Anna’s bakery sweetens future prospects for her family

Anna Gueghamyan, 45, wife, mother of three boys and now successful bakery owner is proving that the modern Armenian woman can run a household, nurture her family and also contribute financially by starting up a small business. Her much-demanded sweet Armenian pastry gata is testimony of her skill, hard work and determination to succeed.

The delicious smell of a newly baked gata – traditional Armenian sweet pastry – can attract even the most indifferent visitor to Anna Gueghamyan’s bakery.

Anna is holding her baked gata.

Forty-five-year-old Anna initially started her small bakery business to financially support her family, but she has since realised that running a business has given her a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction that she has longed for since giving up her teaching job in the capital Yerevan after starting a family.

“My husband didn’t want me to work. He earned enough money and I was to take care of our children”, remembers Anna.

“The kids were small and they needed much care and attention. I was afraid she couldn’t manage both the household and some other job”, confesses Anna’s husband, 45-year-old Artur Hambardzumyan.

The role of women in Armenian society has been diverse during various periods of upheaval in the country’s history. Yet one thing remains unchanged: in Armenian culture women have always been the guardians of the family’s integrity, performing their maternal roles as nurturers, carers and protectors, and transferring family values and traditions from generation to generation.

As Anna’s family grew, so too did their needs and expenses. Anna’s husband was the only breadwinner and his earnings fell short of meeting the family needs – a situation that can be seen right across Armenia as a result of the transition from a centrally-planned to a market economy, which has plunged many families into serious economic and social problems.

“I was eager to help my husband to earn some money. I thought of doing something at home, so I didn’t have to leave my children. I decided to bake gata and then sell it,” says Anna.

Gata is a mildly sweet, flat, bready cake of flaky dough with a filling of butter, sugar and flour. It is a common centre piece of the Armenian table at weddings and other ceremonies. The most important quality of this dessert is that it can be kept for a long time and doesn’t easily spoil.

Sleepless nights and tiresome days ensued as the smell of the home-made pastry filled the family’s small one-room apartment. Anna would bake gata while her husband tried to sell it in their neighbourhood.

“The job was exhausting and needed much patience. I sometimes felt my husband’s deep disappointment. Several times he even tried to persuade me to give up the idea,” she says.

Anna’s strong will and optimism kept her going. “I was sure our efforts would be rewarded. We just needed to wait for some time and not stop working”.

Anna’s delicious pastry became very popular among local people and as demand increased, Anna also needed to increase supply. At this point Anna decided to take a loan from World Vision’s microfinance institution in Armenia, SEF International.

“Without the SEF loan we would hardly be able to sustain our home business and start this bakery,” says Anna.

SEF International provides loans and financial consultation to sole proprietors, farmers and entrepreneurs with the aim to boost income generation and employment opportunities and ensure sustainable livelihood for families and children. SEF currently operates in the capital Yerevan and in six remote and impoverished areas of Armenia.

Anna’s first loan of 700,000 drams (US$2,300) was used to rent a small place in the suburbs and purchase a larger oven. Anna continued to bake the pastry herself and did everything with her hands. The work was physically exhausting and Anna desperately wanted to purchase a stirring machine to ease the work and increase her capacity.

A second loan of 1,000,000 drams (US$3,280) enabled Anna to buy a mixer and cover other urgent expenses.

“It was a great comfort for me. I didn’t have to do everything with my hands, and it helped increase the production and the quality of the pastry”, says Anna.

Anna’s enormous efforts were not in vain. The bakery started to produce results; it became a small family business where every member of the family made their contribution.

“I confess in the beginning I didn’t believe that our business would prosper. Now I see the results. I am thankful to my wife that she has done it. I am also happy that she has a job she likes and puts so much effort into it”, says Anna’s husband with pride.

Every member in Anna’s family shares the responsibilities and there is a great deal of mutual support. Even the housework, which has been traditionally done by women, is now shared among family members. Everyone feels a part of the household and contributes to its well-being.

