The delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in association with the Armenian Red Cross Society, is hosting courses on how to protect oneself during the opponent’s shootings and during an encounter with an explosive device for the residents of 15 bordering villages of the Tavush Province.

On December 10, the 9^th-12^th grade students of the school of Koti learned how they can protect themselves during the shootings.

The school’s teachers and students mentioned that the course was very important because they often hear the opponent’s shootings and even at the hours when children are at school.

Since this is a current issue in several bordering villages of the Tavush Province, including the Voskepar, Voskevan and Baghanis villages, the ICRC has sponsored the construction of safe rooms at schools, allowing the teachers and students to take shelter during the shootings.

The representatives of the secondary school of Voskepar have witnessed the events that were taking place in the 1990s.

“I have been working at the school since those years. We have organized defense whenever possible. This year, with the intervention of our village council, the representatives of the Office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Armenia paid heed to our request and provided us with a relatively safe corner,” head of Voskepar village Harutyun Alaverdyan said.

A safe room has also been built in the Baghanis village. Head of the village Narek Sahakyan plans on painting and furbishing the room so that it doesn’t have a negative impact on the children’s psychology.

“I would like to state that we have carried out two major programs with the International Committee of the Red Cross over the past year. We have provided a district with water and have built a safe room at the local school,” Narek Sahakyan says.

Only a part of the school is heated for the time being. This goes to show that few children go to school. Some children have moved to safer areas of the province and continue their studies there, while others have moved to the capital city.

The village council of Koti has also suffered from the opponent’s shootings. Head of the village Felix Melikyan stresses that the opponent’s activity was more noticeable in the months of August and September as the opponent would bomb the village with different types of arms and ammunition.

“When the villagers were harvesting wheat in early July, the opponent was active again, and villagers weren’t able to reap nearly 30 hectares due to the shootings and bombings,” the head of Koti village mentioned.

Although people continue their lives, waiting for the enemy’s attack at any second, they stand firmly on their land. They assure that everything will be fine, if peace is maintained.