When a young woman with an infant entered the room, it immediately lit up with warmth and coziness. She introduced herself with a smile: “I am Ira Hayrapetyan from Shushi. This is my daughter Mary. She is a bit over a month old. She is exactly 40-day-old.”

Two days after the start of the war, Ira and her family left the city and headed for Yerevan. “It was already clear that it was not a war of a few days, everything was much more serious than one could imagine. I was pregnant, and we couldn’t stay in that horror,” Ira says. Ira puts a special emphasis on the phrase “I was pregnant.” This long-awaited second pregnancy came after 14 years since the birth of their first child, David. She came to Yerevan in the third month of pregnancy.

Ira is from Stepanakert. Here, she met her future husband, Seryozha, who’s from Gyumri. Now he serves in the legendary military unit “Yeghnikner.” Ira is a musician, a vocalist; she taught at music school, sang in the State Chamber Choir and worked in a cultural center. When asked why she decided to move to Shushi after leaving Stepanakert, she said: “I often visited the city in my childhood. I was singing in “Varanda,” the local children’s choir. This city always captivated and lured me in; there’s something magnetic about it. It has a different atmosphere, another cultural climate and air. Here, one wants to breathe in deep and to be creative. My father was fighting for liberation of Shushi during the first Artsakh war.”

Ira’s house had a picturesque view of the city panorama. According to her, from there, one could see the Gazanchetsots Cathedral and Saint John the Baptist Church (known among people as Kanach Zham Church – “Green Church” – as in old times the dome used to be green) and Katarot (Jdrduz) – an incredibly beautiful field on top of the cliffs. “From my house, one could feel the whole power and energy of Shushi. And, oh, those stars… You wouldn’t believe me, but the stars are so close to you in the sky over Shushi. It seems they are right above you, kissing and embracing you,” Ira says.

Unlike many others who moved to Yerevan from Artsakh, Ira got used to the new environment easily. Her friends, her family and workshops of the Prolife NGO played a great role in her adaptation. The latter provided psychological support to Artsakh women. And thanks to the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, essentials were given to the pregnant women and newborns from Artsakh.

Owing to her natural optimism, Ira doesn’t like complaining of the difficulties of life. She thinks still that the glass is half-full. “In fact, one can’t bring back what’s been lost, and children have to be raised. I need to help my son, raise my newborn and support my husband,” Ira continues with the same positive vibe. “It’s fine for me that the stars in Yerevan are so far away. The most important thing is that they are still there, in the sky, every night, and then, a peaceful morning comes. And this is great happiness, which one should be able to appreciate”.

 

Note

• The Prolife Healthcare NGO was founded in August 2020. The main goal of the NGO is to prevent abortion.

• The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative allocated USD 10,000 (AMD 5.2 million) to the NGO to provide pregnant women and newborns from Artsakh with essential packages.

 

Eleonora Malkhasyan