Living on the edge
by Charlotte Poulain
Originally published March 2, 2016
Ask anyone in Baghanis to show you where the border is, and they’ll indicate a point only a few hundred meters away. “You see? It’s right over there.”
It may seem hard to believe at first glance, but this small Armenian village is struggling with the consequences of one of the biggest geopolitical issues in the Caucasus region. In the mid-1990s, the inhabitants’ lives changed forever after the Nagorno-Karabakh war.
A bumpy 5-hour ride away from Armenia’s capital, the village of Baghanis is located so close to the border with Azerbaijan that you only need to look up and squint to notice the sniper posts on the other side.
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire in 1994, years into a bloody war that claimed many lives among soldiers and civilians alike. But if you ever wander around Baghanis, you would be excused for asking “what ceasefire?”
Many of the houses that directly face the border are riddled with bullet holes. Clashes at the border are recurring, and civilian populations living near the border are sometimes caught in the crossfire.
“The extent of the damages is daunting” says Anna Aghajanian, pointing at a wall covered in bullet holes. As one of the co-founders of Sahman NGO, she is used to traveling to border villages in Armenia; she says she got used to seeing one or two bullet holes on a few houses, but that Baghanis is a different story entirely.
“Cease-fire violations don’t necessarily happen more often here than in other border villages, but Baghanis seems to be more exposed”, she explains. About half of the houses in the village are in the open, with no mountains nor trees to shield them from sniper fire.
It’s a bit of an understatement to describe life in Baghanis as difficult.
Before the war, the village’s income came mainly from growing crops and keeping cattle. Nowadays most of the arable lands are inaccessible, either because of the risk of sniper fire, or because of landmines; many of the families living in Baghanis don’t have an actual salary to live on.
Some people are employed at the local school or at the village store, while others rely on the odd job. One of the villagers we met owns an old car, and occasionally works as a taxi driver when someone needs a ride out of town. People over 65 receive a small pension from the State, and often use it to help their younger family members.
There are high levels of job migration in many Armenian villages, and Baghanis is no exception. Until recently, it was very common for one family member (usually the man) to leave and find work in Russia, and send money back home. But ever since the Russian ruble collapsed, the practice doesn’t seem to be worth it anymore, and many are coming back to Baghanis.
But beyond the harrowing evidence of war and poverty, we can get a glimpse if what Baghanis has to offer.
“Most villagers have installed a small vegetable patch in their backyard” explains George Tabakian. “It looks like none of the lands that can be used are being wasted”.
One family started making its own bread; another already has a few beehives. Baghanis’ inhabitants are proving resourceful; they are doing the best they can with what they have. And it’s a close-knit community, so they all tend to help each other out.
This part makes us hopeful: everything in Baghanis, from the well-kept small vegetable patches to the community-based solidarity system, goes to show that the inhabitants are resourceful and hardworking.
When the announcement for our project “Bring on the Buzz” was made, many immediately understood the positive change beekeeping could bring to Baghanis…. and they wanted to get involved. No less than 65 families applied to receive beehives and beekeeping training.
Bringing beehives into Baghanis will make a real difference: not only will it allow 18 families to make extra income through honey production, it will contribute to sustain the entire village through the villagers’ traditions of communal living.
The good news is that you don’t have to actually be in Baghanis to be part of the solution. With a simple, secure donation, you can help the whole village on its way to economic sustainability.
Donate now, and make lives sweeter on the border.
