Poverty creates an unsafe environment for children
Poverty is a social ill that places more than mere financial burden on Armenian families; it creates an unsafe environment for their children. It was poverty that led to the Yeranosyan family’s use of a wood-burning stove in their home, which recently caused a fire that destroyed their house and traumatized their children, not to mention burnt the face of one of their three sons.“Poverty often compels families to meet their basic needs in ways that may not be the most safe, such as wood-burning fires in the home. These kinds of activities can put their children in significant danger. Therefore, we try not only to assist families to improve their poor living conditions, but also to help them create a safe environment for their children,” says Kristine Mikhailidi, World Vision Armenia sector operations manager. World Vision is assisting the Yeranosyans to recover from the past trauma and eliminate its recurrence in the future.
“The fire had spread all over the house. All I could do was stand and watch my home burn down,” remembers Azniv Yeranosyan, 33. She lives with her husband, Marzpet, 36; their three children Hovhannes, 13, Karen, 10, and Movses, 8; and her husband’s parents Andranik, 71, and Nina, 68, in the Sheram District of Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia.
The next minute I saw that Movses’ face had been burned by the fire that surrounded us. It was spreading into the dining room and the bedrooms upstairs.
The fire started one frigid winter morning last January when Azniv and Marzpet were away at work. Karen and Movses stayed at home alone while their grandparents stepped out to collect their pension at the community hall. Hovhannes was attending a piano class.
“The fire in the stove was dying, so we decided to add some oil to it in order to stay warm until our grandparents returned,” remembers Karen. But when Movses tried to add oil to the handmade stove, some of it spilt on the wooden floor and started to burn. The boys got scared as they watched the fire quickly expand over the wooden floor of the house.
“The next minute I saw that Movses’ face had been burned by the fire that surrounded us. It was spreading into the dining room and the bedrooms upstairs,” recollects Karen. Aware that the situation was growing more dangerous by the minute, he grabbed his younger brother by the hand and ran out of the house to get his mother.
Azniv works as a nurse at Sheram Community Child Centre, established by World Vision Armenia. The Child Centre is close to the house where Yeranosyan family lives, so it took the boys only a minute to run to their mother and call for help. Seeing the horror in Karen’s eyes and the burns on Movses’ face, Azniv understood that something terrible had happened.
She rushed home, where neighbors responded to her desperate cries for help and did their best to rescue what remained of her family’s house. The fire brigade was called immediately, but by the time it arrived some 40 minutes later, the neighbors had already put out the fire.
After the tragedy the Yeranosyan family spent their days searching for salvageable items in the debris and cleaning what remained of the house, wiping smoke from the walls and the furniture that still stood. They spent their nights at their relatives’ houses.
The winter is very harsh. We cannot afford heating the house with gas so we heat it with wood.
“Everything was burnt to ashes, from our clothes and the children’s textbooks to our kitchen items and furniture,” says Azniv.
“Their books and copybooks became unusable. Some were burnt altogether, and the children could not go to school,” says Azniv.
World Vision immediately provided the family with school supplies and warm clothing for the children, and construction materials to start the renovation of the Yeranosyan’s house.
“The windows were all broken. Resetting them was crucial for keeping warm, especially during the winter. Otherwise we could not stay in the house for an hour, much less overnight,” says Marzpet.
The winters in Gyumri City are especially harsh, with the temperature as low as -30 °C. This year winter was even more ruthless, with the temperature dropping down to -35 °C. The Sheram District is situated to the north of Gyumri City in a high mountainous area where severe winds and snowfalls are common. When the wind increases, snow beats fiercely against the windows and doors of the houses and covers the roads.
“The winter is very harsh. We cannot afford heating the house with gas so we heat it with wood,” says Andranik.
Heating the house with a wood-burning fire is cheaper than gas since families pay very little for wood; and sometimes they gather tree branches from surrounding areas.
At first Azniv was afraid for the well being of her children. “The fire was a horrible shock for my boys. For the first three days, my younger son Movses wouldn’t utter a word. I was afraid the tragedy traumatized him,” says Azniv.
The fire was a horrible shock for my boys. For the first three days, my younger son Movses wouldn’t utter a word. I was afraid the tragedy traumatized him.
Fortunately, a psychologist from Sheram Community Child Centre started to work with Movses and his brother Karen to overcome the horror of the tragedy and their sense of responsibility and guilt for the devastating event.
Movses, Karen and Hovhannes are World Vision sponsored children. As part of the sponsorship programme, the children receive annul health check-ups organized by World Vision Armenia. They have also participated in holiday celebrations and received holiday gifts. The boys attend Sheram School, the only school in the District, which was constructed by World Vision Armenia.
