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There is Nothing for Us in the Village
October 10, 2005
"I'm not going to pretend and say this is my birthplace and I would never
leave. If I have nothing to do here, how long can I admire the trees and
bushes? Judge for yourselves. My peers in the city have achieved so much.
They've graduated from university, are working, and some have even married.
And me.."
The village of Ditavan in the Tavush Marz is close to the sky. Here the day
begins when the sun rises and ends when it sets. The small village, curled
next to a forest, has become even smaller in recent years, as a result of
the many problems it faces. You won't hear children in the streets--they're
helping their parents with farm work. There are hardly any young people here
at all. Hermes and Felix are the last of their group of friends left in the
village. After finishing high school, Hermes was accepted at Yerevan's
Polytechnic Institute, but he couldn't afford the tuition. Felix didn't even
try.
"I had very good grades in school, which my teachers will confirm, but
that's not enough to be accepted to university," he explained. " I felt that
when I went to school in a neighboring village, after finishing the eighth
grade here, and saw how poor the level of education was at my school. For
instance, our foreign language teacher didn't even have a university
education. How could I think about higher education with the knowledge that
he gave me? I wanted to study in the law department at Yerevan State
University, where high grades in a foreign language are a must."
Talking to Felix and Hermes, it's hard to believe that they don't have
higher education. They are knowledgeable about literature and history, and
are interested in astronomy.
"There's nothing keeping us here. If there were an opportunity, we would
leave for the city right now. There's nothing to do here. In warm weather we
work on the land, and in winter we bring wood from the forest. At our age
it's boring, even sickening. We don't go to the library anymore. There isn't
a book we haven't read. We have a better library at home. We fight boredom
with books. Unfortunately, we don't know about modern literature. We can't
buy it. There's a dire need for information in the village. First of all, we
only get a few TV channels here. Second, we only get newspapers when the
pensions arrive, and that is always late. We are not saying that we would
leave the village forever; that's not possible. It's our birthplace, and
there are many things that connect us to this place."
Felix and Hermes say that time passes more quickly in the summer. That's
when tourists and people who have moved away visit the village, giving the
young men a chance to make new friends, and find out about life in the city
and the interests of young people there.
"If we were in the city, maybe we wouldn't think about what to do, how to
spend out time. Of course, when we talk with our peers from the city we
understand that they have more opportunities than we do. For instance, they
have homes in the city. W we tried to go and work in the city several times,
but we had to give most of our salary for the rent. And we couldn't help our
relatives in the village, which is the first goal for everyone who leaves
home."
Felix and Hermes think it will take a miracle before village life in the far
corners of Armenia improves. They are afraid that they will never be able to
read the books and magazines or do the kind of work that they want to, in
short, that they'll never find a way to quit accepting what life has given
them, and make a change.
Lusine Balyan, Anahit Vardanyan
http://hetq.am/eng/society/0510-dit1.html
There is Nothing for Us in the Village
October 10, 2005
"I'm not going to pretend and say this is my birthplace and I would never
leave. If I have nothing to do here, how long can I admire the trees and
bushes? Judge for yourselves. My peers in the city have achieved so much.
They've graduated from university, are working, and some have even married.
And me.."
The village of Ditavan in the Tavush Marz is close to the sky. Here the day
begins when the sun rises and ends when it sets. The small village, curled
next to a forest, has become even smaller in recent years, as a result of
the many problems it faces. You won't hear children in the streets--they're
helping their parents with farm work. There are hardly any young people here
at all. Hermes and Felix are the last of their group of friends left in the
village. After finishing high school, Hermes was accepted at Yerevan's
Polytechnic Institute, but he couldn't afford the tuition. Felix didn't even
try.
"I had very good grades in school, which my teachers will confirm, but
that's not enough to be accepted to university," he explained. " I felt that
when I went to school in a neighboring village, after finishing the eighth
grade here, and saw how poor the level of education was at my school. For
instance, our foreign language teacher didn't even have a university
education. How could I think about higher education with the knowledge that
he gave me? I wanted to study in the law department at Yerevan State
University, where high grades in a foreign language are a must."
Talking to Felix and Hermes, it's hard to believe that they don't have
higher education. They are knowledgeable about literature and history, and
are interested in astronomy.
"There's nothing keeping us here. If there were an opportunity, we would
leave for the city right now. There's nothing to do here. In warm weather we
work on the land, and in winter we bring wood from the forest. At our age
it's boring, even sickening. We don't go to the library anymore. There isn't
a book we haven't read. We have a better library at home. We fight boredom
with books. Unfortunately, we don't know about modern literature. We can't
buy it. There's a dire need for information in the village. First of all, we
only get a few TV channels here. Second, we only get newspapers when the
pensions arrive, and that is always late. We are not saying that we would
leave the village forever; that's not possible. It's our birthplace, and
there are many things that connect us to this place."
Felix and Hermes say that time passes more quickly in the summer. That's
when tourists and people who have moved away visit the village, giving the
young men a chance to make new friends, and find out about life in the city
and the interests of young people there.
"If we were in the city, maybe we wouldn't think about what to do, how to
spend out time. Of course, when we talk with our peers from the city we
understand that they have more opportunities than we do. For instance, they
have homes in the city. W we tried to go and work in the city several times,
but we had to give most of our salary for the rent. And we couldn't help our
relatives in the village, which is the first goal for everyone who leaves
home."
Felix and Hermes think it will take a miracle before village life in the far
corners of Armenia improves. They are afraid that they will never be able to
read the books and magazines or do the kind of work that they want to, in
short, that they'll never find a way to quit accepting what life has given
them, and make a change.
Lusine Balyan, Anahit Vardanyan
http://hetq.am/eng/society/0510-dit1.html