Maryam Andreasyan, 29 years old
The item I took with me... After the 2023 war, when we left Artsakh. It's a bullet, which also has a very interesting story.
In the final hours, as everyone was leaving — it was the morning of the 25th, around half past nine or ten — I decided I must go to the communal grave where many of my acquaintances, friends, classmates, and my brother were buried. I just needed to go there. I walked there on foot.
Ahead of me was a soldier. You could see how broken, crushed he was... I don't know how to explain it in words. His hand was in his pocket. I watched him. I felt very guilty. After all, they did so much to protect us, our homeland... How do you help them psychologically after all this? He takes his hand out of his pocket, and in it was this bullet. He leaves it on a stone and walks away.
At that moment, for some reason, it seemed to me that he had broken down and given up. I decided that I had to take the bullet, not leave it there. Because we will rise again anyway. It will just take time. I couldn't come to terms with the fact that he had dropped his arms, given up. I took this bullet with me to always remember that moment. It's a reason to fight, to set new goals, and move forward.
Maryam Andreasyan, 29 years old
The item I took with me... After the 2023 war, when we left Artsakh. It's a bullet, which also has a very interesting story.
In the final hours, as everyone was leaving — it was the morning of the 25th, around half past nine or ten — I decided I must go to the communal grave where many of my acquaintances, friends, classmates, and my brother were buried. I just needed to go there. I walked there on foot.
Ahead of me was a soldier. You could see how broken, crushed he was... I don't know how to explain it in words. His hand was in his pocket. I watched him. I felt very guilty. After all, they did so much to protect us, our homeland... How do you help them psychologically after all this? He takes his hand out of his pocket, and in it was this bullet. He leaves it on a stone and walks away.
At that moment, for some reason, it seemed to me that he had broken down and given up. I decided that I had to take the bullet, not leave it there. Because we will rise again anyway. It will just take time. I couldn't come to terms with the fact that he had dropped his arms, given up. I took this bullet with me to always remember that moment. It's a reason to fight, to set new goals, and move forward.
