Blog: Other Regions

House of Esther, Armenia

Back in early July, two volunteers and my family arrived with me at the House of Esther. We worked long hours with the contractor and local workers to finish the center as much as possible. The 2nd of August was our day introducing the House of Esther to the refugee families, locals, and different humanitarian organizations.

House of Esther, Armenia

Ready to initiate developing the House of Esther, I gathered the necessary materials I would need for my trip to Armenia in April. Accompanied by one volunteer, I was equipped with the flyers I’d need for meetings with various organizations and friends to build support and a team of volunteers. Once on location, the renovation process was ready to begin.

Esther is the heroine in an ancient story that could have been penned yesterday - a diasporic tale of escape and exile; of transformation weak to strong; of endurance and empowerment; of courage and compassion transcendent.

GHNI’s House of Esther, then, is aptly named and soon, upon completion of its renovation, will become a light-in-the-window refuge at the end of a desperate road for Armenian women, children and families fleeing unspeakable torture and annihilation in Syria’s civil conflict.

Dzia’s Journey

Dzia* was named after her great-grandmother, who came to Syria in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide, toting Dzia’s grandmother - an infant at the time - and two great-uncles at her side on the arduous journey. As a second generation Armenian-Syrian, recently Dzia found herself in a position eerily similar to her great-grandmother’s.

Death was all around them. Fathers, brothers, children, wives, grandmothers and grandfathers died in the attacks. They fled their homes and their country to escape the horrors of conflict and violence. Some now live in tents in large refugee camps in surrounding countries, fighting to get a handout of food or other necessities. A few have found a small apartment...shared with two or three other families. On top of the nightmare they left behind, Syrians who used to have homes, jobs, bank accounts, and schools to attend are subjected daily to crime of many varieties.