Habitat international board leader to build in Armenia

Construction volunteers, including Habitat for Humanity international board chair Ron Terwilliger, will converge on the village of Nshavan the week beginning 6 October for a World Habitat Build that will mark the start of a unprecedented project to eradicate poverty housing in this agricultural enclave of 2,400.

“Habitat for Humanity Armenia seeks to serve exponentially more families in need throughout all of Armenia, and I’m honored to join the families, volunteers and other partners in Nshavan to help observe World Habitat Day and our collective effort to improve the living conditions of families who seek safe, secure places to sleep at night,” Terwilliger said.

The United Nations-designated World Habitat Day on Monday, 6 October, calls for the recognition of the state of human settlements and the basic need for adequate shelter for all. Habitat for Humanity’s World Habitat Build in Nshavan, about 40 minutes outside the capital city of Yerevan, will mark the observance throughout the week to accommodate various groups of volunteers who will help finish the half-built houses of two families and mark the launch of a communitywide strategy to eradicate poverty housing.

“What we’re doing at the World Habitat Build in Nshavan will help draw attention to the plight of families in need throughout Armenia who need a simple, decent place to live,” said Habitat for Humanity Armenia executive director Irina Vanyan. “In Nshavan, Habitat for Humanity and its volunteers will be offering families a hand up, not a handout. Habitat’s self-help approach has worked for nearly 300,000 families in more than 90 countries, and it’s working in Nshavan and throughout Armenia.”

Habitat for Humanity earlier this year recommitted itself to improving housing conditions in Armenia, where about 40 percent of its 3 million population live in substandard shelter. In addition to Nshavan, Habitat is tackling a communitywide project in Khachik, not far from the border with Azerbaijan. Also, a partnership with a Yerevan-based mortgage lender is issuing the first of an anticipated 1,200 home-improvement loans to families during the next two years in the Armivir province towns of Nor Armavir, Mrgashat and Sardarabat and in Artashat in the Ararat province.

While Ron Terwilliger and scores of in-country volunteers will do most of the building at Nshavan during the World Habitat Build week, Habitat for Humanity Armenia plans to soon begin offering Global Village trips to the fertile village, where most residents grow fruits and vegetables that are sold in nearby Yerevan. The schedule of trips, popular with teams from the United States, Europe and elsewhere, will be posted soon on www.habitat.am.

“Armenia is an attractive place to build houses and get close to the nature and roots of humanity and community spirit,” said Laura Ferent, Global Village manager for Habitat for Humanity Europe and Central Asia. “It was the first country in the world to officially adopt Christianity, and it’s a great place to work side by side with families in need.”

In Nshavan, the need for adequate shelter abounds. As much as 70 percent of the community’s housing stock is need of rebuilding or serious renovation, said Marzpet Hakobyan, Nshavan’s mayor. Fully 30 percent does not meet minimum building standards, he said.

Eight people live in the “domik” belonging to Norik Yegiazaryan – he and his wife, his daughter and her two children, and his son and his wife and child. The domik, a haphazard amalgam of sheet metal, wood paneling and concrete blocks on a hardpacked dirt floor, reaches dangerously high temperatures in the summer, cooled by only a single electric fan with no guard over the blades. In the winter, the family shells out about $80 a month for electric heat; it’s far more than they would pay for gas heat, but gas connections to domiks aren’t allowed.

Despite the industriousness of the Yegiazaryan family – they tend a fruitful garden, the son repairs cars and the daughter works at an optical shop – they feel trapped.

“We tried to get housing loans before, but nobody would listen,” said Ani, Norik’s wife. The family has built a good credit record borrowing small agriculture loans and is optimistic it can afford a mortgage, but it cannot find a lender offering affordable terms.

Nearby, Vruyr Martirosyan, his wife Hayastan and their two sons eat and sleep in their half-built home, each of the rooms marked by sturdy block walls but without flooring or roofing.

A policeman with a finely manicured garden and cages full of hens and pigeons, Vruyr sold a car to start the house’s construction but soon exhausted his building fund. He cannot find a financial institution to get a loan to finish the work.

“I’m doing this step by step,” he said. “It’s slow, but I’m doing what I can. If I can finish these rooms,” he added, breaking into a smile, “maybe we can have a girl.”

Like any good mayor, Hakobyan, Nshavan’s leader for seven years, is concerned about the health, education and welfare of the Yegiazaryans, the Martirosyans and the other citizens of his beloved village. He said he thinks his community’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity will go a long way toward transforming Nshavan for the better.

“The condition of the people depends on the condition of their housing,” Hakobyan said. “If our housing is better, a big part of the social problems we have will be solved.”

To keep up on the latest information on the World Habitat Build, other progress in Nshavan and the upcoming schedule of Global Village trips, be sure to check www.habitat.am regularly.