{"id":354,"date":"2006-07-05T09:45:08","date_gmt":"2006-07-05T09:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haysanta.am\/?p=354"},"modified":"2018-07-05T09:51:10","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T09:51:10","slug":"if-i-do-not-who-would-do-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haysanta.am\/en\/if-i-do-not-who-would-do-for-me\/","title":{"rendered":"If I do not, who would do for me?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0<\/strong>Ruzanna Amiraghyan
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy mother is ill. Please, do not be surprised and offended if she starts speaking in a loud voice or curse, do not be offended. She is mentally ill, my mother . . .<\/p>\n

Petros Avchiev, 14, lives with his mother, Anna, in an apartment block in the town of Masis in the Ararat province.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had my achievements all thanks to neighbors and friends,\u201d the teenager says. \u201cThey sometimes give us something to eat, and clothing, shoes, everything, everything\u2026 But it is all the same, if I do not do it, who would do for me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, if not my son, what would we have done?\u201d Anna echoes taking a small dog, which she calls Tuzik in her lap. \u201cWho works, you, Peto?\u201d Suddenly she gets surprised, returning to, or fleeing from the reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease, stop talking, Ma,\u201d the son strictly interrupts his mother with a weak but mutating voice. \u201cI bring medicine for my mother, put it into her coffee so that my mother drinks it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anna, who is sitting without movements but anxious after her son\u2019s reprimand, raises her eyes: \u201cI do not drink medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo you drink,\u201d the son rejoins. \u201cI put it in your coffee, and you drink it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I am not ill, Peto. You think if your mother is like this, she does not understand anything?\u201d Anna frowns at Peto while continuing to stroke the dog.<\/p>\n

Anna Avchieva suffers from schizophrenia. She is periodically treated at Nubarashen Mental Hospital, but denies being sick and refuses to get treatment.<\/p>\n

Petros\u2019s mother got acquainted with the boy\u2019s future father in Masis and although being aware of his being married and having children she decided to give birth to a child and raise him alone.<\/p>\n

In a while Anna developed mental illness and the family burden fell on the boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work at an Internet service. My friend and I go to homes and collect money and receive our share at the end of the month. At average it makes some 5,000 drams (about $11) a month,\u201d says Petros.<\/p>\n

The main source of money is, however, the poverty allowance, the mother\u2019s disability pension, allowance from \u201cParos\u201d, as well as occasional sums from the town Mayor received when Petros makes periodic applications.<\/p>\n

This money suffices for covering only a part of the family needs and taking care of the mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like studying very much. But I cannot go to school. Besides, I have been expelled from school,\u201d says Petros, with regret. Besides that, he got rid of his school things. \u201cMy friend gave me these boots. And I gave all my copy-books to the neighbor, he needed scratch paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI could not make both ends meet at school. A month ago they called and said if I did not want to go to school, I must go and take my documents from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil my fifth form I did well at school. But I also do not want to go, because when the children collect money, I cannot give money, the children laugh at me or feel pity about me. That is why I do not go.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I want to study very much. If I manage I wish I could complete school and study to become a hair-dresser. I was promised to be taken to Moscow, where I could work and take care of us. This is why I must study,\u201d says Petros, \u201cAt the Sport school of Masis they organize classes for 1,000 drams (about $2.40), I know they do. . . \u201d<\/p>\n