{"id":283990,"date":"2018-03-10T16:26:53","date_gmt":"2018-03-10T12:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/epress.am?p=283990"},"modified":"2018-03-14T16:33:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T12:33:59","slug":"nalband-armenia-in-one-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2018\/03\/10\/nalband-armenia-in-one-village.html","title":{"rendered":"Nalband: Armenia In One Village"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N3AYBc2MKRc?wmode=transparent\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen> <\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cNalband no longer exists; there is no one left in the largest village of Spitak. You won\u2019t be able to count ten houses with lights on if you walk down the street in the evening. Everyone has left; many have died.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Life in the Lori province village of Shirakamut, previously known as Nalband, is divided into \u201cbefore and after the earthquake.\u201d Nalband was the epicenter of the 1988 disastrous earthquake and was almost completely destroyed as a result.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cBy law, all residents of our village were entitled to benefits,\u201d the locals complain.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Over the years, the village managed to gradually overcome the consequences of the disaster; 491 houses have already been built, and another 30 are in the works. \u201cThe earthquake is not the village\u2019s main issue: it has been somewhat restored. The real problem is that people can not live here, the village is getting emptier by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong><em>Nalband was a large and prospering village in Soviet times<\/em><\/strong><\/span>; there was a sewing workshop there, a branch of an elevator plant&#8230; Many villagers worked on the railway. The earthquake destroyed everything. Nothing except for the houses, the school and the village administration buildings has been restored.<\/p>\n<p>Before the latest elections, officials came to the village and promised to build a milk processing plant there if the villagers agreed to vote for them. The plant has yet to be built.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said then that I would bray like a donkey if the plant were ever built,\u201d a local man says.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/17nalband.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-283952\" src=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/17nalband.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We walk down a mud hole-covered street, passing by a row of houses. \u201cThis one is inhabited, this one is empty&#8230;There is an 80-year-old lady living in this one\u2026 Everyone has left for Russia. Every second house is vacant,\u201d the locals accompanying us say.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe village only needs jobs to develop; the people will not stay here if there are none. Those with any type of education will move to a larger city, the rest will leave for Russia\u2026\u201d a young unemployed woman says, adding that she has also been considering moving to Russia \u201cas it feels like the only way out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the neighboring villages, there is not much arable land in Shirakamut. In Katnajur and Mets Parni people are at least able to make ends meet by growing barley, potatoes, or wheat, whereas Shirakamut villagers do not have this option either.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><em><strong>The walls of the village administration building<\/strong><\/em><\/span> are covered with advertising posters of various banks and credit organizations; they offer rural, consumer and business loans.<\/p>\n<p>Finca, for example, call for a \u201cconscious\u201d loan-taking: \u201cLoans can help you achieve your goal, but owing excessively large debts carries many risks. Having answers to a number of important questions will lead to CONSCIOUS CREDITING.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A group of local men gather in one of the rooms of the village administration building daily to play cards, chess and backgammon. Due to the lack of jobs, the men have nowhere else to be; women mostly stay at home.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/14nalband.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-283953\" src=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/14nalband.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"550\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is some life in Yerevan, and that\u2019s it. Kirovakan [Vanadzor] and Leninakan [Gyumri] are also practically dead; they have turned into big villages. Create some jobs, let the people work, why won\u2019t you? Are you afraid that people will stop obeying you once they are able to earn some money? It\u2019s not beneficial to them\u2026 That\u2019s why they treat us like we&#8217;re nothing,\u201d one of the man says. He agrees to let us quote him in the article since he has \u201cnothing to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong><em>Some of the streets in the village<\/em><\/strong><\/span> are named after the native cities of the people who helped build new houses here after the earthquake. The houses on Krasnodar Street are made of stone, while those on the No-Mother-In-Law Street are mostly made of Dutch chalk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere does the name of the No-Mother-In-Law Street come from,\u201d we ask the locals. They explain that newlyweds began moving to the street after the earthquake and lived there separately from their parents, hence the name.