We present to your attention interesting thoughts and stories about events voiced by Gyumri residents during the monitoring and implementation of the social surveys of the “Participatory Monitoring for Quality Public Utilities in Gyumri” project.

Let us remind you that the initiative was made possible by the funding of the USAID and the “Protect Society for Responsible Governance” project implemented by the “Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center” NGO.

“Changing Clothes is a Mandatory Condition”

I was knocking on the door of the next respondent’s house. A woman opened the door and, when I asked her if she would give me 10 minutes to participate in the survey, she said yes and invited me into her house. I had to wait a while until she felt
changed. After each question, the woman would start telling about the work of demolishing the sidewalk near their house, the unanswered requests for her, the tennis match between the municipality and the waterworks. After hearing the same story 42 times, I left her house exhausted, and she said:

• What a good child you are, my dear, where is the teacher who taught you physics?

“Take my house, I’ll go.”

The next number stopped at a beautiful house and I knocked on the door. After a long wait, the door opened and I was invited in. The woman told about what she had seen abroad, demanding that each house have its own separate trash can. At the end, she asked if I would like to buy her house. She was planning to emigrate.

“You can write it anywhere, it won’t matter.”

One of the apartments where I was going to conduct the next survey was inhabited by a grandmother and grandfather. According to the survey sample, the grandmother had to participate, since the latter’s birthday was coming up, which the grandfather didn’t like at all. After every question, the grandfather would get angry that no one was asking his opinion, in the end he couldn’t stand it, he intervened after three questions and said:

• You can write it anywhere, it won’t matter.

“I’ll die for God’s sake, go again.”

The most common response from residents who refused the survey was “I’ll die for God’s sake, go again.”

“Compass Witness and State Sector Employee 1”

One of my respondents was a man in his sixties. Before entering, the respondent’s wife invited him in with difficulty, explaining that the landlord usually refuses to participate in such surveys. We explained the purpose of the survey in detail and finally got his consent to conduct the survey. The respondent was quite familiar with the city’s events and it turned out to be a very effective survey. During the conversation, he raised quite serious and important issues regarding garbage collection and lighting in the city. At the end, when I asked what social status the respondent had, he replied with a slight grin that he was a state sector employee.

“The Compass Witness and the State Sector Employee-2”

One of the respondents was a state employee. He constantly noted that everything was fine in the city, but he also noted: “I wish this wasn’t happening.” The respondent even claimed that all the central and even non-central streets of Gyumri are flooded every day.

“I don’t have time to think.”

• And how concerned are you about the problem of lighting in Gyumri?

-Oh dear, I have 3 children, I don’t have time to think.