Gift catalog cow turns dreaded new school year to time of anticipation
Why? Their mother, Haykavard Harutyunyan, 36, explains that her family of six children, husband and mother-in-law have all had to survive on a monthly poverty allowance of 61,000 AMD (US$160) and a small pension for the grandmother.
“We didn’t like September; we were scared of the beginning of the lessons”, says Arthur, 10, one of the twin brothers of the family, while trying to light a small, rusty, porous oven.
Neither me, nor my brother, nor our sisters ever had normal shoes, normal clothing, normal writing materials, normal textbooks to attend school “Neither me, nor my brother, nor our sisters ever had normal shoes, normal clothing, normal writing materials, normal textbooks to attend school. Everything was a problem for us. Because of our shabby shoes and worn out clothing we were often so ashamed of our appearance”, he adds.
“Life is really tough here”, explains his father, Levon Harutyunyan, 48. “I couldn’t look in the eyes of my already teenage daughters when year after year they had to wear the same old outfits to go to school”.
His wife adds, “Though my husband used to do some odd jobs, and we had a cow we could hardly get by. The dairy food received from our single cow was never enough for all of my six children. Often I had to escape the hungry glances of my elder daughters and twin sons when I had to feed my still crawling Arsen with our scarce dairy food”.
Often I had to escape the hungry glances of my elder daughters and twin sons when I had to feed my still crawling Arsen with our scarce dairy food
Along with some 400 households of the village the Harutyunyans have to cope with the harsh conditions and realities of this impoverished, cross-bordering area.
“Though there is a cease-fire with neighbouring Azerbaijan, sometimes exchange of fire takes place in this area, and cattle-breeding and raising is a risky business here. We also have a very harsh climate: floods, hails, freezing and not arable lands don’t allow us to meet our needs through cultivation or gardening”, says Levon.
Intervention has been desperately needed amongst the most vulnerable families in the village, which is why World Vision provided the Harutyunyan family, along with ten other families, a dairy cow in August 2009, through its Gift Catalog in the United States
Several months later the family has another reason to rejoice: their Gift Catalog cow gave birth to a healthy calf.
“This year my parents have promised to sell the calf in September in order to buy clothing, shoes, textbooks and other necessary items for all of us. Finally we too can attend school normally, without shame and endless problems”, says Artur’s twin brother Tatul, while their sisters, Diana 12, Tehmine 13 and Tina 15 are busy frying potatoes on the burnt stove.
The family will receive about 60,000AMD (up to US$160) with the sale of the calf.
“We deeply regret that we have to sell the calf in September but the family, my children are fed up with this constant scarcity and we are happy that thanks to this project we are finally solving the clothing, stationary and textbook problems of all of my children! God bless, we can breathe easier for at least a year”.
Twin brothers, Artur and Tatul warmly look at their little two-year-old brother Arsen drinking a cup of fresh milk, “Now that we already have two cows and a calf each of us has enough dairy food; it is not like before when often our mother had to feed only our youngest brother Arsen because we didn’t have enough milk”.
Sometimes we even manage to share some of our milk with the needy children of our neighbours “Sometimes we even manage to share some of our milk with the needy children of our neighbours”, says Levon Harutyunyan adding, “yes, don’t be surprised! How is that World Vision could assist us and we can’t do the same to our neighbours?”
Along with the Economic Development/Gift Catalog World Vision Armenia is implementing various other programmes in this region.
Tavush Area Development Programme (ADP) manager Grigor Choginyan clarifies, “The children of this area benefit from a number of activities in this region: we have built a water reservoir, first-aid posts, playgrounds, garbage dumps and renovated pipe-lines. The cow-breeding project is a part of the sustained agriculture programme to be implemented. Some 100 cows have been given to the households during the last year. We are also planning to conduct special training for our beneficiaries on animal-breeding related issues”.
“We didn’t like September; we were scared of the beginning of the lessons”, says Arthur, 10, one of the twin brothers of the family, while trying to light a small, rusty, porous oven.
Neither me, nor my brother, nor our sisters ever had normal shoes, normal clothing, normal writing materials, normal textbooks to attend school “Neither me, nor my brother, nor our sisters ever had normal shoes, normal clothing, normal writing materials, normal textbooks to attend school. Everything was a problem for us. Because of our shabby shoes and worn out clothing we were often so ashamed of our appearance”, he adds.
“Life is really tough here”, explains his father, Levon Harutyunyan, 48. “I couldn’t look in the eyes of my already teenage daughters when year after year they had to wear the same old outfits to go to school”.
His wife adds, “Though my husband used to do some odd jobs, and we had a cow we could hardly get by. The dairy food received from our single cow was never enough for all of my six children. Often I had to escape the hungry glances of my elder daughters and twin sons when I had to feed my still crawling Arsen with our scarce dairy food”.
Often I had to escape the hungry glances of my elder daughters and twin sons when I had to feed my still crawling Arsen with our scarce dairy food
Along with some 400 households of the village the Harutyunyans have to cope with the harsh conditions and realities of this impoverished, cross-bordering area.
“Though there is a cease-fire with neighbouring Azerbaijan, sometimes exchange of fire takes place in this area, and cattle-breeding and raising is a risky business here. We also have a very harsh climate: floods, hails, freezing and not arable lands don’t allow us to meet our needs through cultivation or gardening”, says Levon.
Intervention has been desperately needed amongst the most vulnerable families in the village, which is why World Vision provided the Harutyunyan family, along with ten other families, a dairy cow in August 2009, through its Gift Catalog in the United States
Several months later the family has another reason to rejoice: their Gift Catalog cow gave birth to a healthy calf.
“This year my parents have promised to sell the calf in September in order to buy clothing, shoes, textbooks and other necessary items for all of us. Finally we too can attend school normally, without shame and endless problems”, says Artur’s twin brother Tatul, while their sisters, Diana 12, Tehmine 13 and Tina 15 are busy frying potatoes on the burnt stove.
The family will receive about 60,000AMD (up to US$160) with the sale of the calf.
“We deeply regret that we have to sell the calf in September but the family, my children are fed up with this constant scarcity and we are happy that thanks to this project we are finally solving the clothing, stationary and textbook problems of all of my children! God bless, we can breathe easier for at least a year”.
Twin brothers, Artur and Tatul warmly look at their little two-year-old brother Arsen drinking a cup of fresh milk, “Now that we already have two cows and a calf each of us has enough dairy food; it is not like before when often our mother had to feed only our youngest brother Arsen because we didn’t have enough milk”.
Sometimes we even manage to share some of our milk with the needy children of our neighbours “Sometimes we even manage to share some of our milk with the needy children of our neighbours”, says Levon Harutyunyan adding, “yes, don’t be surprised! How is that World Vision could assist us and we can’t do the same to our neighbours?”
Along with the Economic Development/Gift Catalog World Vision Armenia is implementing various other programmes in this region.
Tavush Area Development Programme (ADP) manager Grigor Choginyan clarifies, “The children of this area benefit from a number of activities in this region: we have built a water reservoir, first-aid posts, playgrounds, garbage dumps and renovated pipe-lines. The cow-breeding project is a part of the sustained agriculture programme to be implemented. Some 100 cows have been given to the households during the last year. We are also planning to conduct special training for our beneficiaries on animal-breeding related issues”.
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