Earlier this year, as our FAR Armenia members assisted many of those displaced by the Artsakh War, we saw firsthand the challenges that come with displacement. So many we met lacked the ability to find stable shelter or find their grounding in a new place.
This sparked the launch of our new project, Support for Artsakh’s Displaced, which aims to help resettle some of the most vulnerable of the war’s victims through shelter and housing solutions, emergency relief and cash assistance, economic empowerment, and healthcare services. The project targets those living in the Sisian Region of Armenia’s Syunik Province, where 140 families have remained following the November 9th ceasefire and their exodus from Artsakh and were forced to cope with the hardships of displacement and integration.
“We found that many of the families lacked basic living standards. They had fled their homes to save the lives of their kids and they were now facing social, cultural, and integration challenges in this new reality,” said Project Coordinator Mane Khachatryan. “It is important to develop options for affordable housing.”
In one of the first steps of the project, FAR purchased five houses in Sisian,which were officially “given” to five extremely vulnerable families (a total of 44 people) during a ceremony on October 8th.
We at FAR also funded renovations, thus creating clean and comfortable living environments for these families.
“This is the house of my dreams,” said Anna Mkrtumyan, a mother of six who had previously lived with her children and husband in a small house in Artsakh without running water or electricity. “It was hard to raise ourchildren there. We received a new house from the state, but could only live there for a year and a half. The war took it all.”
Now that they are resettled Anna said that her family has found a renewed strength. “We only want to live in peace,” she said. “So now we can overcome any challenge.”