The sponsorship programme has benefited Gyumri through the construction of schools, playgrounds and sport grounds, as well as through the contribution of fuel to schools in order to heat the classrooms in wintertime.
Three World Vision supported child centres operating in Gyumri (one in Sheram District) provide professional services to children with special needs and in especially difficult circumstances. At the centres a psychologist, art and speech therapists, and a special educator offer treatment services to the children, while a lawyer and a social worker offer services the children’s parents.
“The fire had spread all over the house. All I could do was stand and watch my home burn down,” remembers Azniv Yeranosyan, 33. She lives with her husband, Marzpet, 36; their three children Hovhannes, 13, Karen, 10, and Movses, 8; and her husband’s parents Andranik, 71, and Nina, 68, in the Sheram District of Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia.
The next minute I saw that Movses’ face had been burned by the fire that surrounded us. It was spreading into the dining room and the bedrooms upstairs.
The fire started one frigid winter morning last January when Azniv and Marzpet were away at work. Karen and Movses stayed at home alone while their grandparents stepped out to collect their pension at the community hall. Hovhannes was attending a piano class.
“The fire in the stove was dying, so we decided to add some oil to it in order to stay warm until our grandparents returned,” remembers Karen. But when Movses tried to add oil to the handmade stove, some of it spilt on the wooden floor and started to burn. The boys got scared as they watched the fire quickly expand over the wooden floor of the house.
“The next minute I saw that Movses’ face had been burned by the fire that surrounded us. It was spreading into the dining room and the bedrooms upstairs,” recollects Karen. Aware that the situation was growing more dangerous by the minute, he grabbed his younger brother by the hand and ran out of the house to get his mother.
Azniv works as a nurse at Sheram Community Child Centre, established by World Vision Armenia. The Child Centre is close to the house where Yeranosyan family lives, so it took the boys only a minute to run to their mother and call for help. Seeing the horror in Karen’s eyes and the burns on Movses’ face, Azniv understood that something terrible had happened.
She rushed home, where neighbors responded to her desperate cries for help and did their best to rescue what remained of her family’s house. The fire brigade was called immediately, but by the time it arrived some 40 minutes later, the neighbors had already put out the fire.
After the tragedy the Yeranosyan family spent their days searching for salvageable items in the debris and cleaning what remained of the house, wiping smoke from the walls and the furniture that still stood. They spent their nights at their relatives’ houses.
The winter is very harsh. We cannot afford heating the house with gas so we heat it with wood.
“Everything was burnt to ashes, from our clothes and the children’s textbooks to our kitchen items and furniture,” says Azniv.
“Their books and copybooks became unusable. Some were burnt altogether, and the children could not go to school,” says Azniv.
World Vision immediately provided the family with school supplies and warm clothing for the children, and construction materials to start the renovation of the Yeranosyan’s house.
“The windows were all broken. Resetting them was crucial for keeping warm, especially during the winter. Otherwise we could not stay in the house for an hour, much less overnight,” says Marzpet.
The winters in Gyumri City are especially harsh, with the temperature as low as -30 °C. This year winter was even more ruthless, with the temperature dropping down to -35 °C. The Sheram District is situated to the north of Gyumri City in a high mountainous area where severe winds and snowfalls are common. When the wind increases, snow beats fiercely against the windows and doors of the houses and covers the roads.
“The winter is very harsh. We cannot afford heating the house with gas so we heat it with wood,” says Andranik.
Heating the house with a wood-burning fire is cheaper than gas since families pay very little for wood; and sometimes they gather tree branches from surrounding areas.
At first Azniv was afraid for the well being of her children. “The fire was a horrible shock for my boys. For the first three days, my younger son Movses wouldn’t utter a word. I was afraid the tragedy traumatized him,” says Azniv.
The fire was a horrible shock for my boys. For the first three days, my younger son Movses wouldn’t utter a word. I was afraid the tragedy traumatized him.
Fortunately, a psychologist from Sheram Community Child Centre started to work with Movses and his brother Karen to overcome the horror of the tragedy and their sense of responsibility and guilt for the devastating event.
Movses, Karen and Hovhannes are World Vision sponsored children. As part of the sponsorship programme, the children receive annul health check-ups organized by World Vision Armenia. They have also participated in holiday celebrations and received holiday gifts. The boys attend Sheram School, the only school in the District, which was constructed by World Vision Armenia.
The sponsorship programme has benefited Gyumri through the construction of schools, playgrounds and sport grounds, as well as through the contribution of fuel to schools in order to heat the classrooms in wintertime.
Three World Vision supported child centres operating in Gyumri (one in Sheram District) provide professional services to children with special needs and in especially difficult circumstances. At the centres a psychologist, art and speech therapists, and a special educator offer treatment services to the children, while a lawyer and a social worker offer services the children’s parents.
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