Family in border village gets new house to replace shelled ruins

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Parsyan family from the border village of Nerkin Karmiraghbyur, Tavush region, lived with the problem of not being able to build a decent home for 30 years. The hardships are now finally in the past; the family are now raising grandchildren who live in a completely different condition thanks to the housing project by Viva-MTS and the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia.

It's with bitterness that the Parsyans remember the years they have lived. During the years of the first Artsakh liberation war, the enemy projectile fell into the bedroom from the roof, and that changed the life of the family entirely.

''There were shelling in the direction of the village. We were in the field next to the neighboring village. We ran away and hid. In the meantime, we learned that there were shootings in the direction of our houses. When the shelling stopped, we came and saw our house was hit by a projectile that had fallen into the house through the roof. We moved to the mountains; my children grew up in the mountains,'' Hasmik Ghevondyan, the homeowner who has lived with the cherished dream for many years, recalls.

Artak, 32, remembers just a ruined ceiling and the surviving first floor of his childhood home. The memories of youth are not bright either – futile attempts of rebuilding the shelled house and a dream interrupted twice; both times due to the war.

''Both times the reason was the war; the first time we tried to build the house, the July war broke out. The second time it was the 44-day war. We couldn't have built all these on our own,'' said the family son, Artak Parsyan.

The house of the Parsyan family is now completed. The living room is now moved to where the bedroom was. The problem of lighting in the bedroom has been solved so that there are no windows facing the border. Homeowners realize that this may not play a significant role in the face of a real danger, but caution is vital.

Making the native village live is important for Artak. The young man is sure that the fellow villagers live with the same spirit giving importance to peace.

The outcome of the support of partner organizations, Viva-MTS and the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia, is significant in Tavush region; only through the last year of partnership, 19 families benefitted, while in 10 years 86 families have benefitted. The Parsyans are among these families. Owing to this partnership, a serious problem has been solved for around 400 families in all regions of Armenia.