Hayland.am Organizes "The Wake Up Call"

As I have mentioned in my previous post. Hayland.am on April 23rd, prior to the Armenian Genocide Memorial day, had organized a very special rally "Wake up Call" in front of the USA Embassy in Yerevan. 

In spite of the miserable weather, everything went as it was planned and I am very proud to share with you the video of the Rally! 

For the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide

Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution, April 24, 1998

"Today we commemorate the anniversary of what has been called the first genocide of the 20th century, and we salute the memory of the Armenian victims of this crime against humanity".

Even after so many years of discussions, the Armenian Genocide has not yet been accepted by the Turkish Government. 

Not a single Armenian has forgotten about the real facts and everyone is waiting for the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

A very unique event called "Wake Up Call" is going to take place near the American Embassy in Yerevan, on April 23 at 2pm. Armenian will come together to turn on their alarm clock all at the same time, to announce that the time of change has come! Read more about "Wake up Call"

How to apply for child allowance (երեխաների նպաստ) in Armenia!

As many Armenians know starting from January 2009 there have been various amendments in different social spheres. I know that to many of you, this may not be very interesting, but as a mother I felt the obligation to inform other mothers in Armenia about the changes in the children allowances, as well as to help with instructions on applying for the child allowance.

First I want to happily announce that instead of the old allowance rates for children, we can now receive more help from the Armenian Government. Regardless the fact that this won't make our lives in Armenia easier, we shouldn't be ungrateful and not to mention that we can now afford more diapers for our babies :) 

Anyways, the current rates are the following: 

• The lump-sum money assistance for child birth is set at the rate of 50 thousand AMD. ( instead of the former 35 thousand)*
  
• For the third baby and for every next baby the rate is set to be 430 thousand AMD
• The child care benefit rate for children under 2 is 15 000 AMD per month for employed mothers (instead of the former 3000 per month)

What I really wanted to focus on in this post were the documents needed to apply for the allowances mentioned above. I have researched the web and I tried to call the proper organizations where one should file for the child allowance in Armenia. 

The proper organizations and the Ministries weren't quite welcoming and the only answer I got to my questions was to visit them and find out at place.

The web didn't turn out to have much information, the most useful information I found was at The Ministry of Social Security of Armenia website. 

I have also found the list of necessary documents, but of course I still had to run around for some that were not mentioned in the list. 

To apply for the lump-sum money assistance for child birth the following papers are needed:

ա) դիմում (this is a form that you fill out at the Social Security Institution where you will apply for the allowance, after all the necessary documents are available).
բ) երեխայի ծննդյան վկայականի պատճենը,
գ) տեղեկանք բնակության վայրից(as you know every area has a person who is responsible for writing this kind of papers, you need to find that person :).

 դ) խնամակալության կամ որդեգրման մասին փաստաթղթի պատճենը.

 ե) ծնողի (both parents' if available) կամ խնամակալի անձը հաստատող փաստաթղթի պատճենը.
զ) երեխայի և ծնողի (both parents' if available)  կամ խնամակալի սոցիալական ապահովության քարտը (and copies) կամ տեղեկանք սոցիալական ապահովության քարտ չունենալու մասին:

To apply for the child care benefit rate for children under 2, you will need the following documents:

 ա) դիմում (which comes the last after you have all the documents together and this is given to you at the Social Security Institution where you take your papers)

 բ) երեխայի ծննդյան վկայականի պատճենը.
գ) տեղեկանք բնակության վայրից (as you know every area has a person who is responsible for writing this kind of papers, you need to find that person :).
դ) տեղեկանք աշխատավայրից իր` մինչև երեք տարեկան երեխայի խնամքի արձակուրդում գտնվելու մասին( you need to take a special form from the Social Security Institution (Paros) and give it to your employer to fill it out and sign).
ե) ծնողի(both parents' if available) անձը հաստատող փաստաթղթի պատճենը.
զ) երեխայի և ծնողի(both parents' if available) սոցիալական ապահովության քարտը ( and the copies of the cards) կամ սոցիալական ապահովության քարտ չունենալու մասին տեղեկանք:

I hope this helps those who search for this kind of information. In case of any questions don't hesitate to ask me. I would be very glad to share my experience :)

The Special VIP Deal in Yerevan!

As a marketing specialist I can't help noticing every marketing activity held by Armenian companies. I do my best to keep track of innovations and changes in the Armenian market.

