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HyeSanta Says Thanks!!!!!
ArmeniaNow readers and viewers of Shoghakat Television’s production of this year’s HyeSanta campaign, have made the
2004 fund drive a great success.
In the coming days, ArmeniaNow journalists who brought you the stories of hardship, and of bravery in the face of
catastrophe, will be revisiting those families, with news that people they’ve never even met care about their
condition. Using the money that you have provided, our staff will be arranging for the purchase of cows, sheep,
chickens, medicines, books and other provisions that will make 2005 start much better than 2004 ended for those you
read about.
Help came in dollars by 5s and 500s from North America; by the $100s from Belgium; pounds were mailed from the UK and,
we are especially pleased to report, by millions of drams from within Armenia.
As soon as all the mail has been received (by the end of this month) we will report a total. Already, however, we can
gladly tell you that every person we wrote about, photographed, filmed, will receive significant aid.
We hope that by next week we can begin distributing the items we suggested that our readers purchase. Upon completion
of the program we will publish a detailed report of how the money was spent – none of which has been used for
administrative purposes, unless specified for that reason.
It is not too late to add your gift to this year’s campaign. See last week’s archive to read about those who are being
helped.
ArmeniaNow and the HyeSanta Foundation thanks you for your generosity and are glad you share our belief that it is
better to help a few than to ignore everyone.
This year’s holiday campaign has successfully concluded, but we invite you to read our HyeSanta issue and continue to
read our site to learn about others who might benefit from your concern. Click here.
John Hughes and Tony Halpin
Editors, ArmeniaNow
Cow Feet Soup for Breakfast: Armenia’s winter-time tradition of khash
By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
If you come to Armenia in summer season you may be offered to taste the best Armenian fruits such as grapes, peaches
and apricots.
But if you appear in Armenia in winter times most likely you will be invited to go for khash-a masterpiece of Armenian
cuisine made by cows’ feet, stomach and Armenian ingenuity.
Khash is a unique experience for any foreign visitor, and whether they like it or not (and many don’t), almost all
enjoy the ritual of a khash party.
Khash is a gastronomic ceremony, a combination of ritual and lively heart-to-heart talks in the flavor of garlic and
raddish.
To prepare totikner (this is how Armenians call cows feet) for cooking it should be stripped of hairs and clean until
it turns opaque.
Then, the cow feet are boiled all night until the ingredients give its juice and piquancy to water and the flesh
flakes off the bones.
Usually Armenians go for khash in the morning on weekends, because after a khash party, participants are happy, but
also heavy with sleep. And, typically, not smelling so sociably acceptable. It may not be the cow feet that make a
person sleepy; rather the vodka, which, real khash professionals assures is good for digestion.
Besides vodka, a proper khash must have six components: mineral water, greens, raddishes, yellow chili pepers, lavash
and garlic. Minced garlic and salt – lots of both — is put into khash right before the eating. Dry lavash is soaked
in the soup until it becomes like a sponge. Hardcore khash eaters use only their fingers for consuming the odd meal,
and they recommend that participants abstain from eating, early on the previous evening.
Photogenic: Armenian model among winners in Turkey
By Marianna Grigoryan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
Teenage beauty queen Anush Grigoryan has added another crown to her career, winning one of five places at `World’s
Best Photo Model’ last month in Turkey.
It was the second victory for the 19-year old, who is also a former Miss Armenia (2003). In November Anush was also
crowned `Miss Tourism’ in a competition in Beijing, China.
To be crowned `Best Photo Model’, Anush beat out girls from 92 countries. The contest chooses five winners – of equal
rank – out of the entrants.
A requirement for competing in the contest is that participants must first have won a similar contest in their own
countries. But, as such a pageant has not yet been held in Armenia, organizers invited Anush based on her win in
China.
Anush was selected to the Top Five that included girls from Egypt, Philippines, Azerbaijan and Belgium. (Best male
models were also selected.)
`I Was A Slave’: Victim of human trafficking tells of abduction
By Arpi Harutyunyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
Mariam is 18 months old and can say three words: `Mummy, Pa, Grandma’.
When she says `Mummy’ or `Grandma’ she knows someone will respond. She will never know the identity of `Pa’.
