Mobile reporting from Armenia’s second largest city

Vartik Ghukasyan is 71 and alone. An orphan, she never married and now struggles to live on a pension of 25,000 AMD (about £30) a month in a rundown hostel in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city still reeling from the devastating 1988 earthquake and the economic collapse following the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Official statistics from the 2001 census puts the population of what used to be the cultural heart of the country at 150,000. Some even say it might have grown to 160-170,000 in the eight years that have followed, but few local residents take such claims seriously. Pointing to low school attendance figures, they estimate the actual population might be no more than 70,000.

And it’s not hard to see why. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars that flooded into the city to finance reconstruction after the earthquake which left around 25,000 people dead and many more homeless, Gyumri is the center of Shirak, a region that most in Armenia have forgotten. Impoverished, and with unemployment higher than the national average, travel agents continue to advertise flights to parts of Russia from the local airport. As in many other parts of Armenia, with few job prospects inside the country, the only hope lies outside.

But, in the environment of a global economic crisis, there are now also fewer opportunities even there.

The full post accompanied by photos, tweets and a video interview with Caritas Armenia (also below) is available on the Frontline Club. The post also demonstrates how mobile phones could be used for mobile reporting in the regions of Armenia in light of a lack of extensive coverage in the local mainstream media.

However, an article will also be published in Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso in the coming weeks accompanied by photographs taken with D-SLR. Until then, some photos from the Art Therapy Class at the Caritas Armenia Aregak Day Center for Disable Children are below.

27 children having multiple disabilities visit the centre, where they have the opportunity to take part in a number activities, which greatly contributes to their development.

Art therapy plays an important role in the activities of the centre, which allows children to express themselves by colors. The paintings of the children were exhibited, which was a step towards integrating disabled children into society.

“Art therapy is an important part of social culture. In promotes mental, psychological and physical development of a person. It helps the person to express, to solve the inner conflicts and problems and to discover the strengths by involving in creative process. In our context Art Therapy provides access to disabled children into the open society”, Aleksey Manukyan, Aregak Art Therapist said.