Families with no water - daily struggle continues
Tsaghkashen Village in Gegharkunik Region, southwest Armenia, has no form of water system, both for irrigation and drinking. The villagers depend on the rains for irrigating their lands, and on their shoulders to carry water in buckets to their houses.
Three families, consisting of ten people live in the Makaryans’ two-room house in Tsaghkashen Village.
Elinar, 47, is a mother of three and grandmother of another three. Elinar cares for each member of her large family every day, every hour.
We are a big family, with three small children; water is something you need to have every day Her husband and three sons have been migrating to Russia every year from April to October, and sometimes for the entire year, in search of seasonal work. Elinar runs the house, cultivates the land and takes care of the animals.
“The period when they leave is the hardest; you need to start the cultivation of the land, you need to take the animals to the pastures, then in the times of the harvest you need to gather the harvest all by yourself, and then store it properly for the winter”, explains Elinar.
All these tasks Elinar undertakes with the help of her two daughters-in-law. “They are so young - I can’t put much on their shoulders; they also need to take care of their children, so again, the whole work is on my shoulders”, she continues.
The hardest thing for her and her daughters-in-law is to bring water from the spring in the centre of the village, and when it is frozen during the winter, then from the high mountains.
“We are a big family, with three small children; water is something you need to have every day”, she says .
“Every other day, we go to the spring, sometimes with the donkey, but pretty often without it, we carry the water, be it summer or winter”, explains Termine Eghiazaryan, 22, the younger daughter-in-law in the family.
“And when there is no one in the house to leave the children with, we take them with us, in the cold winter to the centre of the village, three small children, and two buckets for each of us”, adds Karine Papeyan, 27, the elder daughter-in-law.
Gayane Gevorgyan, 26, lives in Tsaghkashen Village with her two young children.
“We live at the far end of the village and it is really hard for me to reach the centre and carry the water from there. I usually bring water from the mountain stream”, says Gayane.
Every day Gayane takes her two children Tamara, 4, and Tatul, 3, and a bucket or two, and walks to the stream. In winter it is hard for her, since she needs to break the ice on the surface of the stream, make a large whole with a stone for the bucket and in front of her already frozen children fill it with icy water, then with her young son in one hand and a bucket full of water in the other, walk back home.
“I have two small children and I need to wash their clothes pretty often; you know as it is with two restless children”, says Gayane.
Gayane lives on a poverty allowance. She is eager to do any job, but as there is no kindergarten or childcare in the whole village, she can’t leave her two small children in the house all alone.
Gayane and her two children live in a small one-room house at the far end of the village. Their tiny house stands all by itself with grey rocks in the back and pasture in front.
“I can’t afford to have a number of clothes for my children, especially warm winter clothes, which are much more expensive, but I also do not want my children to wear dirty clothes”, says Gayane, who has to carry up to 6 buckets of water from the spring for one load of washing.
I can’t afford to have a number of clothes for my children, especially warm winter clothes, which are much more expensive Tsaghkashen Village is part of World Vision Armenia’s Gavar Area Development Programme supported by World Vision Taiwan. The children of both Makaryan and Gevorgyan families are included in the World Vision Child Sponsorship Programme.
The programme provided the children with warm clothing and stationary for school, while their families are to receive a cow as part of the programme to provide them with much needed dairy produce to meet their nutritional needs
Gavar ADP staff is also exploring the possibility of supporting the village through the rehabilitation of a water system.
Three families, consisting of ten people live in the Makaryans’ two-room house in Tsaghkashen Village.
Elinar, 47, is a mother of three and grandmother of another three. Elinar cares for each member of her large family every day, every hour.
We are a big family, with three small children; water is something you need to have every day Her husband and three sons have been migrating to Russia every year from April to October, and sometimes for the entire year, in search of seasonal work. Elinar runs the house, cultivates the land and takes care of the animals.
“The period when they leave is the hardest; you need to start the cultivation of the land, you need to take the animals to the pastures, then in the times of the harvest you need to gather the harvest all by yourself, and then store it properly for the winter”, explains Elinar.
All these tasks Elinar undertakes with the help of her two daughters-in-law. “They are so young - I can’t put much on their shoulders; they also need to take care of their children, so again, the whole work is on my shoulders”, she continues.
The hardest thing for her and her daughters-in-law is to bring water from the spring in the centre of the village, and when it is frozen during the winter, then from the high mountains.
“We are a big family, with three small children; water is something you need to have every day”, she says .
“Every other day, we go to the spring, sometimes with the donkey, but pretty often without it, we carry the water, be it summer or winter”, explains Termine Eghiazaryan, 22, the younger daughter-in-law in the family.
“And when there is no one in the house to leave the children with, we take them with us, in the cold winter to the centre of the village, three small children, and two buckets for each of us”, adds Karine Papeyan, 27, the elder daughter-in-law.
Gayane Gevorgyan, 26, lives in Tsaghkashen Village with her two young children.
“We live at the far end of the village and it is really hard for me to reach the centre and carry the water from there. I usually bring water from the mountain stream”, says Gayane.
Every day Gayane takes her two children Tamara, 4, and Tatul, 3, and a bucket or two, and walks to the stream. In winter it is hard for her, since she needs to break the ice on the surface of the stream, make a large whole with a stone for the bucket and in front of her already frozen children fill it with icy water, then with her young son in one hand and a bucket full of water in the other, walk back home.
“I have two small children and I need to wash their clothes pretty often; you know as it is with two restless children”, says Gayane.
Gayane lives on a poverty allowance. She is eager to do any job, but as there is no kindergarten or childcare in the whole village, she can’t leave her two small children in the house all alone.
Gayane and her two children live in a small one-room house at the far end of the village. Their tiny house stands all by itself with grey rocks in the back and pasture in front.
“I can’t afford to have a number of clothes for my children, especially warm winter clothes, which are much more expensive, but I also do not want my children to wear dirty clothes”, says Gayane, who has to carry up to 6 buckets of water from the spring for one load of washing.
I can’t afford to have a number of clothes for my children, especially warm winter clothes, which are much more expensive Tsaghkashen Village is part of World Vision Armenia’s Gavar Area Development Programme supported by World Vision Taiwan. The children of both Makaryan and Gevorgyan families are included in the World Vision Child Sponsorship Programme.
The programme provided the children with warm clothing and stationary for school, while their families are to receive a cow as part of the programme to provide them with much needed dairy produce to meet their nutritional needs
Gavar ADP staff is also exploring the possibility of supporting the village through the rehabilitation of a water system.
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