A few days after the War, 37-year-old Elina Gasparyan moved to Gyumri with her three minor children from the village of Saralanj in Hadrut region, Artsakh.

”On September 27, waking up in the morning, we heard a strange noise, then explosions. We had not heard such noise even during the Four-Day War, then we learned that it was an attack by Azerbaijan”– Elina tells. ”We had to leave our home and come to Armenia for the safety of our children, as it was a completely different war, the hostile equipment was powerful, the mines were falling very close to our house. Women, the elderly and children were running away from all the villages of Hadrut region. We were so scared that we did not even take warm clothes. At first, we went to Stepanakert, but there also were rocket attacks and shootings, so we moved to Armenia”.

As there were no free shelters in Yerevan, the family was offered to move to Gyumri. ”We have no relatives here. So, we settled in a charitable guest house for about 3 months, then we had to find a new place to live. It was a hopeless situation”.

Two of Elina’s children, 11-year-old Veronica and 9-year-old Milena, went to a public school, and the eldest, 15-year-old Narek, started to attend a
physics and mathematics specialized school in Gyumri. Soon he was loved by the teachers so much, that they decided to help Narek’s family in finding an apartment nearby. ”The teacher of my son told me about Armenian Caritas and advised to apply for the support. The organization assisted us giving the rent payment for 3 months and not only that”. The rent payment provided by Armenian Caritas is enough to rent a bright and warm apartment with all amenities near the schools of my children.

Within ‘‘Support of evacuated families from Nagorno-Karabakh’’ project this family also received a voucher for household items as well as food and hygiene packages. ”I did not expect to get a quick reply from them. To my great surprise, they proceeded my application, so we got the required support based on our needs. Many things including the future of my son mostly depended on this support. The education Narek receives at this school is incomparable to the education in our small village. The teachers are doing their best to provide high quality education to my son and he already has good performance in mathematics”- Elina tells.

At first, Elina was thinking to stay in Armenia only for some days. But soon it was turned out that their home-village and many other villages in Hadrut region passed under the control of Azerbaijan. So, the family could not return to Artsakh so soon. It is still unclear for Elina where to go and what to do. They have already applied for a new apartment, but the terms of receiving it are unknown. By then, they are going to stay in Gyumri, as they feel save here, children have great opportunities for the future as well as there is an organization like Armenian Caritas, which reaches those in need.