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The candle doesn't lose its light...

It was early in December when Onnik told me that he was going to dedicate his New Year to photographing the homeless and spend time with them. That was when I felt that I could also help those people by asking everyone I knew to support them with clothes, shoes, blankets, etc. Then followed Hetq Online's announcement that those who want to help can turn to them. After arranging everything with Hetq Online's Editor-in-Chief Edik Baghdasaryan, we were able to bring that idea to life.

It cost me nothing to ask my friends, who were mainly volunteers with the Youth NGO Service for Peace to gather the necessary items. They were excited and got to work immediately. Hovik Barseghyan, the Chairman of the NGO, suggested that we also provide them with food, and we became even more inspired and engaged in collecting everything after watching the documentary produced by Yerkir Media and Edik Baghdasaryan.

Every friend, neighbor, and relative was told about this action. Some people thought we were doing a good job, while others simply thought that what we'd collect would only end up in the fire or being sold. Kind of jokingly I said that even that would be of some use as it would keep them warm although not in the way the were meant to. It was a test that all of us should pass, and I think that we managed to do that.

At first I stereotyped the homeless as being usually aggressive and the kind that liked kicking up a fuss. It's obvious that they are always decrepit, dirty and smell, but sit next to a fire where every kind of thing is being burned, eat leftovers from the garbage, booze up in the hope that you'll get warm (incidentally, this has the opposite effect), barely get some sleep in in a makeshift bed and see what state you're in the next day.

The thing is that they are people as well.

Each of them has their own story. Sometimes it's strange to hear that some of them have relatives in Russia, Greece, Poland etc, but are left alone. I have no right to blame anyone, but I wonder whether they were good parents for their children, or whether their children didn't have the heart to take care after their parents, leaving them to the mercy of fate. It's also pity to hear that their dogs are closer to them than their relatives.

Yes, dogs will always remain the best of friends to their masters, no matter what condition you're in.

These people really don't have a future. They know that by collecting bottles and such like for even 10 years in a row they can't ever hope for a brighter future unless they have proper shelter. Even if so, they have become too used to these hard conditions. I would be a goner if I were in their shoes.

Anyway, they were excited in seeing that someone, especially the youth, bothered to care about them. One of them even cried, for instance. Was it because he was too excited, I don't know. The two Russian women we took food and clothes to in hospital were also so happy when we visited them. "See Svetlana, they still remember us," one of them said to the other. My friends were also affected.

When you live well you don't figure that there exists such a different kind of life on the other side, and when you encounter it you feel like you've made quite a discovery. Yes, we discovered quite another type of life.

I'm not saying that they are innocent or holy, as their background might be full of dark stories, but they are PEOPLE after all. Someone can dress up, wear the most expensive jewelry and clothes and you might still feel like puking on seeing them. Anyway, "Love your neighbor," says the Bible, and when I met these homeless people in person I felt like I had known them for ages because I had read their stories.

I think the feeling we should have towards them shouldn't be pity or anything like that. We should realize that they are people who need our help once in a while.

So, if some of them ever turn to you for a cigarette, although I am against smoking in general, don't be selfish, it will cost you nothing, but for these people it will mean a lot. I hope that what we did will set an example for others. Just remember that the candle doesn't lose its light by lighting another...

Zara Gevorgyan
Photos by Onnik Krikorian

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