan psychiatric hospital provides treatment for nearly 430
patients suffering from psychological illnesses. The hospital is built
for 420 people. There are ten departments and the men and women are
separated. The men and women may have contact with each other only at
certain hours during the day at the studio, club or the library. Sexual
relations between the opposite sexes are forbidden. “Can you imagine
what would happen if we let them have physical contact? We simply don’t
want to increase the number of children in the children’s homes”, says
owner of the hospital’s medical department Aram Aleksanyan, “however,
we do have the necessary drugs for birth control.” There are only a
couple of patients who have physical contact with other patients. One
of them is already married in the hospital and there are some single
patients. “Those people are usually patients with a stable status,”
says A. Aleksanyan. Mr. Aleksanyan does not hide the fact that there
are some homosexuals in the hospital. “We try to do everything we can,
day and night, in order for nothing like that to happen because there
could be serious consequences which follow. There is a problem between
the weak and the strong.”
The government of Armenia spends $5,000,000 million dollars daily for
each patient of the hospital. “In the United States, that amount
exceeds the $700 dollar mark, “says Mr. Aleksanyan, “but this is no
America and thank God that we can at least do this much for the
patients.” According to him, the patients have no problems with
medicine or nutrition. Every day, they eat 100-150 grams of meat,
honey, butter, jam, milk and cheese. The psychiatric hospital only
needs psychiatric doctors. The hospital only has five doctors. Few
people agree to work there due to the low salary and the location of
the hospital.