My last two days

 I am a bit tired. I had been invited to a restaurant (Lchak/Լճակ) by Nareg who is a representative for Armenia for Mission East, an international relief and development organisation working in crisis-affected countries in the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and Asia that delivers emergency relief during disasters as well as long-term development assistance. I met him yesterday at Syunik NGO: Mission East is providing war refugees here with care packages, including information relating to Covid awareness. He was speaking Eastern Armenian but I detected a Western accent, so I asked him about it and we chatted for a while, and exchanged phone numbers. I ate a lot... and it was delicious!

I spent the last two days organising my week with Syunik NGO representatives, especially Naira Harutyunyan, the organisation's manager of community and youth projects. Yesterday, I was taken to a "demonstration orchard", showcasing the region's improved horticultural techniques, a large part of which was implemented and donated by Tony Halepli, from Laval in Canada, and a Board member of the NGO. Tony has helped a lot regarding the implementation of more modern horticultural techniques in the region. He also helped establish a beekeeping program to produce a particularly delicious honey. I have much more to say about this, and will in a future post. Agriculture is very important in this region.

Today I was not taken anywhere by Syunik NGO staff: they seemed quite busy too, I am sure they often are. But we established a program for the rest of the week for me. 

Tomorrow I will get to visit a music hall, built thanks to the Atken Armenian Foundation (AAF). As I understand it, the AAF has been offering music education to many up and coming musicians in the area for over a decade, and has also purchased musical instruments for many here. At a time of emergency this year, the AAF switched gears a bit and donated a lot of money to remedy the post-war situation, which includes my main mission. However, we should certainly not forget the AAFs decades-long moulding of prodigious young musical minds, here and elsewhere in Armenia. I am proud to be associated with them. Also, as an amateur musician, I am particularly looking forward to this visit! Afterwards, the Syunik staff kindly invited me to go to the best (as I understand it) winery in the region, Old Bridge, for a combo wine tasting and supper.

On Thursday, I am slated to give a talk to about 20-25 young volunteers who will be giving out the Mission East care packages mentioned above, and I was asked to give a talk about Covid: I guess, since I am a Canadian, I am a resident expert by virtue of having learned about the spread of Covid more by my government than they do here. That actually isn't quite true, I have come to realize. There was much Covid awareness here when it began: back in March there were lockdowns throughout the country, and even village to village movement was restricted to curb the spread. However, the war changed everything, and people's priorities changed.

On Friday, I will be meeting with families of dead and injured soldiers from a selection of villages in the province, possibly refugees settled in the region, and also single parent families and out of the way villages where aid does not easily get to, if possible. These are the main reason for my visit here, so I look forward to that very much. I am sure it will be an extremely emotional day.

There is more to say about the last two days, but I need some alone time, I am tired, so I hope to add more info soon, perhaps tomorrow morning.

Oh, and it snowed today, a lot! The view from the Terjanian residence changed quite a bit (this photo is from the morning: it snowed all day)




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