Ten-year-old Mira excelled at her school in Artsakh. She regrets not taking her awards with her when the family fled their village of Kert in Artsakh’s Martuni district. They named her Mira because it means "peace" in Russian, and she shows her new friend, a toy rabbit, which was given by her new classmates at the Aragats village school in Armenia.

The family left everything behind – their cars and livestock. Silva Sargsyan, Mira's grandmother, worked as a nurse for thirty-five years in Kert. She was working at the village health center on September 19 when her daughter, Anahit, called and told her fighting had broken out.

On September 24, at five in the morning, Mrs. Sargsyan got up and kneaded dough to bake some bread.

"When I returned home, I saw my husband fixing the tires of the car, I asked what happened. He said we had two hours to leave. All parts of the village can be seen from our house, I looked and saw cars leaving one after the other," she tells Hetq.

The family of eight now lives in a five-room house in Aragats, provided by the village mayor.

"Honestly, I admire these people. They don't leave us on our own. But there is one thing, our land... I want our land. I want our Artsakh... It's true. They look after us, but the land is calling us. We must return, no matter what the cost. The blood of our child is there, we must go back," says Mrs. Sargsyan, somehow holding back her tears.

Her daughter Anahit isn’t adapting to the new environment either. She says that if given the chance, she’ll return barefooted.

"The children were very scared. Mostly, my older daughter Mira was scared. She was shaking, crying. We weren’t as afraid during the 2020 war as we were during this one-day war," says Anahit.

"When we wanted to cross Hakari bridge, the Azerbaijanis gave us water, juice and biscuits. We didn't want it, but they insisted that we take it. We threw it on the road because it might have been poisoned," says Mira.

Mira says her new classmates welcomed her very warmly.

"Don't cry, it will be a lot of fun,” Mrs. Sargsyan consoles her granddaughter. “You will do well in school and get letters of commendation."

The family hasn't found work in Aragats. Their minds are focused on Artsakh, and they talk about the future with uncertainty. If given the opportunity, they say, they will return to Artsakh, an independent Artsakh, where Armenians have always lived. But before that, they will work in their new village. “My husband can do everything,” she says. In the meantime, she will help her neighbors, give vaccinations, and the children will go to school. Mira will study well in Aragats and will take her new awards to Artsakh.

Photos: Anush Mkrtchyan, Hetq Media Factory