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Artsakh’s Unsung and Unrecognized Heroes

AIWA San Francisco Affiliate Supports Armenian Women Veterans

Many Armenian women fought in the Artsakh Liberation War in Nagorno-Karabakh years ago.

Some served as nurses and saved lives. Others simply joined to fight on the frontline for their country.  A few miraculously survived and returned home to a future threatened by poverty, unemployment, and loneliness.

These once courageous fighters are vulnerable and shattered human beings today. Barely making two ends meet, they live in extreme poverty, devastated and neglected, and with no hope for a better future. They do not receive any support from the Armenian government, no recognition for their contributions to the war, and continually struggle to create stability for themselves and their families.

With the assistance of a local news agency in Yerevan and Sona Manukyan, acting on behalf of Armenian International Women’s Association – AIWA (San Francisco affiliate) Armenia, the affiliate was able to locate some of the mistreated veterans to provide immediate financial support for their basic needs, with a longer-term objective in mind - to help them and their families in a more meaningful way in the future.

War veteran Manushak Abgaryan has raised her twin daughters Arusyak and Suzanna without any support after losing her husband. The vivacious teenagers have music aspirations. They attend the Avet Gabrielyan Art School in Yerevan and dream of having their own music studio one day. The mother continually struggles to pay for their tuition at the art school, and reached out to AIWA-SF to give the girls the opportunity to complete their music education.

With the generous contribution of long-standing AIWA-SF supporters Rouben and Sofia Amirbekians, the organization was able to provide tuition assistance to the disadvantaged teenage girls. Now they will be able to continue their music education and graduate next year.

These heroes have a unique perspective that is outside the accepted role of an Armenian woman. The AIWA-SF team is proud to be able to help them, thus reviving the hope that was lost long ago.

Please meet these brave and at the same time vulnerable women, and listen to their absolutely heartbreaking stories in this short video, produced by Armenian teenager Max Gouchian..

Armenian International Women’s Association is a non-profit organization established in 1991 with a mission to promote and enrich the social, economic and personal advancement of Armenian women worldwide. To learn more about AIWA, visit www.aiwainternational.org, and to request to be on the AIWA SF email distribution list, please contact us at [email protected].

Photo: Artsakh Liberation War Veterans: Hasmik Matevosyan, Manushak Abgaryan, Nazani Hovhakanyan, Araksya Galstyan, Karine Ghazarian.

 

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