They rarely see their husbands
"Husbands rarely get to spend time with their wives for a year in their 15-year marriage," says 53-year old resident of Azatan community of Shirak region Dunya Melkonyan, adding that the same will happen to her young daughter-in-law. "They were only married for a month when my son left," says Melkonyan.
Shirak region is known as the region with the most number of male citizens traveling to Russia in search of jobs and every year, 400-500 men of Azatan community with a population of 5,700 leave for work abroad.
According to head of the Azatan community Vardan Ikilikyan, the high number is due to the lack of jobs in the village. "Men are mainly involved in agriculture and they cultivate the potato fields. But this year, many villagers refused to cultivate the potato fields because they didn't receive any income last year due to the low prices," said the village head.
Women and children take on the burden of cultivating the land when the husbands leave for work abroad. The women of the village don't complain as much about the hard labor as they do about their husbands' absence. "Those leaving for abroad are the youth. They get married and leave for work abroad in two months. What can they do? They have to make a living," says resident of Azatan community Svetlana Mkrtchyan.
According to coordinator of the migration information center of Shirak region of the "People In Need" (PIN) Armenia branch Alvard Minasyan, within the framework of the "Reinforcement of Migration Flow Management in Armenia" project, PIN supports those returning by organizing training courses, providing consultations in different spheres and grants to start their own businesses. "We provide 1,800,000 drams worth of equipment for those presenting the project and five people of our region have already opened their businesses, including a barber shop, an Internet club and more," says Alvard Minasyan.
However, according to the center correspondent, only three out of them continue working, while the other two prefer to leave after receiving a better offer abroad. "In many cases, citizens are not aware of the center's programs and those who are don't tell the others," says the center's coordinator.
While migration information centers are doing everything possible to provide citizens of Armenia with information about their status and potential problems in order to encourage them to return, there are also organizations that offer good jobs out of the country and even suggest that they leave with their families.
Citizen of Gyumri Karen Hambardzumyan assured that he has personally received a brochure with such a proposal. "They encourage people in every way. I have seen the brochure stating Putin's decree. There are different jobs according to your profession," says Hambardzumyan.
