Remember, a year ago already, we followed them through their humanitarian adventures. Anelga, Lara and Lori told us their stories, serving abandoned, injured and destitute families in Armenia.
Some had still not resurfaced after the 1988 earthquake. Others, during the 2020 war, were suddenly thrown onto the roads of exodus. A report on this foundation and these "ladies of heart", who heal wounded Armenia while hoping to build its future.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan, Armenia's neighboring country, populated by 10 million Muslims, bombed Stepanakert, the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, in Nagorno-Karabakh. In these ancestral Armenian lands, populated by nearly 150,000 inhabitants, more than 95% are Armenians. We must delve back into its history to fully understand and grasp the stakes of this much-coveted region over the centuries. Let's limit ourselves to the last century. On July 4, 1921, this region, conquered the previous year by the USSR, was attached by Stalin to Azerbaijan. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia formed the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. In the crucible of history, it is interesting to note that a few weeks earlier, the 7 members of the governmental Committee of this republic voted 4 to 3 for the attachment of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Then, on July 4, following anti-Soviet uprisings, under Stalin's impetus, the Committee recanted and decided to attach Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh, plundered Armenian land
67 years later, in 1988, with Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power and the implementation of his thawing policy (glasnost), the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh peacefully demanded and voted for their independence. The only response from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan: bloody repression, which resulted in dozens dead and hundreds injured between January 12 and 19, 1990. Armenia then came to the aid of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. The two countries went to war. In 1994, the victory was Armenian. This war left more than 30,000 dead. Nagorno-Karabakh truly became independent. And, it was not until 2017 that the Republic of Artsakh was founded. Then, on September 27, it was war again. You know the rest…
Many authors and historians have written about Nagorno-Karabakh, such as Anahide Ter Minassian, who died in 2019. She notably wrote The Armenian Question in 1983. We must also acknowledge the work of Jean-Pierre and Annie Mahé, History of Armenia from its origins to the present day, published in 2012. Armenian roots are deeply embedded in this region of Asia Minor, since Antiquity. Without a doubt, Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenian.
While the Armenian heritage there is two-millennia old and predominant, that of the Azeris dates only from the 19th century. And, we are only talking about 3 or 4 mosques compared to the thousand Armenian monuments dating from the Middle Ages.
The time of a war and barbarism
In Belgium, on September 27, 2020, Anelga Arslanian cried, like so many others. Lori and Lara's mother still remembers: "When I heard about this new aggression, I was infinitely sad." While the capital Stepanakert is under bombardment from Turkish and Israeli drones, Anelga and her daughters mobilize. It is Lara, the youngest, who, with two of her friends, Sarine Semerjian and Garabed Bardakjian, decides to launch an art auction. The operation is a success. It collects hundreds of thousands of euros in a few days. All these funds are then sent to associations in Armenia, to meet the needs of the first refugees, who were thrown onto the roads from October onwards. The whole Arslanian family supports Lara. Lori, a jewelry designer, entrusts her with rings. Anelga, as a doctor, immediately understands the needs of these displaced families, who walk towards Goris, a city located on the other side of the border. There, in this small Francophone capital, the families are safe. They could only take with them the bare necessities, their papers and a few souvenirs. They believe they are leaving for a short time. But they will lose everything in a war, a 44-day defeat. Will they return?
Faced with this nightmare, Anelga remembers her first steps in Armenia: it was in 1988. "The Spitak earthquake surprised everyone. In a way, it awakened the diaspora, which had been silenced by the ex-USSR." The 7 million Armenians scattered around the world - for centuries, but especially since the genocide perpetrated by the Young Turk government between 1915 and 1921 - mobilized to help Armenia. As for Anelga, some went to their ancestors' land for the first time. They helped, cared for, and invested in water and electricity infrastructure. They (re)built entire neighborhoods, like the one named after Charles Aznavour in Spitak. They (re)built schools, churches, and hospitals. "Since 1988," Anelga says, "we have come to Armenia about twenty times." Lori remembers her first stay in Armenia. "It was in 1992, I was 8 years old. It was hard because we only had 7 minutes of hot water a day. Armenia was sad, grayish. All the women were dressed the same way." Today, Armenia has changed and partially modernized. But its old demons have reawakened. Faced with this darkness, the soft lights of the diaspora shine, including those of the Arslanian Foundation.
33 families standing
In May 2021, a year ago, Anelga and Lori spent the entire month of May in Armenia. These "ladies of heart," as some call them, crisscrossed the country, which has a population of less than 3 million and is the size of Brittany. In total, they helped about thirty families. A year later, they are back in the field. "This year, there are exactly 33," Anelga specifies. Among these families, 7 live in the Lori region, in the north, fewer than twenty live in Yerevan. The latter are refugee families from Artsakh (who have lost everything). There are also 2 families from Goris and 5 from Stepanakert. Last year, Anelga and Lori were supposed to go to Goris and Stepanakert, passing near Shushi, the cultural capital of Artsakh that fell into the hands of the Azeris (the last front line at the time of the ceasefire on November 9, 2020). But, on May 13, 2021, the incursion of several hundred Azeri soldiers, who made a breakthrough of 3 to 5 km inside Armenia, near Goris, in the southeast, prevented them. Local partners then took over in these areas which remain, even today, high-risk.
