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6 SQUARE METERS AND A BED FOR FIVE
A1+
[01:14 pm] 12 February, 2007
For the last 18 years 52-year-old Mrs. Lena and the other five members
of her family have lived in a 6-square-meter room of a van which is
located opposite the Gyumri municipality. The only bed in the room
shelters Mrs. Lena, her two daughters and the three underage grandkids
by turn.
Mrs. Lena tells that they often visit their relatives and leave the
kids there to spend the night. "My grandchildren often catch cold
because of the cold winter. The youngest has serious lung problems".
Mrs. Lena is handicapped. She provides the family by means of her own
"business", retail trade. He pays the electricity and other expensed
by the pension, 12 000 AMD, and buys food for the children with the
money she earns, 500-1000 AMD daily. She tells that the husbands of her
daughters left for abroad in order to earn money and never returned.
"The earthquake changed our lives. We had a three-room flat in
Triangle district. The building was leveled to earth. We were given
a van which caught fire. Then we found this nest", Mrs. Lena tells.
No other family has lived in this communal flat for a long time. The
kitchen and bathroom are covered with ice. The family has to fetch
water from the nearby district. Daughter of Mrs. Lena Ano tells that
it is very dangerous to sleep in the room as the wooden walls are
rotten and they can collapse every minute.
"One day that will probably happen", Ano says. She also says that
the municipality had promised them fuel for the winter, but nothing
has ever been sent to them.
Mrs. Lena's family is one of 4000 families left homeless after the
catastrophe. The municipality offers them rented houses in return
for the price of the house they lost, but Mrs. Lena does not agree.
"Suppose we taken the rented house, and the money is over in a
day. What shall we do? No at least we hope that we will get a flat
one day", Mrs. Lena says.
Until then, she buys food and medicine with the money she earns every
day, waiting for "better times".
A1+
[01:14 pm] 12 February, 2007
For the last 18 years 52-year-old Mrs. Lena and the other five members
of her family have lived in a 6-square-meter room of a van which is
located opposite the Gyumri municipality. The only bed in the room
shelters Mrs. Lena, her two daughters and the three underage grandkids
by turn.
Mrs. Lena tells that they often visit their relatives and leave the
kids there to spend the night. "My grandchildren often catch cold
because of the cold winter. The youngest has serious lung problems".
Mrs. Lena is handicapped. She provides the family by means of her own
"business", retail trade. He pays the electricity and other expensed
by the pension, 12 000 AMD, and buys food for the children with the
money she earns, 500-1000 AMD daily. She tells that the husbands of her
daughters left for abroad in order to earn money and never returned.
"The earthquake changed our lives. We had a three-room flat in
Triangle district. The building was leveled to earth. We were given
a van which caught fire. Then we found this nest", Mrs. Lena tells.
No other family has lived in this communal flat for a long time. The
kitchen and bathroom are covered with ice. The family has to fetch
water from the nearby district. Daughter of Mrs. Lena Ano tells that
it is very dangerous to sleep in the room as the wooden walls are
rotten and they can collapse every minute.
"One day that will probably happen", Ano says. She also says that
the municipality had promised them fuel for the winter, but nothing
has ever been sent to them.
Mrs. Lena's family is one of 4000 families left homeless after the
catastrophe. The municipality offers them rented houses in return
for the price of the house they lost, but Mrs. Lena does not agree.
"Suppose we taken the rented house, and the money is over in a
day. What shall we do? No at least we hope that we will get a flat
one day", Mrs. Lena says.
Until then, she buys food and medicine with the money she earns every
day, waiting for "better times".