A couple of days ago (5th of July), I and my friends from Sahman NGO visited one of frontier villages of Armenia – Berkaber. The latter is located right on the border of the Azerbaijani controlled territories. Only Joghaz Water Reservoir lyes between Berkaber and Azerbaijani armed forces.
The main goal of my visit was primary assessment of urgent need for psychological help to Berkaber population, especially children, as from time to time Berkaber and adjacent terriotories of agricultural value are fired from the positions of Azerbaijani armed forces.
I visited several families with chidren in the village. Talked with parents, as well as with their children. I visited the school. I talked with the elderly villagers. It turned out that people avoid leaveing the house without urgent necessity and do not use the water reservoir, which would solve the problem of water supply, as well as the problem of food (the reservoir is filled with several varieties of fish). The part of the school looking at the side of the border,is locked and not in use. This is just a small part of the problem…
Both children and adults of Berkaber need psychological help. At the same time children have several problems. Due to reasons of professional ethics I will not go into the details of the problems and their manifestations, but I can say one thing – the inhabitants of our frontier villages are in need of psychological services, which, unfortunately, are not available for them because of the lack of finances, and relevant specialists…
I myself, certainly within my modest capabilities, intend to start with Berkaber. But I am sure that there are colleagues from Armenia and/or abroad, who are also willing and able to join our initiative…
Dear colleagues, looking forward to your feedback!