Today’s economic climate is dictating new rules and attitudes across Armenia, where traditional family roles of Armenian men and women have been strongly divided; the woman’s place being in the kitchen, and caring for the children and the man’s place in politics and business and supporting the family.

“I am happy that my family believed in me. I could provide a job not only for myself but also my sons. Now they are fully engaged in it and plan to enlarge our business in the future”, says Anna.

Anna’s youngest son studies confectionery in a college. “He wants to acquire some professional knowledge to use for the benefit of the bakery. Whenever he finishes his classes he comes directly to the bakery to help me”, says Anna proudly.

Anna’s two elder sons distribute the pastry to various shops around the city.

And the benefits from the business are multiplying as Anna has been able to employ two more women to work with her in the bakery. Hasmik Melkonyan, 44, mother of three, now works in the bakery in addition to running the family home.

“I am glad that I met Anna. She is a wonderful example that women can do more than is traditionally ascribed to us. I feel happy that I have a job. And I am even thinking of setting up my own business in the future,” says Hasmik.

Women make up more than half the population of Armenia and play a key role in contributing to the development of the country.

”I believe it’s important for a woman to work. It gives her not only financial independence but also opportunity to make connections and do something else apart from everyday household chores. In Armenia the number of female entrepreneurs is growing. I am sure we can have a valuable contribution as we possess an amazingly strong will and patience that men sometimes lack,” says Hasmik.

“I am glad I have a job that I like. It gives me new strengths. I feel important. I feel some independence. I feel confidence”, adds Anna.

“Nowadays, it is very difficult for the man to be the only breadwinner, and women can be of great support to her family’s well-being”.

“A woman should be able to manage and appreciate both her family and her job. I am grateful to my husband and my sons for helping me to achieve all of this,” Anna says with a gentle smile.

Unique magazine to help family practitioners and pediatricians treat children

The first pediatric magazine in Armenia has been launched by World Vision to build the capacity of local health care providers countrywide, particularly in rural communities, to more effectively diagnose and treat children.

A family practitioner of the remote Shaqi village is reviewing the magazine

Published in Armenian language, the “Pediatric News” is targeted at family practitioners and paediatricians that do not read a foreign language and do not have regular access to the Internet.

“The lack of pediatricians is evident in the country. It is very important especially for district pediatricians and family practitioners to maintain knowledge on contemporary approaches to be able to address different health conditions”, says Avetik Harutyunyants, World Vision Armenia Health Department Manager.

Armenian Association of Pediatric Professionals supported the idea of having a professional pediatric magazine and is contributing with the review of the latest information from advanced medical institutions around the world, and translating and adapting it for the magazine.

The magazine will be distributed to health care institutions in the regions of Armenia through World Vision Armenia Area Development Programmes, Armenian Association of Pediatric Professionals, and the Ministry of Health.

Upon the recommendations of Konstandin Ter-Voskanyan, the head of the Armenian Pediatric Association, the General Pediatrician of the country, the magazine focuses on the illnesses that are not well studied in the country, but are both quite common and a serious threat to the lives of children.

“Diagnostic and management of many child diseases require application of new approaches and methods in practical work of physicians. Unfortunately, such information is not always available for many physicians, particularly in Armenian regions.” says Konstandin

Ter-Voskanyan, the head of the Armenian Association of Pediatric Professionals, “The practical application of such methods does not require significant investments and expensive diagnostic equipment, all it requires is the information on these new approaches and methods”, he adds.

The magazine also found support with the Ministry of Health of Armenia, which requested to double the number of the copies (1,000 copies) of the magazine and distribute to medical institutions countrywide.

“Pediatric News” was printed in the frame of the USAID-funded Medical Outreach Programmes, which has also printed some 88,000 copies of educational materials in the Armenian language, which were not previously available to health care providers in rural communities, as well as to the general public.

World Vision hands over rural health care programme to Armenian Government

World Vision Medical Outreach Teams (MOT), which have provided crucial health care to more than 88,000 people in 123 remote villages across Armenia over the past five years will continue their crucial role under the management of the Armenian government from February 2009.

