The New Home the Men of Artsakh Built

A group of men from Artsakh have been hard at work for almost four months, building new homes for their families after being forcibly displaced. The construction materials were donated, the hard labor was performed by the men from Artsakh. The old hospital, which is under the Ararat regional administration, was given to the families from Artsakh after they requested it. 

Now, only the outer walls of the old building remain. The interior has been entirely transformed. After gutting the interior and reimagining it, the building now houses eight apartments. “Arsen and I did the electrical work, Simon did the tiling, Alik did all the plaster work. The other guys helped with what they could,” says Gregori Marinyan, one of the building’s new residents.

Simon Ghahramanyan

I’m young and I’m a man; point to any place on the map and I can build and live there. I don’t have the same limitations as the children, the elderly, the women. Just think how many women are now left without their husbands. My sister’s husband Gagik Balayan was from Martuni. He died during the Azerbaijani provocations during the blockade on June 28, 2023. His father had died during the first war. Now, there are no men left in my sister’s family. 

When we first arrived in Masis, everything was uncertain, and we were looking for solutions. I informed the municipality about my sister’s situation, explaining that she and her family needed a place to live, and that I could build a house for them. They said, no problem. 

Andranik Israelyan

I’m originally from Getashen and have been displaced three times: first from Shahumyan region, then from Nor Getashen, and most recently from Martakert. 

Three of us will live here. We’ve arranged the space to make everything as comfortable as possible. I’m a builder and a designer by profession, but I’ve served many years in the military. I could never imagine that I’d be where I am now and that my skills would come in handy. Dealing with our losses has been very hard for all of us, but I can say that this work has brought us relief, at least temporarily, allowing us to process our loss.

Gregori Marinyan

Five of us will be living here. I previously worked at Artsakh’s electric company and I’ll be taking care of the electrical work here as well. 

In Artsakh, I built two houses; one was damaged three times in wars, and I rebuilt it each time so that my family could go on living. While we were renting in Yerevan, I commuted to Masis every day. We finally moved here. I am now repairing an old washing machine so that we can use it. My wife’s mother makes pillows. We still need so many items and there is still so much to be done! The men are now almost finished with their tasks, and it is almost time for the women to take over [laughing].

Armen Babajanyan

I used to work at the Artsakh’s electric company, servicing the gas supply network. My family and I lived in a rented apartment in Masis while finishing construction on our new home. Once the work was completed, we moved in. It was a lot of work, but we managed. 

Our house in Martuni completely burned down in 1992, but we rebuilt it. During the 44 Day War, it was hit by a rocket. We rebuilt it once again, furnished it again, and then left everything to come here. 

This house is nearly complete, with only a few minor things to take care of. The next step is for the men in the family to find jobs so we can do more than just keep a roof over our heads –– we need to make a living. We are starting from scratch again, and we hope this will be the last time.

Erik Karapetyan

At 17, I am the youngest one in the project. There are five people in my family and we will be living here, so I helped with the construction as much as I could. My role was mainly doing hard labor and doing whatever tasks my bosses would tell me to do [laughs]. We are still adjusting to this new place. We all took out loans to buy things for our homes and are figuring out how to make it work. 

Back in Artsakh, I was studying to become a car electrician, but I doubt I will continue my education here. My father is older and I did not want him to do backbreaking work, so I took on the role of the worker in the family. 

We are currently renting in the city of Abovyan. Our house is built but there is no furniture. We need employment to gradually buy the necessary items. Otherwise, everything is ready. I even took care of the cleaning, to spare my mother, who works at the cognac factory and gets tired. How could I allow her to come clean up after me? 

Mher Muradyan

We are a family of six. Up until now, we have been technically renting, but we only paid for utilities, not rent. A few minor things still need to be done, like installing baseboards and a couple of other things. 

We have a baby. On our drive to Armenia on September 24, I held the steering wheel with one hand and a baby bottle with the other. When it was feeding time, I would cool the bottle by holding it outside the window. The memories of those hours on the road are still raw. 

My wife is happy with the work we have done on our home. She is currently packing, getting ready for us to move in tomorrow. 

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Meline Balayan hopes that moving will also be an opportunity for her family to begin healing from the deep scars inflicted by the war. 

My youngest son used to refuse to sleep without first talking to his father. Even when my husband was on duty, they would talk on the phone. After his death, my son fell into a pattern of high fever, incessant crying, sleeplessness, all the while repeating, “my father, my father”.  Then came the displacement and constant moving from one place to the other. Maybe now we can have a place of our own and a chance to breathe. 

Fourteen-year-old Susanna is hanging up photos on the wall of her room. “A real home needs to have photos on its walls,” she says. It is hard to believe that only four months ago, her new home was the dilapidated Masis infectious diseases hospital.