Edik Baghdasarian (Hetq Online), Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

Hetq Online has just published an update on the situation of Yerevan’s homeless this winter in English and Armenian. This in itself is interesting because after last year’s work on the problem, Edik Baghdasarian and I were only planning to do a short update given that the Ministry of Social Security had promised to open a shelter and had even taken money off an anonymous Diasporan donor to do so.

Half an hour later we were standing in the building earmarked to serve as a shelter and the donor arranged for construction workers to start repairs the very next day. Now, as a result, there are three large rooms that are ready for the first homeless beneficiaries.

However, it was only when the repairs were completed that the Minister of Labor and Social Security Aghvan Vardanyan admitted that it was not possible to move any homeless people to the shelter because he lacked the financial means to employ any staff.

The Ministry instead applied to the Mission Armenia NGO to provide temporary refuge for some of the homeless until May.

Thanks to the articles published last week on Hetq Online, and which were also reproduced in the traditional Armenian press, the Ministry of Social Services has finally opened up its homeless shelter, but is unwilling to transport anyone found living on the streets to the location just outside of Yerevan. Usually, homeless shelters are easily accessible, but we’re forgetting that this is Armenia.

In fact, despite record economic growth and a billion dollar budget, the Minister of Social Security Aghvan Vartanian even asked Edik for the money (less than $5) to buy petrol. Instead, a priest managed to borrow a van and in lieu of the Government giving enough of a damn to prevent people dying on the streets this winter, it was once again up to journalists to do their job for them. Literally.

Yesterday, on 22 January 2006, journalists from Hetq Online and Yerkir Media TV, as well as the head of the “Gandzasar” Theological Center and “Vem” radio station, Father Mesrop Aramyan, took six people to a shelter for the homeless. Three rooms in the new shelter, situated in the Fourth Village on the outskirts of Yerevan, had been refurbished by an anonymous Diasporan donor after the Government allocated the building for this purpose.

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Thanks to this donor, it became possible to finally move the homeless. However, four refused to be taken to the Center as they didn’t believe the assurances given that they would be able to come and go as they wished. Even so, it was somewhat ironic that not one representative or worker from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security took part in this process. Unfortunately, if the Ministry continues with the same approach, this project will fail.

Well, anyway, the shelter is finally open, but only because of the articles published in Hetq Online and the anonymous Diasporan donor threatening to come to Armenia in order to hold a press conference. In a private letter, the donor said that if the shelter was not to be opened, the deaths of anyone on the streets of Yerevan this winter would be directly attributable to the incompetence of the Minister of Social Security.

Irina Hovannisian (Yerkir Media TV) interviews Vika, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

Meanwhile, Yerkir Media TV’s Irina Hovannisian writes for Hetq Online about Hrant, a refugee from Baku and a former fighter during the Karabakh conflict who is now homeless in Yerevan. I blogged about our adventure getting Hrant admitted into hospital last week, but unfortunately, I have to report that he didn’t last a day. Thankfully, unlike last year, this homeless person did not die. He was, however, kicked out of hospital.

Hrant has been on the streets for 6 or 7 years already and hasn’t got a home. He hasn’t had one since 1988 when he left Baku for Armenia. Instead, he lived with his wife and child at the home of a relative in Kapan. Then divorce and the war decided his fate. “How do you live?” I ask. “Like this, I come to drink tea and some kids from the building bring me bread and other food.”

The Kids call him “dyad”(uncle).

“He is the best among the homeless of this area,” says one of the local children who eventually escorted Hrant to the door of the waiting ambulance. “Every morning he washes with spring water and changes his clothes. Every day we come and talk to him because he tells us interesting things about the war,” the kids of the yard describe Hrant.

The freedom fighter was taken to the Erebouni Medical Center where the doctors said that apart from his legs he has problems with his heart. However, the test with requires special equipment is so expensive so in Hrant’s case, they can’t do it unless a donor can be found. The hospital can’t also supply patients with food while they are in hospital and assistance is also needed for that.

Zarchka, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

Hetq also republishes a personal account by Zara Gevorkyan — otherwise known as Zarchka — originally written for this blog. After Zara read some of the articles by Hetq, she was moved enough to involve students volunteering for the Service for Peace NGO in an action to feed and clothe some of the homeless we had encountered. Way to go Zarchka.

It cost me nothing to ask my friends, who were mainly volunteers with the Youth NGO Service for Peace to gather the necessary items. They were excited and got to work immediately. Hovik Barseghyan, the Chairman of the NGO, suggested that we also provide them with food, and we became even more inspired and engaged in collecting everything after watching the documentary produced by Yerkir Media and Edik Baghdasaryan.

Every friend, neighbor, and relative was told about this action. Some people thought we were doing a good job, while others simply thought that what we’d collect would only end up in the fire or being sold. Kind of jokingly I said that even that would be of some use as it would keep them warm although not in the way the were meant to. It was a test that all of us should pass, and I think that we managed to do that.

Meanwhile, Edik and I took a young psychologist to visit with some of the homeless living near the central train station in downtown Yerevan. Unfortunately, some still don’t believe that they will retain their freedom if they agree to be transported there. One homeless person even thought we were lying and would take him to prison instead.

Gohar, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

Regardless, there is an urgent need for an NGO or international organization to step in and offer psychiatric help to the homeless in Yerevan — both on the streets and in the shelter. The government still says that it is unable to pay for such services, and has instead allocated staff at a nearby local Old Age Person’s home to work at the shelter. However, they are ill-equipped and lack the necessary skills to do so.

Gohar, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

I joked today with Edik that he should consider switching careers given that a multitude of NGOs and international organizations which receive millions of dollars a year in funding have so far failed to show an interest in preventing the deaths of dozens on the streets of Yerevan. Given that the Minister himself seems to be doing nothing, I even joked that Edik should be put in that position himself.

Of course, given the high level of corruption, nepotism and incompetence in government, Edik said he wouldn’t ever touch any government position. Instead, it is unfortunate that the work of the government instead falls upon our shoulders while they continue to celebrate the New Year in expensive restaurants with money they theoretically shouldn’t have.

Edik Baghdasarian (Hetq Online), Fourth Village, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

One interesting thing we did discover today, however, was that a film crew from Public Television H1 had been to visit some of the homeless people we identified. They apparently visited this morning and told Vika and a few others that the Mission Armenia NGO would be opening a shelter in the Erebuni district of the capital. However, Mission Armenia says that the Ministry has now told them not to.

Regardless, after Hetq Online’s articles, which have also been republished in the Aravot and 168 zham newspapers, as well as coverage by the Yerkir Media and Shoghakat TV, it will be interesting to see what spin the state-controlled H1 puts on the wonderful work the Ministry of Social Security and Labor is doing (or isn’t, as the case may be).

Hrant, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

Sasha, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online