Last week, two more children arrived at FAR’s Children’s Support Foundation Center (CSFC) in Yerevan. Tragically, their mother Armine* recently attempted suicide. Just 25 years old, she was trying to raise both of her sons on her own. Their father is said to have fled to Russia.
Armine was working in a Yerevan factory and living in its dormitory when she was diagnosed with kidney problems and hospitalized. Her colleagues raised money to pay for her treatment, and she had her kids placed in a kindergarten while they stayed with neighbors. Upon her release from the hospital, Armine found out that she could not afford to pay the 9,000 AMD monthly bills for each of her children. Caught in a deepening and severe depression, Armine lost hope that she would be able to continue to care for her family in the future. She then swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills.
“I took pills because I didn’t want to throw myself off of my balcony. I was afraid that people would photograph my lifeless body below,” she said, through her tears. “My children are my happiness. I don’t want them to be placed in orphanages. They are my life.”
“For some, a suicide attempt is a way to express deep emotional pain,” a CSFC social worker said. “They cannot say how they feel, so for them attempting suicide seems like the only way they can get their message across.”
Armine is now recovering in the hospital while her children are safely living at the center until the family can be reunited. FAR will also do its best to assist this family in their recovery.
*Names have been kept confidential to protect identity.