Aghajanyans were living in a 20sq.m metal container in Khor Virap, Ararat region. They had later added a small stone construction to the metal domik. There was no separate kitchen, no bathroom. It was very hard to grow children in an overcrowded domik, without sanitation and water lines. Because of the low thermo-insulation winters were severely cold and summers were extremely hot. In rainy seasons the water was leaking in through the decrepit, moldy roof. There was no air ventilation, and no proper lighting. The children had no place to study. Because of the small space the children contracted viruses, especially flu, easier.

The life in a domik ended with a tragedy for the family. As the electricity lines were not properly installed in the domik, Gegham’s first wife - the mother of his 3 children got an electric shock and passed away.

Gegham has started to build a house but his income from his work as a wielder and agriculture was not enough to finish it.

They learned from a neighbour that Habitat could help them complete their unfinished house, applied and were selected. Lots of community volunteers gave them a hand.

In 2006 they moved into their nice and secure stone house, full of light.

The new home has been a part of the miracle that happened to them. The second wife of Gegham who became  a caring mother for Gegham’s children could not have her own children. So she could not believe her happiness when her doctor confirmed she was pregnant.

Little Mariam was born in the new house and is surrounded by the love and care of her mother, father and 3 sisters.

Habitat continues to work in Khor Virap community and has already served 8 families!

“See, now we have place to play with our cousins and invite guests”, enthusiastically said David, who is already 14. He remembers their life in domik very well. He felt very shy to invite his classmates to their home, as it was so small, stuffy and rusty.

He and his sister both go to school. It is so much easier to prepare the homework in their own room, full of light. In the domik there was no adequate lighting, and they had one table for homework, dinner and ironing. The sister, Gohar, will finish school next year. She wants to go to college. She knows she has to study hard for that, now she has all A’s at high school.

Apart from studies, she has to help her mother around the house, but they both do the housework and cooking with pleasure now – as they have a nice kitchen.

They get their income from growing potatoes and cabbage. They also have calves.

Andranik, their father, went to Russia for the construction season; he will be back before long.

Their repayment rate is 100%. They feel very responsible about this as they know that the amount is going to help another family in our country.

Hi, My name is Julietta. I am seven years old, the youngest in our family. I live with my mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and my elder brother Hambardzum. My mom and dad are doing farming and gardening, we grow wheat and potatoes. My brother and I go to our village school.

Our house is made of stone. It is an old house; my father was born here too! We have 2 bedrooms and a living room.

I like our village and our house a lot, especially in summer, when it is not raining. I don’t like rain because every time there is a rain, water leaks in to our house and we have to put bowls on floor to protect it. But our walls get humid and my grandma says that the walls will crack if they get too humid. My grandpa always says it is because our roof is broken but we cannot fix it now because we need more money. Also, he said that in old times they made the roof from asbestos, which is very bad for our health.

Our neighbor Gevorg told us Habitat for Humanity Armenia could help us, so my father put our family in the list he was taking to Habitat. After some time Habitat people came and looked at our house, took pictures and asked a lot of questions. Later they called us and told us that we were selected.

Now we are taking down our broken roof and putting a new one, from metal, which will serve us for a long time. Our neighbors and Habitat people are helping us a lot. My father says that next year we will go to help our neighbors too when Habitat comes to build their house.

I am very excited. There seems to be little work left and our new roof is shining in the sun. I know that it will protect us well when the autumn rains start and I will not be afraid of rain any more.

Thank you, Habitat

The motto of HFH Armenia is “To build homes, communities and a Homeland”.
And “Community Without Homelessness” is the motto of Vayots Dzor affiliate of Habitat Armenia. Our efforts are directed to transform our communities into places where every family has a decent home. 

HFH Vayots Dzor has a map that shows the size of homelessness in all communities of the region. Recently, we have deleted from the map the name of one community, Aghavnadzor, which more has no more homeless families.

Habitat started to build homes in Aghavnadzor since 2004. So far 15 families have been served.

The last homeless family in Aghavnadzor village, the Harutyunyans’ family, built their own house with the help of Habitat program.  

According to Armenian tradition the youngest son lives with his parents and inherits his parents home. So, Hektor was the eldest son in the family and he had to leave his parents’ house and live with his family in a metal container for more than 10 years without basic amenities. It was terribly cold in the winters and unbearably hot in summer. Their third son was born there.

Hektor had never even thought that he could have his own home because Habitat worked only with families that owned semi-built constructions. Hektor loved his native village. With his wife he struggled against difficulties for 10 years, and never gave up, never left the village. He was always hopeful .

All the village helped him to start his house so that he could qualify for the program of "Half-built" houses.
He hdid not stop the construction works even in the cold days of December. He built the walls, made the roof together with his wife in order to complete the construction and meet the spring in his own and comfortable home.

In September 2007 they had a homeblessing ceremony and moved into their decent, affordable house.

We express our gratitude to the people of good will, who assist  to build  home, community, Motherland by  inputting their  efforts and funds.