Four-months old baby Vachagan was moving his eyes in the room, where even his mother and grandmother were freezing. A little later the baby started to move his lips and show signs of being hungry. As he saw that nobody was paying attention to him, he started to cry. His mother and grandmother were confused; the child’s food that was on the table would finish soon. The baby was starting to become blue because of the nervous cry. Every time the baby cries because of being hungry, his body becomes blue and he cries with nervous movements. His grandmother, Hasmik, says that they have borrowed so much food for the child from the neighboring shop that the shop lady does not give them baby food anymore. The four-months old Vachanagan has been listening to cruel conversations during the past months. His grandmother and mother want to build a good future for him, but these attempts always end up with conflicts. Now he is living and sleeping in a pram that his grandmother found in a garbage box on Nar-Dos street. Vachagan has to listen to discussions whether he has to be taken to orphanage every day. His grandmother has lived a difficult life and she understands that the government will take care of the baby better than they do with her daughter. The daughter, Armine, does not want to take the baby to orphanage. “I will not give him, mom, please do not humiliate me at least in the presence of others. I will not give my baby, even if you kill me,” says Armine with trembling voice and grabs the baby out of her mother’s hands. The baby was crying… “Do you understand me? I have a good heart and I will give my life for my grandchild too, but do you see the conditions the baby is living in? Please tell me what’s right and what’s wrong. The government will keep the baby because they need him for the army. Do you understand me? We are torturing the baby; we even cannot buy baby food. The baby does not feel that he has eaten enough; he is crying all the time. I am afraid, believe me… I understand her too; she is a mother and has feelings, but the baby is not guilty for her mistakes. Please believe me that I want for the baby the best and that’s why I am afraid,” said Hasmik and hugged the baby. Armine understands her mother but every time she hears the name of ‘orphanage’, she is shocked. Armine is 17 years old and has a look of a baby; she doesn’t understand much in life. “It is my mom’s fault as she did not let me make friends with anyone. I didn’t know people well and all days I was going to school and back home. She didn’t even let me go to the yard to play with others,” says Armine. Armine met her ex-husband and fell in love. In the beginning she had the feeling that the guy was the best man for her. “Through the time I started to love him. It seemed to me that the man could not look into my eyes and lie. I started to love him so much that I believed his every word. I really loved him,” says Armine and adds that she was very disappointed and her love had turned into hatred. Hasmik got angry and said, “I was guilty to prohibit her make friends with people but I was doing that to protect her. Do you understand me? I was alone and unlucky, so I did my best to keep her away from the destiny I had. Now I see that I have repeated the same mistake, the one that made me suffer much. I should have let her socialize with people and recognize them. Do you know how cruel it was for me? My sister passed away. During the funerals of my sister she ran away with that guy. I was mourning and she ran away with that man.” The mother has always prohibited her to meet with that guy. During the funerals of her aunt Armine ran away with that guy as she understood she would not have another opportunity to go out of control of her mother. As the man did not have where to live, they lived in an apartment they decided to rent near the Ayrarat cinema house. Months after they started to quarrel all the time. “He did not work; we had nothing. We lived in very bad conditions. It was an awful situation, even I don’t understand how I could bear that when I remember those times. Every time his friends called him he used to go out and came back drunk. I told him to work, and for that he started to beat me. One day he hit my head so strongly that I lost my ability to hear. I visited a doctor and they told me it was because of the strike he gave me,” says Armine. Hasmik feels very upset to hear that. She says she had found her daughter with black eyes. Armine still believed in happy family life and every time she was beaten even harder and harder. The man started to drink every day.
Through the time the situation became so bad that Hasmik did not think twice and took the daughter with her baby back home. “I used to sell socks. One day I went to their place unexpectedly. I had made some money and I visited them to help with some money. As I visited them I saw that he had beaten Armine so hard that the baby had fallen down of her hands. She had black eyes and the baby was crying laying on the ground. His friend was trying to take the baby of the floor but he did not let. It was a very cruel scene. When I saw my baby on the ground… I took the baby and brought home,” told Hasmik by hugging her grandchild. Now Armine and the baby are living in Hasmik’s dormitory room in Vardashen. The room is very cold. After her husband beat her up Armine lost her milk and now she cannot feed the baby. Hasmik, who is 49 years old, has diabetes. She has lost her sight and does not see much. Sometimes the sickness becomes incontrollable. Last time she visited a doctor the doctor told her to wear glasses. “I am receiving 20,000 drams aid from the government, how can I give 10,000 to buy glasses. What will the baby eat then? My nails are in very bad situation, they are sick and are falling, I have tied my hands in a cloth not to let the sickness pass to the baby. I grew up Armine alone but my parents helped me much. What will happen if I become sick and cannot take care of them? Please tell her that it is a sin to keep a baby in such conditions. We would heat the room if we had at least a fire place.” When speaking of orphanage Hasmik has a strange expression and feeling on her face and Armine looks at her with angry eyes. Hasmik says that she can’t see well and she is afraid she may not be able to take care of the baby and may fail the responsibility she has. “Please help me and don’t let her say those words. I have made a fault, but nobody is sinless. Mom, please, I promise that I will do anything you say, I will listen to you, I will obey and do as you say, only please don’t take my baby to orphanage. Mom, my baby is not guilty for my fault. You made a fault too, but I did not intimidate and condemned you. I thought that you have condemned yourself so much that there was no need for me to say anything. Mom, I did like you, please don’t torture me,” said Armine to her mother. Armine and Hasmik stopped speaking… Vachagan wanted to eat. The baby was crying so loudly that his body was becoming blue because of the nervous movements. The baby’s hands were cold. Armine’s eyes were wet. She placed the baby into the pram they had found in a garbage box. The baby was still crying and his voice was heard in the entire building. Hasmik and Armine were silent, but both of them were thinking whether to give the baby to orphanage or no. Armine does not forgive her mother. Hasmik does not forgive her daughter. Vachagan has forgiven both of them. He wants to eat…