Mariam’s father is one of the many men her mother was forced to have sex with, after she was deceived into traveling
abroad for what was promised as a good job and a good life.
In 2002, when she was 19, Naira (names have been changed to protect privacy) managed to escape a life of forced
prostitution and returned to Armenia after about 3 months as a victim of human trafficking.
She gave birth to twins, but only Mariam survived.
When she was 19 Naira lived in Armenia with her mother and 17-year old sister. She had studied at school for eight
years and went to work as a waitress in one of the cafés in her home town.
`I had to provide for my family,’ she says. `We had neither father nor a brother so I began working to provide for my
mother and my sister. But an acquaintance, a woman whose name was Alla, suggested that I go with her abroad and work
there. Me, a naïve child, I agreed.’
In a neighboring country Alla said a girl could earn much more working as a waitress. (To protect her family identity,
ArmeniaNow agreed to not reveal the exact place to which Naira was taken). Naira trusted the woman. She knew Alla had
children of her own, and Naira could not imagine her being deceitful.
Timeless: Researcher uses ancient manuscripts for modern medicine
By Suren Deheryan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
A doctor who became a priest has devoted himself to the life of a pharmacist to maintain a science that reaches to the
days when Armenia was a land of kings.
In a small laboratory that looks to be picked from the pages of a fantasy book, 43-year old Armen Sahakyan concocts
paints, herbs and ointments, using recipes found in the ancient manuscripts of the Matenadaran.
In 1993, Sahakyan, who is a priest at St. Astvatsatsin Church in Parakar, began collecting the ingredients found in
pharmacological recipes dating to the 10th century and turning them into the same sort of products used in those
times. And, since 2004, he has been selling those products in the gift shop at the Matenadaran. He has produced skin
lotion, ointment, tea – items that sell from $5 to $24.
His role as a senior researcher at the Manuscripts Museum led him on a quest to make paints – in 14 colors – using
Armenian herbs and flora. He developed paints, using barberry roots, apricot pulp and other distinctly Armenian
natural products. The paint is now being used by artists in the Matenadaran to produce paintings and pottery.
Silent Nights?: Bothered residents hope authorities will put a lid on noisy strip joints
By Mariam Badalyan
Opponents of nightclubs in Yerevan residential buildings won a legal victory recently that they hope will set a
precedent for ridding the capital of noisy discos and strip clubs.
In late November, after a drawn-out dispute between residents of 13 Tumanyan Lane and the `Yojik’ strip bar located in
the same building, a court ruled that the bar must turn down its music at midnight. As most clubs of the sort hardly
get much of their business after that hour, the ruling is seen, in effect, to close the club.
In fact, the strip club has not operated since the court ruling was imposed.
The residents’ case was championed by Yerevan intelligentsia whose letter-writing campaign drew the attention of
President Robert Kocharyan. During the week of December 20, the president called a special meeting attended by various
department heads of the Yerevan Municipality, and Mayor Yervand Zakharyan.
According to Karen Gevorgyan, head of the Department of Merchandise and Services of Yerevan Municipality, a working
group has been formed to investigate the noise issue and offer solutions.
It is welcomed news to many residents in the center of Yerevan, where nightclubs have sprung up in the past several
years, bringing thumping music and topless dancers into previously quiet apartment buildings for families.
Larisa Isahakyan, a 79-year old professor says she has been in a conflict with the `Relax’ nightclub since it opened
in her building on Moskovian Street in 1997. `People are afraid to speak out,’ she says. `Out of 94 people who
resisted `Relax’ existence in our building in 1997 only 14 are left today. Others complain each time they meet you,
but will not sign a paper. They know that the bar owners have strong backing.’
The Armenia Court of First Instance ruled in favor of residents in a case against “Omega”, Yerevan’s most popular
strip bar and a favorite of out of towners. But, one resident told ArmeniaNow that although the ruling should bring
peace to the neighborhood, it has in fact had no impact.
The club is believed to be among those that are “well connected” and are seemingly immune to prosecution.
Some annoyed residents, however, may get relief from the Republic of Armenia’s Ombudsman office.