"The needs of families are very great. We are but a small drop in the ocean. We would like to help more. With our local relays, our benefactors help these families monthly. We have set up, under the label of our foundation, a sponsorship system. Financially, benefactors pay them the equivalent of 1/3 or half of a minimum wage. Then, with Lori, we go to the field to visit the families. We bring them comfort, clothes, and a little money. We assess their needs. Our goal is to help them in the long term."
72 hours with the foundation
The appointment was made by phone: "We're going on a 3-day mission to the Shirak and Lori regions, you're welcome!" The phones hung up. The foundation is traveling from May 12 to 15 to the north of the country. The base camp is located in Gyumri. From Yerevan, it takes 2 good hours to reach the country's second largest city, located in the northwest. This city, the country's cultural capital, is surprising. It does not impose itself by its population, which numbers 120,000 inhabitants. And, in 1988, during the earthquake, it was partly destroyed.
The cathedral bells fell. There are still some remnants of the consequences of this earthquake. It is its old center, its old squares, its parks and gardens, its monuments undergoing restoration, its cathedral, its churches, its art schools and its museums that attract crowds and attention. On public holidays and weekends, it teems with thousands of tourists from France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Georgia, Iran, Israel, and from within the country.
“You’ll see, this city is incredible, art is everywhere,” introduces Raffi, Anelga’s husband. The trip goes well. The landscapes are breathtaking. From Yerevan, whose altitude is 1200 meters, they alternate between stony and green meadows, bare and wooded hills. In the distance, the mountainous massifs of the Lesser Caucasus are clear and their peaks are stained white. One wants to touch them with a finger, and bite into them. Only clouds with geometric shapes address them familiarly. Gyumri is situated on a plateau at 1500 meters altitude. The air there is even purer. The M1 road that crosses this spring landscape, where the famous red poppies have appeared, is sometimes littered with potholes. “They are building a new one,” says Hapet, the driver. He knows the road by heart and carefully avoids them.
A brand new bathroom
The next day, visits begin at full throttle. While Raffi goes to his appointments, the "ladies of heart" are already on humanitarian alert. "In the villages around Gyumri, it's the Fourth World," explains Anelga. But poverty is even more blatant in remote villages, which have fewer resources. There are practically no roads, only dirt tracks, whose slopes sometimes reach 10°. The foundation helps families who live in self-sufficiency, with less than 200 euros a month. The villagers (a few hundred to a few thousand per village) mainly live from agriculture. The children (2 to 4 per family) go to the village school. The foundation's schedule is busy. It will visit no less than 7 families. Direction the Lori region, further east. It stops in villages such as Shenavan, Vahakni, Lousaghpuyr, Koukark, Yegheknoud. All cases are different. But a common thread brings them together: that of misery. In some families, the father is either absent, sick, or deceased. When he is present and can work, he raises one or two cows, one or two calves, half a dozen chickens. No more. And he makes cheese. Their houses resemble shacks, small farms made of sheet metal, wood, and concrete blocks, which would be considered unhealthy in our rich and modern countries. While the sun shines at its zenith, and temperatures exceed 17°C, thinking of winter makes one shiver.
In other families visited, there wasn't even a bathroom. The foundation remedied this. In another family, an entire sibling group survives in the village of Shenavan. The two brothers are disabled. Their older sister takes care of them daily. It's extreme poverty. The sister is exhausted. Moreover, she herself is ill. In total, the household receives less than 100,000 drams (less than 200 euros), while the average salary varies between 150,000 and 200,000 drams (300 and 400 euros). Consequently, family and village solidarity comes into play. Each time the foundation travels, Anelga and Lori are received by the mayor of the village concerned. The latter has understood that getting his village out of poverty depends on the help of the diaspora. Anelga and Lori are, therefore, welcome. In homeopathic doses, or more significantly, depending on the needs identified, they do a tremendous amount of good for these families and villages.
A family facing the challenges of adolescence
The foundation also offers animals, such as chickens and cows. In this environment where nature remains generous, these "ladies of heart" bring them a soft light, a rainbow, a little happiness, reasons to hope.
