Almost every night, Zarine tucks her six children into bed and opens her memory book—a photo album with an apricot-colored cover. “We left in a rush. It was a matter of life and death. Of course, we tried to pack the essentials, but we couldn’t take much. The only thing we managed to bring, besides our documents, was this album. It helps me and my children remember our roots and keep a piece of home in our hearts,” says the 29-year-old mother, who fled Artsakh in 2023 along with over 100,000 other ethnic Armenians.
For months now, Zarine and her husband, Karen Arustamyan, have been living in a rented house in the village of Gandzakar, Tavush province, along with Karen’s mother and their children. Instead of paying rent, they agreed to renovate the house. “We moved several times after our displacement. The previous house didn’t even have necessities like beds or a couch. This home is more comfortable,” Zarine shares. Adjusting to the new environment was difficult, but they are finally settling in. “At first, everything felt unfamiliar. In Ijevan, even the dialect was different. But here, people speak almost like they do in Artsakh, which makes it feel a little more like home.”
Her older children have started school and kindergarten—Ella, 5, and Milena, 4, attend kindergarten, while Ilona, 8, goes to school. Meanwhile, Marianna, 2, Eduard, 1.8, and Aleks, 8 months, stay at home, cared for by their grandmother and Zarine.
Eduard was born during the blockade and has Down syndrome. He is undergoing treatment and rehabilitation, but Zarine is not hopeful for a full recovery. “During my last month of pregnancy, I wasn’t feeling well. His heart wasn’t beating strongly, and later, the doctor told me that his brain hadn’t received enough nutrition for a week.”
Despite the hardships, Aleks’s birth brought new hope to the family. “He became the light of our lives, bringing joy to his sisters and to us, helping us get through everything.” But the challenges didn’t end there. “Keeping up with hygiene and heating the house was tough. My husband had to go to the forest to collect firewood because we couldn’t afford 30,000-40,000 AMD per month for firewood, let alone 100,000 AMD for gas.” Hygiene, she says, is especially important to her. “I try to keep my children clean because I know how quickly diseases can spread. Thankfully, they’ve been healthy so far.”
Back in Shushi, Zarine and her husband had built a life. She enjoyed animal husbandry and agriculture, while Karen served in the army. “We even had a small place where we made and sold jengyalov hats. My grandmother had a tailor’s shop, too. She passed away in 2020, and along with our homes and businesses, we left behind the graves of our ancestors.”
“On our way to Armenia, I prayed to God to protect us. The Azeris could have stopped my husband at the checkpoint. That thought terrified me,” she says adding: “For someone who has lived through war and displacement, it’s hard to believe in peace. But I try to stay hopeful. One day, I just want to have a home of our own and truly feel settled. We like it here, and we would love to stay in this village.”
The "Comprehensive Assistance to Refugees from Nagorno Karabakh and Vulnerable Host Communities" project was made possible due to a generous grant provided to FAR and Sign of Hope (SoH) by the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), as a contribution to our continuous support to refugee families settled across Armenia. Thanks to their generosity, we have been able to reach out to over 400 refugee families in Berd, Ijevan, and Noyemberyan providing mental health and psychosocial support, protection services, and assistance with shelter, non-food items, and winterization.
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