Jora Khachatryan, chief legal advisor to Ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan says their office has received four complaints in
the past couple months and that the cases are being investigated and a report prepared for addressing the Government
and National Assembly.
The cases, Khachatryan said, include complaints from residents who say they have been threatened by bar owners if they
complain. Larisa Harutiunyan, a retired eye doctor, claims that she was beaten twice for complaining to police about
the noise coming from `Relax’ and `Marcel’ bars on her street.
Fighting for Breath: MSF plan aims to combat tuberculosis in Armenia
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmenianNow Reporter
The New Year is bringing a new hope for recovery for patients suffering from forms of tuberculosis so far deemed
incurable in Armenia.
Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients in two districts of Yerevan will be diagnosed and treated by local
polyclinics free of charge thanks to a new $3.8 million program of the French arm of the international medical relief
organization, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
The MSF program whose active phase will start in February/March 2005 will be implemented with the assistance of
Armenian health authorities and, in particular, through basic polyclinics N18 and N19 in the Shengavit and Malatia-
Sebastia communities of Yerevan and two TB dispensaries in Yerevan and Abovian.
MSF/France Head of Mission Christian Ferrier expects that up to 200 patients suffering from resistant forms of
tuberculosis might be totally cured of the disease by 2008, when the program is due for completion, and another 100
might pass the first intensive phase and be involved in continuous ambulatory treatment.
`Our possibilities are limited and we cannot involve the whole of Armenia in our program, nor can we involve the whole
of Yerevan. However, our program will respond to specific demands and will be an effective one,’ Ferrier says.
But he acknowledges that the end result will also depend on patients’ cooperation with medical staffs. `Of course, our
primary goal is to cure MDR tuberculosis patients totally. But treating such patients is a difficult process and in
many cases patients leave their treatment half-finished themselves.’
In this regard, Ferrier attaches great importance to psychological assistance and explanatory work among the
population. He also thinks the role of mass media is crucial here. `The media must speak about this problem so that
people know more about tuberculosis, get rid of prejudices towards this disease and understand that tuberculosis is
not incurable,’ says Ferrier. `To be a tuberculosis patient is difficult as it is. And these people should not be
stigmatized because of their disease, but on the contrary should be helped in every possible way.’
According to the Ministry of Health statistics, there are at least 6,000 tuberculosis cases in Armenia, but the actual
figure may be much higher. Over a hundred people are said to have died of tuberculosis in 2003. At least 15 percent of
new TB cases, as believed by the MSF, might be those of MDR, which is a form resistant to at least the two most
powerful tuberculosis drugs – Rifampicin and Isoniazid.
A complete treatment of such forms might cost from $5,000 to $25,000 and the duration of treatment might vary from 12
to 24 months.
The MSF will build, rehabilitate and equip two specialized labs and two medical-social rooms in the Yerevan
polyclinics, two diagnostic departments in TB dispensaries of Yerevan and Abovyan, and a special department for MDR
patients’ treatment in the Republican Tuberculosis Dispensary in Abovyan (jointly with the Armenian Ministry of
Health).
Cutoff: A glimpse of life in Armenia’s coldest region
By Zhanna Alexanyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
On the northwestern border of Armenia in the Shirak province, villages such as Paghakn and Berdashen maintain the
unpleasant reputation of being the coldest point in Armenia and one of the coldest in the Caucasus.
Some 2,000 meters above sea level, temperatures plunge to -46 Celsius. Winters aren’t just severe, but are long,
lasting from November to April. Snow often measures two meters deep, and the only road leading to Gyumri closes,
shutting villagers away from provisions, communications, and from healthcare resources.
`We open the ways by ourselves in case of acute necessity – when someone is ill or when we lack food. All of us gather
winter supplies like bears to stand the 6 months,’ says the head of the village, 41-year old Slavik Chapanyan.
Families plan childbirth for delivery before November or after April.
Nine villages in the region used to be populated by Azerbaijanis until hostilities began between Armenia and
Azerbaijan soon after the USSR dissolved. Most of the population now is made up of families who moved from Armenian
villages in Georgia.
In Berdashen, 57 of 61 households came from Poga, mostly for patriotic reasons.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress