Babayan’s minor children have not eaten anything all day today, there is not even any bread in the house. The family lives in extreme poverty.
“They haven’t eaten anything since this morning. There is no food, the shops don’t give them on credit: they give within limits of 20,000 drams (approximately $50), and I have already taken that to give to the allowance. As of this moment, they haven’t eaten anything, we don’t even have bread,” said the children’s mother, Voski Babayan.
The family is large, consisting of 12 people, eight of which are young children. The children are 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 19 years old, the youngest is 3 months old, the eldest daughter of the Babayans is married. There is no food even for the youngest at home. “The baby eats milk powder, but I don’t have money to buy it. We barely make the ends somehow,” said the mother, noting that the newborn also has health problems. “There is a 6-millimeter hole in the heart. We have to take the baby for examination.”
Due to social problems, the Babayan children are deprived of the opportunity to attend kindergarten, because the family cannot pay the fee, and other children go to school with clothes and shoes given by neighbors and friends.
The only means of income for the family is the Benefit for disadvantaged families, which is not enough even for food. The father of the family does not have a stable job; he resigned from it due to health problems. “He got worse at work, he was sent home several times, and after that he is unable to work. My son was in captivity, he returned but is unable to work.”
The eldest son of the Babayans was captured during the combat operations in Syunik in November 2021, he returned to his homeland in February 2022 with a number of health problems. After returning to Armenia, he was again drafted into the army, where his health problems worsened. He was discharged early from the service after the alarms by the NGO “Journalists for Human Rights”.
He now collects and sells glass bottles and other objects with his father.
The Babayans also did not have a house. Recently, with the support of charitable organizations, they bought a house in Lukashin village of Armavir region, and they have to pay part of the money in the next 20 years. Until now, they were 11 people living in one room of a dormitory. This new house needs renovation and furnishing: it has only four walls and a roof, nothing else.
The Babayans need the help of benefactors and kindhearted people.
Narek Kirakosyan