“The hardest thing is when the children want something and I say no”… multimedia

The new hopes and goals of Iskandarians

Manushak Srapyan leaves the house every day and repeats in her mind that she is strong and just goes to work. The 30-year-old woman has been taking care of two small children and the whole house alone for two years.

“The most difficult thing is when the children want something, and I say there is none. Before, when my husband was with us, the children did not need anything, but now it is terribly painful, as if I am committing a crime in front of them,” says Manushak, adding that the family’s various loans and other financial expenses also fall on her shoulders.

The monthly income of the family is the money given by the state to Manushak as an officer’s wife and her small salary from the hairdressing salon.

Within the framework of the project, a series of courses was launched months ago, in which families displaced by the war and who took refuge in Armenia had the opportunity to participate. The courses give the participants the opportunity to learn a new profession and become more competitive in the labor market. After conversations and referrals on family needs assessment and professional orientation conducted by a community social worker, Manushak became a beneficiary of the “Available Community Social Services Program”.

Manushak says that at first she hesitated, but at the urging of her relatives, she applied and now she does not regret it.

Manushak’s daughter, 10-year-old Mariam Iskandaryan, says that at home in Sisian, she had smart and “wise” friends who were by her side when she was sad, but here she is alone.

However, Iskandarians did not always live with longing and the difficulties that they have to endure now. Everything changed on the morning of September 27, 2020.

According to Manushak, 35-year-old Karen was last seen on October 7, when he came home to change his clothes and go to poses again. And the last call home was on October 14. Since then, the calls have been silent.

The family started looking for Karen Iskandaryan since October 15, when the latter did not answer the calls again. Manushak says she applied everywhere, but no information, no results…

Lusine Harutyunyan, a senior social worker, started working with Manushak Srapyan as the wife of a missing person in military operations. According to her, working with families suffering the consequences of the war is not easy, but today Manushak and her children are already in the recovery phase.

The Iskandaryan family moved from Sisian to Yerevan about five months ago. Manushak says that she left everything in Sisian: the house she bought with a mortgage, her sisters, her parents, her husband’s family. Yerevan is a way to escape from memories and start a new life.

Manushak says that although there have been many difficulties in the past, there is still an open and empty space in her and her children’s souls that no one and nothing can fill.

She hopes that one day she will have her own small beauty salon, and the Accessible Community Social Services (CLASS) program will somewhat ease her worries and become the beginning of a more stable life for her family.

Multimedia story in Armenian – https://express.adobe.com/page/kavUkiQyPRf4U/ 

Sona Martirosyan