The interview took place in June 2019.
Lousatsin was born in 1952 in Leninakan (now Gyumri), in a laborer’s family. Her ancestors are from Western Armenia. They escaped the Genocide and moved to the Middle East. Her father was born in Beirut in 1928 and her mother was born in Syria in 1932. In 1948, her father and mother’s families moved to the Soviet Armenia for permanent residence.
They settled in Leninakan and represented the first wave of repatriation. Her parents met there and got married with the help of their mothers. The father was a skilled locksmith and her mother was a weaver. There were three children in the family: two daughters and a boy, Lousatsin was the youngest. The family moved to Yerevan in 1960 and Lousatsin graduated from Yerevan’s No. 86 drawing school. After graduation, she attended two-year French and English courses.
Afterwards, she worked at Yerevan Electro-technical Plant first as a technician and then as an engineer.
In 1987 Lousatsin met her future husband, Ruben Kh-n, who was originally from Karabakh, and moved to Stepanakert after getting married. Lousatsin received the position of a secretary at the Department of Culture in the Municipality.
Lousatsin was very happy with her husband, but unfortunately, her happiness did not last long. Ruben had cancer and died in summer 1991. This short period was so meaningful to them and full of mutual love that it seemed to them they had shared a whole life together. She got so much love and affection from her husband that she still feels his presence. She has not even remodeled the apartment to preserve the spirit of the house that her husband renovated years ago.
Lousatsin worked at the Department of Culture as a secretary from 1994-1996, then from 1998 to 2015 she worked in Stepanakert Nursing Home as a maid. She was very dedicated to her work; she helped the elderly, communicated and dispelled them and her loneliness. She was aware of Hanganak from the Nursing Home but the details were provided by her neighbor, Agnesa H., who has been one of the first beneficiaries of the organization. Lousatsin applied to Hanganak in 2017. Hanganak team kingly registered her and enrolled her some time later. Hanganak membership gave her confidence, support and care, things that have been missing for a long time.
Lousatsin lives in a two-room apartment that was left from her husband. The house is heated by electricity. The bill is paid with Hanganak’s heating compensation. She considers her health condition satisfactory, though she suffers from arthritis, varicose disease and neurosis. The medicine is provided by Hanganak. She rarely attends the policlinic, Hanganak’s doctor consults her. She is very satisfied and grateful to her nurse Elsa Nersisyan. The food provided by the organization is sufficient for the whole month.
The pension is 60,000 AMD. Lousatsin says she saves a lot.
He has not participated in Hanganak’s events yet as she usually travels to Yerevan on holidays to visit her relatives. She speaks of benefactors with great enthusiasm and excitement, as her ancestors also come from Western Armenia. She remembers her father stories about Sebastia’s massacres when his whole dynasty was slaughtered in front of his grandfather.
She is now very grateful to the benefactors for their patriotic and humanitarian activities.
“God bless them,” says Lousatsin. “I am also grateful to the entire Hanganak team for their kind attitude,” she adds.