“I want rural women to feel that they are not alone and neglected.” Stella Sarukhanyan

People often try to justify their own inaction and inefficiency by not having money, while “Hay Gyugh” Social Enterprise founder Stella Sarukhanyan is convinced that money is not always essential for creating something good and new.

The desire to help people in need took Stella to Goris a few days ago, where 15 large families resettled from Kashatagh and Kubatlu regions of the Artsakh Republic live. Those families left Artsakh from Armenia years ago with the guarantee of privileges. They used all the support programs of the Artsakh government, but as a result of the second Artsakh war they were forced to move to Armenia.

Stella left for Goris at the invitation of the Goris Women’s Development Resource Center, where she conducted a training on cultivating and caring for new crops for local Artsakh women, convinced that women’s involvement in spring agriculture would help distract them from war memories and alleviate the pain of loss. Artsakh-Armenian women should feel that they are not alone and neglected.

Before the war, Stella left for Artsakh on her own initiative, met with members of the Askeran “Women’s Club”, then decided to cross the Vardenis region to Artsakh to return through Syunik, getting acquainted with the problems of the villages. However, the second initiative did not materialize and she decided to support the families resettled from Artsakh to Armenia.

Stella is concerned about the situation in the border villages of Armenia. At the moment she is focusing on the villages of Syunik region, she is talking about the problems in them. But the goal is not to complain, but the desire to resolve them.

– There are border villages of Syunik, where the residents share the border with the Azerbaijanis. I have been to the village of Agarak, the inhabitants of which are truly heroes to whom we must bow. If I were to develop a strategic management plan for the country, I would think about how to make the population of 950 Armenian villages and 18 cities live in security. If for the most part they live poorly, then the management mechanisms are not. Isn’t it possible to develop rural tourism, local business, cultivation of high-value crops? But all this should not be left on the shoulders of an individual, we need state care, support and encouragement.

Her initiatives have been active since the beginning of the coronavirus. Stella together with “Green Path” NGO visited Shirak, Gegharkunik, Tavush, Ararat regions and provided packaged hygiene items to more than 200 families: gloves, masks, disinfectants, food, seedlings, seeds.

Stella Sarukhanyan’s voluntary dedication to the Armenian village is an initiative and a mission. Wherever she appears, she says, “I am the Armenian village, and the problems of the Armenian village are mine. This year, she appealed to the Armenian government with a program to solve the problems of about 200 villages in Armenia.

I do not need a lot of money for the implementation of the program, the organized seminars, all that is needed to visit the families of all the villages is travel, accommodation and seeds. If the government responds to my initiative, I am ready to tour all the villages of Armenia one by one, to contribute to the development of the communities. The guarantee of our future is the Armenian village with powerful resources, – Stella Sarukhanyan is convinced.

Full text in Armenian