Friends in Deed: British charity makes life better for struggling single women in Armenia
September 9, 2005
ArmeniaNow
By Suren Musayelyan
[...]
Presently, Friends of Armenia are completing a $90,000 renovation of the hostel that houses some 90 families (about 180 residents). Most have situations similar to Margarita; single women whose husbands left for work in Russia and never returned, and some who were killed in the war in Karabakh.
Most residents, too, are former employees (or wives of employees) of the Lamp Factory, the company to which the four-storied building belonged. (In Soviet times, factories provided hostels for employees who did not have permanent residences.) Many are refugees from Azerbaijan.
[...]
For more than a decade the hostel suffered the effects of daily wear and tear, without the means for making it better.
About two years ago, the situation was brought to the attention of Friends of Armenia[...].
At first, the charity ministered to the psychological needs of the women.
[...]
A team of three psychologists worked with about 50 single women living in a nearby building. Most of them had become prostitutes. [...] most of these women have proper jobs now – some are employed as street-sweepers, others as laundry workers, waitresses, etc.
“Within just two years of work with them our psychologists managed to convince them that they were worthy citizens of their country who had found themselves in difficult conditions, which, though, never meant that they were not worthy people,” says Galichian {Rouben Galichian chairman of Aid Armenia and Executive Trustee of Friends of Armenia, who spends some of his time in Armenia}.
[...]
But [...] Friends of Armenia went further, as they decided to improve the living conditions in the hostel.
[...]
The first repairs were completed in January, others were finished recently. They are all clean and improved and according to Galichian, the women take a good care of them.
Three months ago Friends of Armenia also decided to repair and clean the corridors and the staircases on all floors.
Works were launched, but the roof caught fire in an accident in July, and repairs were suspended.
“But we will continue the work and will try to get the prefecture to repair the roof before the start of rains,” says Vahan Patvakanyan, a physicist by training, who is one of the ten representatives of Friends of Armenia here.
Patvakanyan is in charge of the hostel reconstruction project.
[...]
In the summer of 2000 a group of British Armenian professionals visited Armenia for the first time. They were very impressed with the capability and the high level of education of the local people, as well as their eagerness to learn and their drive to achieve something real, while living under difficult conditions, despite the almost total neglect of the authorities.
The group returned to London and founded the charity organization the same year.
So far Friends of Armenia have realized projects worth a total of $400,000 in Armenia, in various fields – from orphanages and old people’s homes, to schools, kindergartens, hospitals, hostels and whole villages.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
ArmeniaNow
By Suren Musayelyan
[...]
Presently, Friends of Armenia are completing a $90,000 renovation of the hostel that houses some 90 families (about 180 residents). Most have situations similar to Margarita; single women whose husbands left for work in Russia and never returned, and some who were killed in the war in Karabakh.
Most residents, too, are former employees (or wives of employees) of the Lamp Factory, the company to which the four-storied building belonged. (In Soviet times, factories provided hostels for employees who did not have permanent residences.) Many are refugees from Azerbaijan.
[...]
For more than a decade the hostel suffered the effects of daily wear and tear, without the means for making it better.
About two years ago, the situation was brought to the attention of Friends of Armenia[...].
At first, the charity ministered to the psychological needs of the women.
[...]
A team of three psychologists worked with about 50 single women living in a nearby building. Most of them had become prostitutes. [...] most of these women have proper jobs now – some are employed as street-sweepers, others as laundry workers, waitresses, etc.
“Within just two years of work with them our psychologists managed to convince them that they were worthy citizens of their country who had found themselves in difficult conditions, which, though, never meant that they were not worthy people,” says Galichian {Rouben Galichian chairman of Aid Armenia and Executive Trustee of Friends of Armenia, who spends some of his time in Armenia}.
[...]
But [...] Friends of Armenia went further, as they decided to improve the living conditions in the hostel.
[...]
The first repairs were completed in January, others were finished recently. They are all clean and improved and according to Galichian, the women take a good care of them.
Three months ago Friends of Armenia also decided to repair and clean the corridors and the staircases on all floors.
Works were launched, but the roof caught fire in an accident in July, and repairs were suspended.
“But we will continue the work and will try to get the prefecture to repair the roof before the start of rains,” says Vahan Patvakanyan, a physicist by training, who is one of the ten representatives of Friends of Armenia here.
Patvakanyan is in charge of the hostel reconstruction project.
[...]
In the summer of 2000 a group of British Armenian professionals visited Armenia for the first time. They were very impressed with the capability and the high level of education of the local people, as well as their eagerness to learn and their drive to achieve something real, while living under difficult conditions, despite the almost total neglect of the authorities.
The group returned to London and founded the charity organization the same year.
So far Friends of Armenia have realized projects worth a total of $400,000 in Armenia, in various fields – from orphanages and old people’s homes, to schools, kindergartens, hospitals, hostels and whole villages.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 6:42 AM
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