Working with children during the war was like a lifebuoy․ Goharik Tigranyan

“On the morning of September 27, when the war started, I had only one thought: I wanted to be useful at the border, as much as I could, even by preparing food. The next two days were 48 hours of deep senselessness, ”recalls Goharik Tigranyan the 44-day Artsakh war, whom war soon made necessary to provide shelter for those displaced from Artsakh to schools for Artsakh children temporarily sheltered in Armenia.

During that time, a group of specialists-volunteers had already been formed in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the main function of which was to provide temporary accommodation to people displaced from Artsakh. Goharik remembers that at first she was skeptical of her abilities, because her work was connected with human contacts, endless constant phone calls, negotiations, and she always considered herself an introvert. Days later, however, she realized that her ideas about herself were wrong.

At the end of October, Goharik started working with the target groups, finding shelters for the families of wounded servicemen and pregnant women. When the housing coordination team was replenished with new volunteers, Goharik was given the opportunity to be useful elsewhere․

According to her, the 44-day Artsakh war broke the stereotype that a woman will be needed at the end. She has worked with many women who have shared with him every day and have not thought about personal feelings ․

“I have seen the feelings of women who worked with me. I can say that sometimes it seemed incomprehensible to me how we can digest everything that that day brought with it. “It seems to me that each of us has reconsidered our perceptions of our own forces during this time,” says Goharik.

Full text in Armenian