DOCUMENTING THE LIVES OF WOMEN IN ARMENIA
Emily Haas, Paige Prince and Henni Alpermann.
ianyan Magazine
March 12 2012
Emily Haas, Paige Prince and Henni Alpermann all met as volunteers
in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Marz. After spending much time with women
in the region as part of their ‘extended’ families, they took it upon
themselves to photograph them for their Women in Armenia project. The
exhibit made its first showing at the Yeghegnadzor Social Service
Center, then moved to the Vayk Social Service, Gyumri and even made
its way to the U.S. and British Embassies in Yerevan.
“We were all so amazed by the women in Armenia, how hard they worked
to support their families, keep up a household and in the face of
such tough times,” said Emily Haas, a Peace Corps volunteer based in
Yeghegnadzor from 2009 to 2011.
“Many of the women came to the opening show in Yeghegnadzor and were
so emotional when they saw and read how we viewed them, as they had
never thought of themselves as so important,” said Haas. “The biggest
reward to us was to see how special these women felt on that day.”
Below are some of the photographs and stories from the lives of women
in Armenia taken and written by Haas, Prince and Alpermann.
Aghavne Khorenyan, 76, Armenuhi Muradyan, 49, Marine Hovhannisyan,
25, Aghavne Khorenyan, 19
When you follow the street up from the river in Getap village,
at some point you will reach the house of the Khorenyan’s just
underneath a huge rock. From afar you can hear the turkeys, which are
running around in the backyard and perhaps the cry of their youngest
grandchild. Laundry is blowing in the wind and smoke is coming out
of the woodstove. If you enter the house during the day, you will
not meet any men in the house. The head of the household died seven
years ago and the son is working. All men of this family drive trucks
all over Armenia. The father was a driver, as is the son, and if you
ask them what the youngest will do later, they’ll tell you that he
is going to do the same job.
We met Aghavne in the mashrutka to Getap. She invited us to
come to their house. When we entered, it was nice and warm. The
great-grandmother and the eldest grandchild were lying in the bed
and the others were immediately preparing coffee, apples, nuts and
cookies for us. Armenuhi tells us that they are six people living in
the house; her mother-in-law Aghavne, her youngest daughter Aghavne,
her son and her daughter-in-law Marine, along with their two children
and herself. She has another daughter who is already married and lives
with her husband’s family. Although all the women are unemployed,
they are busy taking care of the children, the house and the garden.
Anahit Hachnasaryan, 20
Anahit Hachnasaryan is student and mother. She studies English in
the third course of “Gitelik” University. While she is studying, her
mother or her mother-in-law are taking care of her 9-month-old son
Artyom. When you see Anahit for the first time, you would not think
that she has a baby. She is small, very thin and very young, but she
is more quiet and mature than the other girls in her class. Anahit is
originally from Yeghegnadzor. Now she is living with her parents-in-law
and her husband in the village Malishka. She moves between the two
houses to organize day care for her son. She got to know her husband
when she was 18. After both his and her parents agreed, they decided
to get married.
Nazik Harutsunyan
Nazik Harutsunyan is a friendly neighbor to everyone living on
Komissarneri Street in Vayk, and spends her days working in her garden,
taking care of her home and her 14-year-old daughter Narine.
She is always laughing and joking and her sense of personal happiness
is easy to see. She was born in the village of Bartsruni to a large
and loving family. She came to Vayk to live in the house that her
uncle built about 15 years ago. She is a single mother, and does
a fantastic job raising her daughter alone. When her mother became
ill, Nazik cared for her all day, everyday for the last 10 months
of her life up to moment she died. She remembers her mother’s life
and carries on her mother’s way and traditions with respect and
love. She works very hard to keep up all the work that it takes to
run a house alone: cooking, cleaning, chopping wood, repairing broken
machines and electrical outlets, harvesting and planting the garden,
and teaching her daughter about what is important in life. She is
a very exceptional woman and is recognized for her happy spirit and
her lifestyle that is full of honor and dignity.
Sona Vanyan, 40
“When you enter the yard of Sona Vanyan, you can smell her profession:
lavash, cheese, baklava and many other things appreciated by the
whole village. Sona works from sunrise till sunset. She bakes, cooks,
milks the cows, cleans house and yard, she does everything. She has
had a hard life, but she is strong, smiles and says,
“We don’t live very well, we are not rich, but we thank God for
everything we have every day.”
