Reference :
V-P-AM-E-00530
Date :
18/05/2021
Caption :
Tavush Marz, Aghavnavank village. A little girl gives milk to a baby cow. She, her mother and her sister had to flee their home due to the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in autumn 2020.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
ICRC's website, article, 23.11.2021.
“This girl is growing up amidst the hardship. She turns everything into a game, carrying bottles of water to the kitchen, tending the rabbits, feeding the baby calves milk. She helps her mother with chores in her own playful manner. Her mother is not sure if she realizes what has happened to her family.
For her mother, displacement is not a novel experience. This is the second time in her life she has had to bear the brunt of losing a home. From the death of loved ones to losing the home she built, the horrors of war have plagued the 44-year-old's life indiscriminately. She has experienced a lot of pain and suffering in her life due to conflict. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which sparked a cycle of violence in the early 1990s, kept inflicting hardship on the lives of civilians for decades. The latest escalation in the autumn of 2020 forced thousands of civilians to flee, including her. She recalls the day she had to leave her house, which she had been building for twelve years: “I took my pets and a few blankets with me. You start building a house, enjoying life and then everything falls apart. It's crazy to think you breathe in and accumulate everything and then it becomes more than you can handle.”
Living in a ramshackle house, she is trying to reconcile to her new life in the village of Aghavnavank. "When we came to this house, it was falling apart and there was nothing in it," she said. "I had to clean it all up and turn it into an abode suitable for living. Every day is a struggle."
"I have always lived my life independently, doing whatever was necessary to stay afloat," she said. "From cleaning jobs to gardening to farming, I have done it all." Today, she does no less. As a single mother to two girls, she wakes up with the dawn to take care of her cattle, bakes bread, and looks after her children. She is worried about the security and education of her daughters who have missed several months of school because of the conflict. The hostilities have had a huge psychological impact on the children, especially on her elder daughter. For a long time, she did not attend classes at her new school.”
Resolution :
6240x4160
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