The car sets off again, heading east towards Vanadzor. North of Vanadzor, the vehicle struggles along a stony mountain road. We are in Dsegh, a small village lost at an altitude of 2,000 meters. The car suffers a little. It stops below a house. The rest of the journey is on foot. This is the last family visited for the day. Last year's sparkling young teenager seems gloomier. Suzy is not smiling. This time her brother, Kévork, is with her. They live with their sick parents. They are both in a bad situation. As a result, the young girl has stopped her dance classes to support her sick mother a little more. During the visit, the father is absent. As for Kévork, sadness is also visible on his face. Moreover, as if things needed to be even more complicated, he has a heart condition. At 18, he was about to do his military service, which could have been a breath of fresh air for him, getting him out of his poor village, so that he could think about his future. But he will be discharged.
Lori is quite moved by this encounter: "Yes, this family lives with many difficulties. And what touches me the most is to see the children stopping their extracurricular activities to take care of their mother. It's as if they were putting their future on hold. I feel helpless..." The future of these teenagers? An unresolved question...
"Above a chicken coop"
"And to think that last year, they lived above a chicken coop," adds Lori. How is that possible? They moved into a sturdy house, which was made available to them, free of charge, by a family living in Russia. But they don't have a bathroom. They wash in the kitchen or at a neighbor's house. What a life. We descend into the depths of the Fourth World. In winter, when temperatures drop to -10 or -20 °C, how can one live in this corrugated house? Here again, heating is spartan. There is the one in the kitchen. Here, Western European environmental standards are irrelevant. Some houses are not even supplied with gas. Families then heat with wood, which is not cheap.
Night begins to fall. It's time to return to Gyumri. In the car, the silence is filled with emotion, from the families visited, from the villages crossed. The air is fresh. The Caucasian landscapes scroll past at high speed. The car drives slowly past the immense cemetery at the entrance to Gyumri. Along the road, and on the side of the green hills, thousands of graves have been dug. They recall the 1988 earthquake and the 2020 war. The graves of young soldiers, aged 18 to 20, emblazoned with an Armenian flag, number in the hundreds.
A dream: 1 tractor – 1 village
The mission ends this Sunday, May 15, with a visit to the Antonyan family. They live 20 minutes from Gyumri. Several family tragedies have struck this family of 6. Following the death of the husband during the 44-day war (he had volunteered), the whole family went to live with the widowed grandmother in the small village of Basen, located 15 km southwest of Gyumri. This is where the foundation goes.
The village seems less poor than the previous ones. It is situated on a green meadow. In the distance, an artificial lake where a dozen local fishermen have gathered. The car passes an old Russian combine harvester parked in a field. The sun is radiant. Upon arrival, the 6-year-old twins play in the yard. The two women, widows, come down the stairs of the large house. Christine, the twins' mother, and Gayané, her 17-year-old eldest daughter, are happy to see Anelga and Lori again. Between the women, a mysterious alchemy, made of friendship, deep respect, and solidarity, seems to operate. Simon, the only 15-year-old son, is not there. For a year, the foundation has been supporting this family every month, through a Belgian benefactor. With this last visit, the foundation's mission ends with a heartfelt moment: "Finally, we form one and the same family," adds Anelga after farewell hugs and the sharing of gifts.
The day before, the Arslanian Foundation inaugurated two tractors, which were delivered to the villages of Arevashogh, north of Spitak, and Dsoragyugh, northeast of Vanadzor. "We initiated this idea 1 tractor – 1 village, just one year ago," says Anelga. "During our visits, organized by Lilia, our local correspondent, this idea came to us after a discussion we had with a mayor. He told us: 'With a tractor here, you change the life of the village.' This idea then turned into a project." Back in Belgium, the two women were invited to present the activities of their young foundation, created in 2021, as part of the Rotary Club of Rhode Saint Genèse, in Brussels. They presented the project: 1 tractor – 1 village, in detail. A few weeks later, the Arslanian Foundation received a donation from Rotary, which they supplemented. Then another donation. "That's how we were able, in such a short time, and very efficiently, to buy and deliver these two tractors."
"What if we could do more?"
In these two villages, with populations of 4,000 and 500 inhabitants, it's a celebration. The foundation is welcomed simply, but with honors, by the village authorities and families. Folk dances are orchestrated to thank the benefactors. All generations are represented. The tractors are inaugurated to the sounds of songs and musical instruments. In turn, Anelga thanks the authorities and all those who participated in the success of these operations. She does not forget her benefactors.
The mayor speaks: "With this brand new tractor and all its equipment, you are changing the life of the village. We will go from a week of manual labor to 1 hour of work needed to cultivate the land." The village's 200 hectares of arable land will be able to be worked with previously unknown yields. New development prospects are opening up... Word-of-mouth will certainly play its mediating role in the coming days.
On the way back, Anelga asks: "What if we could do more? Help more families, deliver more tractors..." Lori, in the front of the car, turns around: "Why not!" And Raffi adds: "We're going to do it..."
Text and photos by Antoine BORDIER
Reference: https://www.entreprendre.fr/la-fondation-arslanian-en-mission-en-armenie/