<\/p>\n<p>The families that ended up living in the chalk and wooden houses were initially assured by the authorities that it would be temporary, that they would move to stone houses as soon as they were built. Over the years, the wooden houses began falling into decay; the people have lost all hope in the authorities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18nalband-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-283955\" src=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18nalband-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Susanna Poghosyan has been living on the No-Mother-In-Law Street for 30 years. Her father-in-law was provided with a Dutch chalk house after losing his own house as a result of the earthquake: \u201cThe authorities kept promising they would repair his house, but they never did. The poor man ended up waiting until his death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mariam and her family have been living in one of the 7 wooden houses on Tambov Street for over 25 years. Her dream is to one day live in a proper stone house: \u201cI lived in a hut when I was single; I ended up living in a hut when I got married. It\u2019s a real tragedy for me. If they ever asked me what I\u2019d want most in life, I\u2019d request two days of living in a proper stone house. I never got to own a stone house, and it pains me to think that my son will not either\u2026 Can you believe that? It\u2019s become a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/16nalband.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-283951\" src=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/16nalband.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Qnarik Yeranosyan and her extended family used to own a large house before the earthquake. When it was destroyed, they were provide with a temporary dwelling until the 3 houses they were promised would be built. The Russian built the foundations for the houses, she says, but \u201cthen the times changed, and the Russians left, without completing the construction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The former village head then gave one of the family\u2019s half-built houses to another person: \u201cHe did it illegally: a cadastre employee and one of the construction workers came to us and took away the house certificate to supposedly draw the plan of the unfinished house on the paper, but they never returned the certificate,\u201d Qnarik\u2019s daughter-in-law, Susanna Avetisyan, says.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago Glendale Hills company began construction in the village, in the course of which they were supposed to finish building the Yeranosyans\u2019 two houses. They came to the village, cut down the fertile trees near the house, but never ended up undertaking any construction works. The company was subsequently dissolved, and construction was discontinued.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/13nalband_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-283950\" src=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/13nalband_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Qnarik, along with her sons and their families, lives in a hut near the unfinished building: the walls in the semi-dark hut have become moldy, the rooms are divided by rags. The family recently took out a loan to buy a washing machine; an Armenian family from Australia, followers of the Evangelical Church, send Susanna\u2019s son 70 dollars in aid every three months, which they use to make the monthly loan payments.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/12nalband.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-283956\" src=\"http:\/\/epress.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/12nalband.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><em><strong>After the earthquake<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, the Russians built a house of culture in Nalband. The village youth remember how they used to go there to talk and watch movies. In 1989, the building was purchased by the Armenian Evangelical Church.<\/p>\n<p>The majority of the village\u2019s families are involved in the programs of the Evangelical Association. \u201cWe carry out agricultural programs; we have given cows to 60 families and potatoes to 40 families. There are 27 kids who we sponsor. We also help out students in paying their tuition,\u201d Vardan Apinyan, a Evangelical Church shepherd, tells us.<\/p>\n<p>The church regularly hosts a women\u2019s club, where the women of the village gather to talk, drink coffee and discuss books.<\/p>\n<p>The Chichkhanavank church is located in the north of the village; the foundation of the 7th century temple was discovered here during excavation works. The structure has since been rebuilt and now hosts the followers of the Apostolic Church.<\/p>\n<p>85-year-old Garnik is one of the oldest people in Nalband; he was exiled to Siberia in Soviet times and came back just in time for the earthquake, during which his lost his house. Now he lives in one of the huts built by the Russians. Garnik does not like to talk about religion and has no trust in the church: \u201cIt\u2019s all a lie &#8211; the church, the priests, the holy books\u2026 They turn everything into a church. Did they really need to build so many churches in this difficult times? The catholicos has occupied most of the agricultural lands\u2026 How can they exist on the existence of God when they\u2019ve left me to starve to death?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><em><strong>The locals say<\/strong><\/em><\/span> that the book Nalband written by former village head Albert Poghosyan can be found in most of the village\u2019s houses. According to the its preface, the book \u201cis about the families and people living in the village.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The book, however, talks almost exclusively about men. Mr. Garnik, for instance, is said to have two sons, but as it turned out later he also has two daughters, which the author chose for some reason not to mention. The same goes for the rest of the families.<\/p>\n<p>We were nevertheless able to find a few female names in the book: these were women who had graduated from school with a gold medal or had received higher education. Poghosyan also mentions the women who died during the earthquake.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nalband no longer exists; there is no one left in the largest village of Spitak. You won\u2019t be able to count ten houses with lights on if you walk down the street in the evening&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":283949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[65981,66044,66047,65979,65974],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}