The interview took place in January 2020.
Elmira was born on June 12th, 1939 in the village of Karmir Gyugh, Askeran region. Her father was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1941 to participate in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War. He had never returned from the war. She doesn’t even remember her father. Her mother was the head of the collective farm. There were 3 girls growing up in the family. Elmira was the second child.
After graduating from an eight-year school in the village, Elmira moved to Stepanakert and continued her studies at a boarding school. In parallel, she worked at Stepanakert silk factory to support her mother financially. She worked at the factory until 1983.
Elmira got married in 1956 but divorced a few years later because of childlessness. She married for the second time in 1970. They did not have any common children though her husband had three sons from the first marriage. Two of the boys lived in Russia, the third one lived in Stepanakert and was killed in the Artsakh Liberation war.
Her husband died in 1999. Elmira now lives in a two-bedroom apartment her husband left. Only a room is heated during the winter months.
Elmira joined the organization in 2008 on her acquaintances’ advice. She used to be one of the active beneficiaries of the organization and participate in all the events organized by Hanganak. But for the past two years, she was not able to appear in Hanganak due to her health condition.
Elmira has the second degree of disability. She suffers from atherosclerosis of the brain vessels, a poisonous endemic goiter that has been operated on several times since her youth. Her nurse is Elza Simonyan, who visits her every week and provides her with the monthly medication: Betaserc 24 mg N20, Concor 5 mg N25, Eutirox 25 mg N20, Cavinton Forte N60.
She is also included in the service list of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Resettlement, whose social workers also visit her and do all kind of housework. They deliver the monthly food provided by Hanganak. “The food received from Hanganak is enough for the whole month,” Elmira says.
Her pension is 44,000 AMD. In addition, she receives another 6,000 drams monthly from Stepanakert branch of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The apartment is heated by an electric heater. She pays the bill from her pension and heating compensation sum received from Hanganak.
She expresses her deepest gratitude to the benefactors, organization management and the entire staff for their support and considerable relief from problems.