Naira Abrahamyan. “Should we learn to respect the law or not?”

“The chain of influence of the COVID-19 pandemic has not reached Garnarich community of Amasia province of Shirak region, however a resident from Moscow has arrived who is self-isolated. At present, 1123 citizens have instructions for home self-isolation in our region, 201 of them have a positive diagnosis with an asymptomatic course of the disease. They are supervised by a primary health care provider, ”said in a conversation with WomenNet.am Naira Abrahamyan, a member of the Arpi enlarged community council and director of the Garnarich village secondary school in the same community.

Garnarich is located at the farthest point of the north of the republic, at the crossroads of Georgia, Turkey and Armenia. In 2016, Garnarich as a settlement with Alvar, Aghvorik, Ardenis, Zarishat, Zorakert, Tsaghkut և Shaghik communities was included in the cluster of Arpi community.

The village has 45 farms, 263 inhabitants, who are engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. The two-story school in the village has 37 students, 7 children attend the preschool located in the school building, 4 of whom will attend the 1^st grade this year.

According to Naira Abrahamyan, not much has changed in Garnarich after the enlargement of the communities. There is no bus between Garnarich and neighboring villages, or she has raised this issue many times during the meetings of the Council of Elders, but the problem has not been resolved.

If someone from the village goes by car to a city or a neighboring village, whoever needs  goes with him. Officials say the population is small and the bus costs are high. There has been no transport for years, we are used to it. Sometimes we use taxis. “It is a border village, but people come to live because it is a beautiful and hospitable village, and people are hardworking and honorable,” says Naira Abrahamyan.

Being the only female member of the Council of Elders, Naira has contributed to the development of the community through her activities. According to her, the head of the community should cooperate with the school, as the school is the only school that promotes the upbringing and education of children, especially since there is no other cultural center in the village. The issue of repairing the roof of the school has always been in the center of Naira’s attention. the roof.

She has also another dream, she wants to develop tourism in the village, she is ready to welcome anyone who thinks of going to Garnarich. And as a member of the Council of Elders, she wants a large number of women to be involved in the development of the community, because they are the ones who make the right decisions. “Men are the masters when they are elected, but when it comes time to work, they do not show up.”

– I think, in general, there is a need for a change of culture in the elections, it is necessary to establish an educational censorship. Random people should not run for office, being elected by an acquaintance-friend should disappear. I am the only woman in the Council of Elders, I am the owner of my business, I am fair and demanding, which many people do not like. Last year, during one of the council meetings, I asked the council to report on what the community budget was spent on. I will answer to my conscience, I want to know what the community budget is spent on, but in vain, I did not receive an answer. The meetings of the Council of Elders are of a formal nature, I have always struggled, I wanted something to be done, but my proposals are not accepted, they are not approved, while during the election I received the most votes, I do not brag, people know me, see my work: And what can the administrative head of Garnarich do, what is in his hand? “The voice and role of women are ignored, while they have a great potential for the development of the village,” says Naira Abrahamyan.

In the event of an epidemic, she tries to be useful to her native village, as well as to the doctors and residents of the Amasia region. Together with Edgar Amiryan, the head of the “Armat” computer programming laboratory in the village, /Edgar Amiryan, a computer specialist who teaches computer language to students in the schools of the neighboring Aregnadem community in Garnarich/, they have initiated the production of anti-virus panels and provide them free of charge. Medical staff at the Akhuryan Mother and Child Center were provided with masks and masks were distributed to the community residents.

According to Naira, no special event is being held by the municipality in Garnarich during the pandemic. As before, the residents try not to pollute the yards and streets, and if necessary, burn the accumulated garbage outside the village. The majority of the population is elderly, who hardly go out on the street, in the village shop, where they do not enter without a mask, there are also disinfectants.

– When a state of emergency was declared, people were skeptical about the situation. According to them, these are false rumors aimed at chipping people, as they said years ago. But when there were infections among distant acquaintances and relatives, when there were cases of infection in neighboring villages, they began to believe and beware. There are no weddings in the village, and they attend the funeral in small numbers and are very careful. Residents are aware of the pandemic, there is no need to provide additional information. And then everyone works on their land with their heads down, they don’t even have time to go out. Lack of contact with each other prevents the spread of infection, that is why there is no infection in our village. And then we do not leave the children out too much so that they do not communicate with each other, but, well, it is very difficult to keep the village child at home, – says Naira.

As for the young people of the village, most of them are abroad, those who went abroad for work have not returned, and those who are in the village, for the sake of the elderly, conscientiously obey the decisions of the RA curfew.

“For the sake of us, our children and the elderly, we must obey the law. What difficulties have we overcome? Do we have to learn to respect the law or not?” Says Naira Abrahamyan.

Full text in Armenian