The face of poverty: when they work but they are still poor…

43-year-old Marine every day asks herself why she should suffer so much, why her family is in such a situation. Marine works at one of the restaurants of the city, goes to work every second day, she gets 3000 AMD for each working day. She is not pleased, as she works, but gets little money. She has no choice; she has to work in order to earn living for her family.

This young woman graduated from the college of Light Industry during Soviet times, and worked at a sewing factory for a short period of time, then after the independence of Armenia, cold and dark years came, all factories closed. She was 20 years old when the country became an independent state, she was full of hope, she had a beloved person, they were planning to get married and have many children. But life had prepared something else for them. When Karabagh war begun, he had to leave his education and family and go there. After the war he came back, but could find no job.

The couple have worked throughout whole their lives, barely making ends meet and upbringing two children decently. Now he says that he cannot complain. This is the situation – he left to fight, while his friends went to Russia, made much money and came back only when the war was over and they had earned money to start a new life. That was his choice. And poverty made close friends to separate. There was a time when they were inseparable, but when you belong to different layers, it is difficult to be in touch and being poor is humiliating.

Full text in Armenian