Marine Martirosyan
“Every time a gas
tank blows, we think it’s as a bomb. The situation? It’s really bad there,”
says Arpi, who then remains silent. Even though Arpi and her family arrived
from Aleppo five days ago, they still live in fear. Any loud noise is perceived
as a bomb, a threat. Arpi Bardakjian and Hovhannes Maranian say they took their
two kids and left their home to come to the fatherland. It’s their first time
in Armenia. They prefer to talk about Yerevan than Aleppo.
They find it hard to talk about the war raging in Syria.
As we talk, their two kids Yeghia and Araz are playing
nearby. Arpi says the kids have seen their share of the results of war back in
Syria. On the day they left for the airport, says Arpi, the children saw
corpses and blood on the road and in cars. The mother describes all this
calmly. But then, her eyes turn red.
Arpi says her boy Yeghia was constantly crying after
witnessing such a scene. In fact, the children never left their house in the
Aleppo neighborhood of Nor Kyugh for months out of fear.
Starting last year, the children would go to school with
battles raging around them. They’d attend class for two days and then spend the
next two weeks at home. The shelling would get so intense that going outside
was out of the question.
Arpi tells me that there hasn’t been water or electricity
in Aleppo for two months. They had to purchase water for drinking and household
use.
Only two families were left in their building. During the
shelling, they would take cover in a room on the ground floor where it was
relatively safe. The couple say that oftentimes they were caught off guard and
couldn’t make it downstairs.
They recollect that for days on end the bombs came down
like rain. There was no let up. Their doors and windows were blown out.
“It’s war, a bad situation. They all want to come to
Armenia but don’t have the money,” says Mr. Maranian, adding that they made it
to Armenia with the help of a family friend.
Today, they rent an apartment in the outlying Davtashen
district of Yerevan.
It will take a while for the couple to find their footing
before looking for work. Hovhannes used to sell grocery items in Aleppo. Before
that he made stoves.
The children are already going to school. Yeghia is in
the sixth grade and Araz the first. During our talk, Araz was running around
with a toy gun in hand. Arpi said that back in Aleppo, Araz saw loads of people
carrying guns. She saw it as a normal occurrence.
Hovhannes tells me that the family has no plans to return
to Aleppo. They don’t know if the city and the country will ever see peace
again. He plans to bring his parents to Armenia as well.
“It’s sad that we left our homes. We are happy here. If
we can find work, even better,” he says.
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