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Refugee children from Artsakh cuddling up under warm blankets on new beds in Tavush Province

Armenians and Germans Join Efforts to Help Artsakh Refugees

Artsakh Armenians who have been forced to leave their homes and found refuge in Armenia, have brought with them little more than what they could hastily pack and carry. Welcomed in temporary shelters or homes of relatives and friends, they need everything. To answer the call, several non-governmental organizations in Germany have been raising funds to finance some of their most basic needs. In partnership with established organizations in Armenia, they are providing basic material and social needs.

Armenians in Gyumri and the Shirak region know best the value of immediate relief, as the memory of the devastating earthquake in 1988 is part of the collective memory. At that time, the German Red Cross as well as Caritas sent teams to Gyumri. The working group Hilfe für Armenien e.V (Help for Armenia) organized from 1989 to 1993, under direction of the German Red Cross, to build and equip a polyclinic, the Berlin Center for Mothers and Children. Alexan Ter- Minasyan functioned as representative of the Red Cross, administrating donations from Germany. When in 1996 further financial support was required, Ter-Minasyan organized a social pilot project of the Red Cross to convert part of the building into a hotel, whose income would support the center. Ter-Minasyan continues to run the hotel, and in 2018 was named Honorary Consul of Germany.

Now Hilfe für Armenien e.V, which has continued financial support for the clinic, is again in the forefront of relief efforts. As of October 1, 4,400 refugees had been counted in Gyumri and Shirak, of 5,000 registered persons, who according to the government were to be accommodated there. In addition, about another 1,300 had probably found refuge in homes of relatives or friends. The Berlin Art Hotel has been providing free accommodation and care for large families, until they could find more permanent housing, among them a family of seven. These newcomers, especially the children, are traumatized and need not only shelter and food but also human warmth and care, which the generous personnel of the hotel are providing.

The problem faced by public authorities in Gyumri and the region is that an estimated 10,000 “normal” housing units are lacking. Anyone familiar with the area has seen that there are people still living in containers (domiks) which were supplied back in 1988 as emergency shelters. Now the governor’s administration is planning to make use of summer camps, a gym, and available school rooms. These facilities also require refurbishing; the camp needs to be winterized, and provided with heating, and all available locations must be outfitted with beds and mattresses, the very most basic needs. The For Armenia organization has quickly put together several programs to meet these requirements: local producers can start making beds and mattresses, quickly, and thereby provide jobs and local tax revenue. Transportation for delivery is a further consideration. Not to mention basic furniture, to start a new life. The group has issued calls for donations, stressing, “It’s a matter of quick relief for people who have lost everything: homeland, belongings, hope, and future.” The Mirak-Weissbach Foundation has donated funds to provide the construction and delivery of beds and mattresses.

If For Armenia is making beds and mattresses available, AYO!, a project of the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR), is raising money for sheets and pillowcases. Significantly, FAR, too, is an organization that was founded in 1988, in response to the earthquake disaster. Just recently, AYO! announced it had delivered “bedding kits” to Noyemberyan in the province of Tavush. At least 122 families had arrived there from Artsakh, after a long trek which some of the refugees had made on foot. Several had found accommodations in available rooms in houses or apartments. The Mirak-Weissbach Foundation donated funds that have financed bedding and linen for 440 beds.

A roof over one’s head, a place to sleep, hygienic facilities and food on the table are the most essential needs every Armenian expelled from Artsakh requires. For the many families with children, education comes next. An initiative to provide instruction in computer skills for youngsters is offered by the Social Support Computer Center NGO, in Etchmiadzin. The president of the organization is Lilia Totalyan, who is the instructor of a course, “Internet Challenges—Cyber Security and Cyber Hygiene” within the framework of the “Civic Education” program of the World Council of Churches Armenia Round Table foundation. The course is designed for children from Artsakh, 10 to 14 years old, settled in Etchmiadzin and its environs.

The course has three sections: computer literacy, with basic knowledge of computer types, structures, devices, operating systems (including Microsoft Office); photo and video editors, introducing graphic and video programs; and, engineering art and programming, basic as well as, in a second stage, relatively more advanced WEB programming.

In Wiesbaden, Germany, IT specialist Karen Gharslyan is working with the Social Support Computer Center NGO, organizing financial as well as logistical support for computer education projects. The Mirak-Weissbach Foundation, also located in Wiesbaden, is supporting this program, providing funding for the first, second, and third courses, each with 10 to 15 children and youngsters, to begin in January 2024 for a duration of 6 months.