{"id":348,"date":"2006-07-05T09:42:22","date_gmt":"2006-07-05T09:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haysanta.am\/?p=348"},"modified":"2018-07-05T09:51:31","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T09:51:31","slug":"grant-us-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haysanta.am\/en\/grant-us-bread\/","title":{"rendered":"Grant us bread . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/strong>\u00a0Zhanna Alexanyan
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The room in the half-ruined dormitory, where Vagho, 16, has found asylum, has no electricity. The window has no panes. Vagho has instead put old clothes where glass should be. It is terribly cold in the room, although Vagho, who wears a thin sports suit and torn shoes, says he is not cold.<\/p>\n

This is how he meets winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am used to the cold. I have not had shoes since childhood. I have even been barefooted on the snow. Although I got ill after that, I recovered soon,\u201d he says trying to inspire hope.<\/p>\n

Mother and son \u2013 Anna and Vagho \u2013 were \u201cbusiness partners\u201d once. Both were beggars. They used to beg money nearby the Plplan (Shining) Church in Gyumri. Eight years ago they were separated. Vagho, then eight years old, was brought from the front of the Church to the Nubarashen School for children with special needs No.18 in Yerevan by police officers without telling the mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the police officers took away my son I lost my teeth at once,\u201d tells Anna who lives in the same dormitory in her friend\u2019s room. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t tell his place. I lived with a bottle of vodka I kept with me. I would drink and cry. I found out where he was two months later, from asking people.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the eight years mother and son met several times. During the first visit Vagho cried asking the mother to take him away with her. Later he ran away to Gyumri alone. He had missed his mother. Staying with her for several days he told the mother to take him back to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t go and see him, I had no money. He was mature enough to run away twice to come and find me,\u201d tells the mother.<\/p>\n

Vagho had not escaped the school during the last four years. He was a grown up already and could overcome the longing for his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recalled the conditions my mother lives in. I knew she could not come and see me. I got used to it,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Vagho was born in the most difficult days for Gyumri \u2013 four months after the earthquake \u2013 on April 14, 1989. He had no home to grow up in. Instead, he shared his mother\u2019s vagrant life in the streets and train stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the child was born they gave us a house made of clay. But it was a hollow place that filled with water and the house collapsed. My husband left me to be a vagabond and went away. He was a thug who had alcohol addiction,\u201d tells Anna.<\/p>\n

School became Vagho\u2019s home. \u201cThe school was fine,\u201d he says with admiration. Even the hard slap in the face he got from the principal did not offend him. He appreciates strictness and discipline.<\/p>\n

He learned to read and to write at school. He finished the eight-year school with high grades. He has received numerous appreciation and honor certificates \u201cfor high progress and model behavior.\u201d They also had spiritual courses. He knows the Lord\u2019s Prayer by heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pray every night for God to grant us bread,\u201d Vagho explains the prayer in his way.<\/p>\n

The recommendations given by the school characterize Vaghinak Atoyan\u2019s good and bad sides: he is physically well shaped and healthy, he cares for his hygiene, and he likes neatness. He is industrious and does the assignments with pleasure. He obeys the rules of the school. He does not smoke, does not fight, he sings, dances and recites.<\/p>\n

His stubbornness and obstinacy are his negative sides, although \u201che tries to improve and accepts scolding.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Vagho manifests stubbornness in studying. After finishing the school, he returned to Gyumri this summer, where his mother is. He has worked for two months at a bottle warehouse, and entered the Computers Department at the local College No.1 in September, where he will study for three years.<\/p>\n

Vagho\u2019s documents were submitted to the college by the Gyumri department of World Vision international organization. The organization has launched a program of child protection in Nubarashen School for children with special needs No.18 since 2004.<\/p>\n

Program coordinator in Gyumri Karine Kurghinyan says Vagho \u201chas a great potential of studying and we want him to get an education.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Vision has an agreement with the Gyumri Municipality (an oral arrangementat present) for allocating them a temporary accommodation (they live in the dormitory illegally) in any abandoned apartment, but this winter Vagho and his mother will pass in the hostel unless the problem is solved.<\/p>\n

Vagho enjoys studying at the college. He does his homework in a dark and cold room. Principal of the college Grigor Mkrtchyan and class teacher Laura Manukyan speak about Vagho with appraisal. He studies well, he is disciplined, and he does not miss lessons and is a uniquely warm person.<\/p>\n

Anna, Vagho\u2019s mother, is proud of her son\u2019s aptitudes, but would prefer that Vagho work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want him to work to provide our living. I am tired of this wandering life. I can\u2019t anymore; I don\u2019t want to go outdoors (to beg). I think: \u2018Why did I give life to this child? If I were alone, I would provide my living.\u2019 My heart aches when I see my child hungry and thirsty\u2026he is barefooted in the middle of the winter,\u201d says Anna, 45, who has health problems.<\/p>\n

Their only income is the scholarship at the college that makes 4,500 drams (about $10). Vagho does not want to give up studying. He thinks of finding a job and combining it with the college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I begin working we will save money, fuel, we will buy clothes for my mother, and she will not go outdoors (to beg). She will quit. Now as we do not have money she is forced to go,\u201d says Vagho.<\/p>\n

He recalls childhood with regret. He does not like talking about it, and is happy it is already behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go to the church I see my friends I have once been begging money with. They are amazed to see me having changed this way,\u201d Vagho says. \u201cThey are still begging . . .\u201d.<\/p>\n

Anna has regrets about her past and says her only concern is Vagho.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have made many mistakes\u2026 I now ask God for a roof above my head to have a home for my Vagho and then die,\u201d says Anna.<\/p>\n

Vagho is well-liked in the dormitory and is known for helping others. His neighbor, Shoghik, says \u201cI save a portion for my Vagho\u201d of the daily meal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will also help them if I achieve success,\u201d promises Vagho<\/p>\n