She was 21 when she married, together the couple had a one-year-old
son and she was two months pregnant with her daughter. After only one
year of marriage her husband died. All alone at 22, she had just moved
from Yeghegnadzor into her husband’s house in the village Getap. Since
then she lives with her parents-in-law and raises her children alone.
Now she is 40. Her son who is now 19, is serving in the army in
Sisian. She shows his picture with pride. Her daughter studies in
Getap school and helps her bake lavash when she comes home from
school. People from the village bring her flour and she bakes for
them the delicious bread. That’s how she earns money.
Emma Yepremyan, 73 years old
Emma is Sona Vanyan’s mother-in-law. When she tells us about her
son’s death at the age of 30, she has still tears in her eyes, 18
years later. She cannot see very well, she says,
“The world is cloudy to me.”
With patience is she sitting on her bed and waiting until we have the
right picture. She smiles and tells us openly about their life. She
is originally from Getap village, married a man from the same village
and has stayed there her whole life. Everybody in the village knows
her and appreciates her open-minded, friendly character.
Nunufar Karapetyan, 31 years old
Nunufar is specialist in selling wine. Coming from Yerevan you can see
the yellow parasol, the sign that says ice cream and her conspicuous
red hair as one of the first points of sale on the right. Cars honk,
people wave out of their window; Nunufar is known all over the road
Yerevan- Yeghegnadzor. If you were wondering if ever cars stop on the
road to buy something at Nunufar’s place, they definitely do. Maybe it
is an ensemble of her tasty wine and her prepossessing character. Her
cheerful laugh and her hospitality are remarkable. She serves her
customers big glasses of wine, coffee, cookies and apples. Nunufar
was selling wine in several markets in the area for 13 years before
her family opened the place on the road.
She works from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. every day and never takes a vacation.
In her small selling house she has a stove to cook and a radio. She
says that she could never leave her village, even though she is very
interested in other cultures and languages. Maybe if she wouldn’t have
this point of sale, maybe. Nunufar speaks not only Armenian, she also
remembers German and Russian that she learned in school. She learned
Persian on her own and knows Turkish from the trips she went on with
her father to Nakhchivan, which was easily accessible from the village
Areni. Nunufar is the oldest child in her family. Her brother died and
her sister is married in Karabakh. She is not married and stays with
her parents. She never had the chance to study after school, but she
studies herself languages and reads a lot about environmental issues.
Ruzan Khatchatryan, 55 years old
Mother of many and master of most, Ruzan Khatchatryan doesn’t spend
much time sitting idle. The mother of two girls and one boy is also
surrogate mother to seven Peace Corps Volunteers, one of whom is
currently serving in Yeghegndadzor (Emily Haas), while the others
have safely returned to America and call their Armenian mother
occasionally. While she may recall with fondness the times she had
spent with the Americans living with her in the past, it also brings
back memories of what her house was like when it was full. Ruzan’s
husband died just one year ago, her son is serving in the army in
Sisian, her oldest daughter is married and lives in Russia and the
other is married with two young children and rarely gets an opportunity
to visit.
Ruzan works 12 hours a day, seven days a week in a khanut (store)
preparing kebabs, selling various sundries and most recently gold
jewelry. Work, she said, is something that still keeps her going.
While her children were studying in university, all of her children
graduated with college degrees from universities in Yerevan, Ruzan
kept a cow, her garden and the household. She worked from sunrise
until sunset everyday and gave every thing she earned to her children
so they could pay their tuition and afford to live in Yerevan. She is
tremendously proud of what her children have accomplished and says that
she has always held the future of her children as her highest priority.
Henni Alpermann goes to university in Leipzig, Germany. She was a
Weltwaerts Volunteer in Yeghegnadzor in 2009 to 2010. She has worked
with a few NGOs that work with Armenian refugees in Germany.
Paige Prince is a part time student living in Austin, Texas. She
worked at the grade school in Vayk as a Peace Corps volunteer from
2008 to 2010 and is now studying to be a nurse.
Emily Haas lives and works in Portland, Oregon. She created a media
center in Yeghegnadzor, where she was a Peace Corps volunteer along
with her Armenian counterpart, and now works at a bakery in Portland.
These photos and stories originally appeared on Emily Haas’ Armenian
Experience and were used with permission as part of a series written in
honor of International Women’s Day. You can find the complete exhibit
here. All photos © Emily Haas, Paige Prince and Henni Alpermann and
should not be used without permission.
http://www.ianyanmag.com/2012/03/12/documenting-the-lives-of-women-in-armenia/