Amidst the pandemic and the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, countless families have been suffering in silence. Behind every casualty of war there is a potential family marked with a scar they will have to bear for the rest of their lives.
Naire Poghosyan-Melkonyan is a teacher who lives in Yerevan, Armenia. She has been teaching children for almost 2 decades. Her husband was a peacekeeper who served in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and most notably Artsakh (Karabakh). During the conflict, he was struck and killed by an Azeri drone attack, leaving behind a 4-year-old son for Naire to raise. Now widowed, Naire reached out for help and was connected to a sponsor in the United States who was kind enough to give her some financial support. Naire insisted on offering any kind of helpful services to her sponsor. Upon this opportunity, Naire and her sponsor worked together with a single goal in mind; raise the spirits of those who had been struck by the war. Her sponsor asked if she could review some books that were going to be gifted to wounded soldiers and their families. Naire did so with no hesitation. Upon her positive review, the books which were locally printed by the Dilakian brothers were given to the recipients.
Recently, Naire started a free recycled-art class in Yerevan for the children who had been impacted from the war. Most of the students in her class had either lost a family member in combat or had been displaced from their homes due to the war. As of now, her class holds just shy of 20 students. The class also provides local food for the children. Naire’s environmentally friendly art class provided a space not only for kids to let their creativity blossom, but for many of their grieving mothers to spend time together. The most notable segment of the class is the rock painting with the Kindness Rocks Projects. The children paint on rocks and distribute them around the neighbourhood for passerby to find. Although a challenge, Naire said she is always determined to bring beautiful rocks for the children to paint on. She collects them from various riversides. She said she’s has success in finding these rocks at the edge of the Hrazdan river and the Kasagh river.
Last week on Valentine’s day, the children in Naire’s class made a memorial garden for the fallen soldiers of the Karabakh war. On that day, the Hrazdan Centre for Women Empowerment also hosted a rock painting session for children. Lo and behold, Naire’s art class had made it Trans-Atlantic. The Hovnanian School in New Jersey, USA announced they will be making a memorial rock garden in solidarity with the children of Armenia.
In these dire times, we as a people, must remember to keep our spirits up. Armenians are capable of doing great things when united. May the dawn bring a new day for the sun to shine on our holy land of Artsakh once again.
Armen Agopian
ABAKAnews