For many Armenians, taxis are a vital source of transportation and compared to other countries they cost pretty cheap (in other words, cabs are not luxury in Armenia). But the sad thing about Taxis here is that the companies don't pay attention to the quality of the service, the drivers are not carefully selected as most of the taxi services always have vacancies for the drives and can hardly find anyone that would agree to work for a taxi service. 

I have heard many drivers complain about working conditions, long hours and the fact that in case of any damage, they are responsible for repairing the car, not the company itself. I figure, this must be a risky job to take.

In any case, Armenians love taking taxis, especially on holidays, when you can hardly find a taxi, or when it's snowing. Suddenly everyone in Yerevan calls the taxi services.

Every person has a favorite taxi service or a couple of them. I have two! As I live far from the city center, I call a taxi service which is close to our house. This is in case I am leaving home. When I am in the center of Yerevan, I usually call Taxi Opera! 

Usually! But one day my marketing curiosity won over my habit. And on hearing that a well known Taxi Service called VIP (for some reason Armenians very much like such words as Prestige, Elite, VIP, etc.)  has a new special deal, I thought I should try this. 

The special deal was the following: any time the cost of the ride is over 1000AMD(Armenian Drams), the customer pays 1000AMD. Interesting I thought and called Taxi Service VIP!

When the car arrived, my friends helped me to take all my stuff to the car including my daughter Marie's stroller, which perfectly fits in a trunk of any car. 

Me and Marie got into the car and it took off. I wasn't very surprised, when the driver made the ride longer by not taking the shortest way. "Well, I guess he needs to make sure it goes over 1000AMDs," I was very mad. My frastration grew when a car cut our way and our driver started cursing the driver of the other car. I was in such a shock that I couldn't say a word. When we reached our house, my husband came out to help us with the stuff. Before getting out of the taxi I looked at the taximeter, which showed the amount of money I was supposed to pay at it said 1200AMD. When taking my favorite Opera Taxi, the amount never passed 1000AMD. It was still ok, as they had their "special deal"! I got out of the car and took Marie home (she had fallen asleep on the way like she usually does). My husband paid for the taxi and carried our stuff home. 

The curious thing about all this was that my husband not knowing about the special VIP deal paid 1500AMD as the driver told him to do. 

I was so mad, that I called the Taxi Service, the operator girl was surprised when I told her the whole thing. She told me she would check this with the driver and call me back with the explanation. Satisfied with the answer I calmed down a little. After a couple of hours, when I still didn't get the call from the operator girl, I got mad again and gave them another call. The girl explained that because we had something in the trunk they charged us more and she told me that usually they don't charge additional money if the trunk is well closed. Apparently the driver claimed that the stroller was so big that the trunk of the car remained open. Very interesting explanation, isn't it?

I couldn't help thinking about this incident for a couple of days, I told all my friends about it, telling them not to use this Taxi Service ever again, but it didn't make me feel better.  It didn't because I know that no matter how mad you are and how much you complain no change is made by the company. And this is a big problem now in Armenia, that many companies don't understand how important is the customer's opinion and that only one in a hundred customers actually expresses his dissatisfaction, the rest just don't use the company services any more. 

I am still hopeful for the Armenian companies to one day start acknowledging that it doesn't take only initiating special offers, it is also very important to find out if the customers are satisfied with the special deals.

First Post

Have you ever wanted to start a personal blog, but then for some reason it took you quite a while to get to it? What would be reasons for someone to hesitate about writing a personal blog:

• this is a big step towards sharing your life with the whole world (it really is I guess!)
• maybe there are people who you wouldn't want to hear your story (why not?)
• what if you want to delete all your posts and somehow you are not able to and 20 years later people can still read your silly life story (this sounds silly doesn't it?)
• you don't think that you should devote your precious time to a personal blog

What I am hoping to find out by starting this personal blog of mine is why actually people do this, I mean blogging? What good does it do to people who write personal blogs. Well, I guess, we'll find out all about it soon. 

Decision is made and I am starting my personal blog "Life as it is in Yerevan". Living in Yerevan can be both exciting and franstrating (those who live here will surely understand what I mean). But what is the secret of happiness in Yerevan, anyways? Has anyone tried to step out of the life stream in which we all are and try to look at our life from outside? This is what I am hoping to do in this coming couple of years. And who knows I may find the happiness equation for living in Yerevan.