MOU signing by WVA and local authorities

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in Yerevan on December 10 recognises the commitment by the government and local authorities to ensure the continuation of improved access to quality healthcare services in rural Armenian communities.

The USAID-funded MOT project, which started in February 2004, was implemented in the four regions of Tavush, Lori, Gegharkunik, and Syunik.

“The project is not only significant in terms of the results achieved but also in our policy making. The challenges and achievements we witnessed at the beginning of the project had their impact on the strategy development in this field,” said Tatul Hakobyan, Deputy Minister of Health.

MOTs, consisting of general practitioners, gynaecologists, paediatricians, laboratory technicians, and ultrasound specialists, worked together with local health institutions and provided more than 91,000 quality consultations to remote border communities.

According to the MOU, World Vision Armenia will hand over major project assets, including medical equipment and vehicles, to primary health care institutions to ensure the sustainability of the MOT.

Over the five-year period of MOT project implementation more than 88,000 health education materials were developed in Armenian language that were not previously available to rural populations.

Some 53 health facilities were renovated, furnished and equipped to enhance their capacity and provide quality health care services and 63 revolving drug funds were established in communities to increase access to essential pharmaceuticals.

About 300 local health care providers were trained in quality primary health care delivery and 250 active community members were engaged in peer education that lately disseminated the gained knowledge in their communities.

“Pap-Smear testing was initiated by MOT in rural areas, and is now done by cytologists from district level primary health care facilities”, said Arax Hovhannisyan, World Vision Armenia Health Technical Adviser, adding that more than 3,000 Pap-Smear tests have been conducted since the launch of the project as part of a strategy to prevent cervical cancer and other complications.

The MOT project has proven to be a good model of cooperation between international organisations and the Armenian Government, district health facilities and communities with the important goal to profoundly improve and maintain the health and well-being of Armenia’s children and their families.

VIA CHILDREN’S VOICES

“Every happy family is equally happy, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”.

Social issues continue to hinder the lives of people living in impoverished communities of Armenia. Our children are the most vulnerable to hardships and suffer greatly. They perceive more keenly the problems that surround them everyday and become one of the first victims of the existing circumstances.

World Vision seeks to bring into spotlight the problems children face and advocate for the dignified life of children, their families and communities.

In pursuing this goal World Vision initiated a creation of a documentary that advocates for the rights of children by making their voices heard.

Some 36 Armenian children became the voice of the country’s children via this documentary ‘Listen to Me’. The documentary are based on the interviews of Armenian children from the remote areas of the country and Yerevan. The children talked about various topics such as faith, immigration, healthcare, child rights, family, water, bad roads, harsh winters.

The aim of this is to increase public awareness of the children’s concerns and to show the contrast that exists between the capital and the regions of Armenia.

LIVE IN HARMONY

In Armenia children with special needs are often kept away from social interactions to avoid discrimination and harassment. They are deprived of educational and development opportunities open to other children.

Many of them end up in special institutions, which are often unable to work with them effectively for the want of essential technical and methodological resources.

These and other issues of children with special needs have been in the heart of World Vision Armenia’s activities since 1999.

To achieve utmost efficiency in assisting such children, World Vision adopted a multi-sector approach: preventing institutionalization of children through the provision of social assistance to vulnerable families, protecting the rights and welfare of these children, and promoting children’s integration into mainstream education through equipping them with essential knowledge and skills.

The video clip World Vision initiated aims at bringing the issue of people with disabilities to the public spotlight, and promoting the idea of their integration in every aspect of life.

1988-2008. 20 YEARS AFTER

20 years passed since 1988 devastating earthquake that took the lives of thousands of people and left thousands homeless. Some work has been carried out to make the life of these people easier.

Unfortunately, a lot of people still suffer the terrible consequences of the disaster. The cold winter is approaching and makes every day for people even harder to survive.

1988...

December 7 is a day to remember our relatives, friends or just compatriotes who became the victims of the terrible earthquake.

And let’s sincerely hope that the sufferings of people who could survive will be over soon, and they will be able to live a dignified life they cherished so long.