Luiza Revazyan. “There was also a revolution in me, in my mind and in my thinking”

Sarigyugh is one of the border communities of Tavush region. September 29 local government elections are scheduled here. Eleven candidates have been nominated for 5 members of the Council of Elders, 3 of them are women.

Sarigyugh School Principal Luisa Revazyan is one of three women nominated. She is active in any initiative. A few years ago, seeing the success of farming in other communities together with peasant women she applied to Oxfam’s Armenian branch and set up a greenhouse.

– Women were unemployed, and men were constantly travelling abroad to work there. I felt the need to connect women to the village. With the successful example of the neighboring villages we created a vegetable farm. I also wanted to break the stereotype of a shy woman, and make women feel that they are relieving their family burden, making a family budget, and why not, they can have a decisive voice in the family.

-It was a turning point in my life in 2016, when I was elected director of a school where there were no elementary living conditions. I took great responsibility on my shoulders. But I overcame it because I was not alone, and today I can confidently say that school is unrecognizable: we solved the drainage problem, the school was provided with potable water, we said goodbye to the wood stoves, they were replaced with electric stoves, the canteen was repaired, we got refrigerators…

In the near future the goal is to renovate the gym and conference room, but there is also a major problem that needs government support. It is a question of shelter for the school.

The decision to run in the elections is also the result of a revolution. She says 2018 when the revolution began, she was one of the first revolutionaries, as she could not leave her students alone on the street.

She says that as a mother, an Armenian woman has set an example for her daughters and taught them that the role of both men and women in the Armenian family must be taken into account, as a result of a joint decision.

The secret to success is in the proper planning of time and work. 24 hours is the small time period that if properly and purposefully managed, one will also have a rest. You need to discuss, think, understand whether you can finish the job you are undertaking. If you see the end, then you can start, if you are close to doing business, then think again …