The interview took place in September 2022.
Larisa was born on December 25th, 1945 in the village of Taghavard, Martuni region. She was the fifth child out of five children in the family. Her father was a farmer and mother was a housewife.
In 1962, after graduating from Taghavard Secondary school, she entered the Faculty of Pedagogy and Primary Education at the Pedagogical University after Lenin in Baku. After graduating from the university in 1966, she moved to Shamkhor region of Azerbaijan for two years, where at that time were 7 Armenian villages with their schools. It was in one of those schools that Larisa had her teaching practice.
After completing her practice in 1968, Larisa returned to Taghavard and started to work at school in the neighboring Zardarashen village until her retirement. She has 44 years of pedagogical experience.
After moving to her native village, Larisa devoted her life to her parents, leaving her personal life in the background.
Larisa’s mother died in 1982, and her father in 1998 and Larisa never married.
Larisa was forced to leave her native Taghavard and move to Armenia in October, 2020, during the third Artsakh war. She was accommodated in one of Dilijan’s guest houses. After the war, in November 2020, Larisa returned to Stepanakert, but already deprived of her native village, as that part of Taghavard also remained under the control of enemy. The government of Artsakh accommodated her in the Lotus Hotel, where she is still living.
Larisa has been a beneficiary of Hanganak NGO since January 2021, when the Stepanakert’s program was expanded by the decision of the Armenian Women’s Welfare Association, and a decision was made to include into the Elderly project displaced lonely elderly people living in Artsakh, particularly in Stepanakert.
Her pension is 75000 drams, of which 11500 drams is provided as a single pensioner’s allowance. Larisa suffers from hypertension, has scoliosis of the spine, and vision problems. She receives Triplixam, Nevanac eye drops from Hanganak.
She expresses her gratitude to the benefactors of Hanganak and the entire staff who, living in this difficult and uncertain situation in Artsakh, are able to put aside their everyday challenges and live with the care of each beneficiary.