During harsh winters in remote Nor Artik community of Talin region, dilapidated water pipelines were frozen leaving the population without any water for more than six months. Eghoyan's family with their three small girls suffered greatly, as they had to carry their water over the ice-covered, almost impassable roads of the village.

Artur Eghoyan, 39, the father of three girls, Marine 10, Margarita 8 and Rozik 6, recalls their winters with horror, “The old pipelines were hopelessly frozen from November till May, and the roads of the village were almost closed because of ice: cars couldn’t pass through them. We had to ask our neighbors for donkeys and mules to carry water from surrounding places”. Even during summers, the villagers couldn’t rely on the emaciated pipelines to have daily water for their basic needs.    

 The only stable income of Eghoyan’s family is 30,000 AMD (80 US$) poverty allowance per month. His wife Araksya Eghoyan, 34, elaborates, “We had to think about a bunch of problems: to care for my middle child Margarita, as doctors suspect she may have epilepsy, to feed three small girls, when our lands aren’t arable and we don’t even have a single cow, to heat the house somehow during long, severe winters. In addition to all of these, the conditions were becoming even worse during the six winter months, when we didn’t have any water at all. Can you imagine this?”

Everything was a big problem for the family: bathing, washing dishes, cooking food, laundry, and even simple drinking water. “My mom is sick, she can’t carry heavy things, and my middle sister is not allowed to lift big pails either. So as an elder I used to go after water with my dad”, says Marine. Her father adds, “Though I allowed her to carry only the lightest bucket, my heart was aching every time I felt my girl next to me tramping in snow and ice”.

Assistance came from World Vision Armenia. In November 2009, WV Armenia in collaboration with the “Armenian Water & Sewerage” company finished the installation of a main drinking water pipeline to Nor Artik and Suser communities. For the first time after long years of waterless, dreadful winters, some 230 families of these communities gained access to uninterrupted drinking water. In Nor Artik community three water-taps were installed in three different parts of the village substantially easing the life of its 700 inhabitants. 

However, after the installation of pipelines even not having in-house water supply doesn’t seem to be a great problem for 120 families of Nor Artik. “Though the water doesn’t reach directly to our house, it is only 2-minute walk to reach to pipeline and bring it. It is unbelievable to know that you have an access to drinking water all around a year”, happily shares the family’s elder daughter Marine, while her mother is busy with laundry. “Now all of us can go and bring some water at any time, and we often walk with our father and help him to fill all the buckets and pails”, adds her younger sister Rozik.

“This is the first year since our marriage that we have enough water for our needs”, says Araksya, “this is a huge relief for all of us. Finally I can have my children bathed regularly, wash their clothing, dishes, and normally clean the house; and my daughters will spend their time on their homework, instead of stumbling over ice carrying buckets of water during the frost”.