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Dairy cow provides family with food, a better income

VOSKEVAN, Armenia — With just one cow as its only real asset, the Harutyunyan family in Armenia’s northeastern Tavush region didn’t produce enough milk and dairy to nourish all of its six children.
Since receiving a cow through the World Vision U.S. Gift Catalog, the family not only has more than enough milk for its nine members - it also gives surplus milk to neighbors in need. The birth of a new calf promises new school clothes and stationary for the upcoming school year.

The start of a new school year in September should be an exciting time for students and parents. For many children in remote, impoverished villages in Armenia, though, this can be a disheartening time of the year.

For the five school-age children in the Harutyunyan family in Voskevan, each new school year is an ordeal that they dread.
Their mother, Haykavard Harutyunyan, 36, said her family of six children, husband and mother-in-law have all had to survive on a monthly allowance of about $160 (in U.S. equivalency) and a small pension for the grandmother.

“We didn’t like September; we were scared of the beginning of the lessons,” said Arthur, 10, one of twin brothers while trying to light a small, rusty, porous oven.

“Neither me, nor my brother, nor our sisters ever had normal shoes, normal clothing, normal writing materials, normal textbooks to attend school. Everything was a problem for us. Because of our shabby shoes and worn-out clothing we were often so ashamed of our appearance,” he added.

“Life is really tough here,” explained his father, Levon Harutyunyan, 48. “I couldn’t look in the eyes of my already teenage daughters when year after year they had to wear the same old outfits to go to school.”

His wife added, “Though my husband used to do some odd jobs, and we had a cow, we could hardly get by. The dairy food received from our single cow was never enough for all of my six children.

Often I had to escape the hungry glances of my elder daughters and twin sons when I had to feed my still-crawling Arsen with our scarce dairy food.”

Along with the other 400 households of Voskevan, the Harutyunyans have to cope with the harsh conditions and realities of this impoverished, cross-bordering area.

“Though there is a cease-fire with neighboring Azerbaijan, sometimes exchange of fire takes place in this area, and cattle-breeding and raising is a risky business here,” Levon reported. “We also have a very harsh climate: floods, hail, freezing and not-arable lands don’t allow us to meet our needs through cultivation or gardening.”

Intervention has been desperately needed among the most vulnerable families in Voskevan, which is why World Vision provided the Harutyunyan family and 10 other families with dairy cows in August 2009.

These cows came from donations through its U.S. Gift Catalog.
Recently the Harutyunyans had another reason to rejoice - their cow gave birth to a healthy calf.

“This year my parents have promised to sell the calf in September in order to buy clothing, shoes, textbooks and other necessary items for all of us. Finally we too can attend school normally without shame and endless problems,” said Artur’s twin brother, Tatul, while their sisters, Diana 12, Tehmine 13 and Tina 15 are busy frying potatoes on a stove.

The family will receive about $160 with the sale of the calf.

“We deeply regret that we have to sell the calf in September, but the family - my children - are fed up with this constant scarcity,” explained Haykavard.

“We are happy that, thanks to this project, we are finally solving the clothing, stationary and textbook problems of all of my children. God bless, we can breathe easier for at least a year.”
Artur and Tatul watch their little brother Arsen, 2, drinking a cup of fresh milk.

“Now that we already have two cows and a calf, each of us has enough dairy food; it is not like before when often our mother had to feed only our youngest brother Arsen because we didn’t have enough milk,” Artur said.

“Sometimes we even manage to share some of our milk with the needy children of our neighbors,” explained Levon. “Yes, don’t be surprised. How is that World Vision could assist us, and we can’t do the same to our neighbors?”

World Vision Armenia is implementing various other programs, too.

Tavush Area Development Program (ADP) Manager Grigor Choginyan said, “The children of this area benefit from a number of activities in this region: we have built a water reservoir, first-aid posts, playgrounds, garbage dumps and renovated pipelines. The cow-breeding project is a part of the sustained agriculture program to be implemented. Some 100 cows have been given to the households during the last year. We are also planning to conduct special training for our beneficiaries on animal-breeding related issues.”

9/8/2010