My Mom, Too, Had Four Children

Birth rates were incentivized in Karabakh: Multi-child families were offered free housing, and mothers received financial allowances after each childbirth, as well as additional aid support during breastfeeding. They also received a monthly family allowance based on the number of children. Government and military employees were paid higher salaries than their counterparts in Armenia, making even low-income families less hesitant to have many children. Women benefiting from these social welfare programs were often celebrated as “heroine-mothers”. However, with displacement and sudden poverty, these families now face a drastically different reality. No longer viewed as “heroine-mothers,” they are now stigmatized and blamed for their circumstances. Not only strangers, but also social workers at national and community levels reprimand them, asking, “Why did you have so many children if you are poor?” The support and empathy that once existed have been replaced by judgment and harsh moralizing.

This is the second episode of the ‘After Karabakh’ series, where Epress talks with Lira, Liana, Armine and Narine.

Quotes from interviews in the video:

I thought kids are a gift from God.

I don’t feel like I am mother of many children in Armenia

Armine,  please don’t tell me you are pregnant again.

My mom, too, had four children

Locals in Armenia tell us, you do barbecues too often.

I take a couple of things from the store to pay for later. When I go to pay off the debt, I pick up other things. I want to make things right before school starts.

My husband would get 300K  monthly, We would get 130K  allowance, too.

Salaries were high there (in Karabakh).

There was always a lot of money there.. It’s just there is no money here.

Excuse me, does your family get 22 square meters of space per person?

The cabins  were a means to make high fortunes. Just like it is here.

Thank God, this person gave us his house to live in.

Houses are not to be found. Nowhere.

I don’t get why  a house like this would cost 100K.

I don’t want my children to feel afraid every day again.

If they give us a house, it’ll be good. If they don’t, we will survive somehow anyway.

I don’t want them to feel shy in front of their peers.
The  youngest two children were on the verge of life and death. Two cesareans in a year.

Did you marry loving?

Respect grows into understanding each other.  Love  emerges with time, I guess.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t understand what the word love is.

He said, whether she wants it or not, she will be mine. Now we have 5 children. I am 38.

What do you do with so many manicurists?

Maybe they get huffed, but they don’t tell me.