EMOTIONAL ARMENIAN CHARITY TRIP FOR FARDRUM WOMAN
Westmeath Independent
icles/1/35024
Jan 21 2009
Ireland
A Fardrum resident has described a recent trip to Armenia with the
Samaritan’s Purse charity to deliver Christmas shoeboxes to the poor
as extremely "emotional," but ultimately rewarding.
Kathleen Egan, The Cottage, Cartrons, Fardrum, travelled as part of a
ten-strong Irish team to capital city Yerevan and surrounding areas
to help deliver the gift filled shoeboxes to needy children living
in dire poverty, youngsters with disabilities and orphans
on January 6, the traditional beginning of the Christmas season in
the former Russian state.
After seven years involvement locally in the Shoebox Appeal it was the
first chance for Kathleen to see where the boxes go and the effects
they had on those who received them, an experience she described as
"wonderful" although it was, at times, quite harrowing to see the
poor conditions that people lived with everyday.
In one case the group saw up to twelve people, four generations of
the one family living in a one-roomed cabin with no toilet facilities
and just a little stove to stave off the sub zero temperatures.
"There were so grateful to get a box, it was the highlight of Christmas
for them. Anything they had they wanted to share. It’s unbelievable
the poverty there, but then you see the generosity. They wanted to
give us what they had, buns, dried fruit when we visited the houses,"
Kathleen recalled this week.
On the first day the Fardrum resident said they visited a family of
three, father Grisla, mother Aragia and daughter Nellie who slept,
ate, cooked and washed in a one-room cabin with no bathroom and only
a curtain for privacy, a stove and little furniture. Added to this,
Grisla was ill and with no money or medical aid, and the mother and
daughter were his primary carers.
"They made us so welcome and what little they had they shared with our
team," Kathleen said, adding that after giving them some chocolates,
jellies and lollipops, the mother was so grateful "you would think
it was an expensive gift. Her face shone".
"The delight in the childrens’ faces" is the abiding memory Kathleen
took home with her along with the affection of the Armenian people.
It’s a country that still shows the effects of recent
earthquakes. Unemployment is extremely high and the state support is
almost nil, Kathleen said.
Her happiest moment was a home visit to a one-roomed house with four
generations living there, a great grand other, grandmother, mother
and her three children.
"We gave the children their shoeboxes," she recalled, "and the two
girls opened theirs with great excitement but their little brother
was a little shy, watching with sparkling eyes to see what presents
they got."
"He went into the corner to open his box and as he picked out each
gift he smiled. That was my happiest moment to see the such delight
on their faces. It was emotional to see such poverty and all we have
that is wasted. It just shows you how well off we are and how little
they have," Kathleen said.
Although it was heartbreaking to leave and not to be able to do
more for the people, the Fardrum woman said she would love to go
over again in the future and the trip has renewed her vigour for the
Shoebox appeal locally.
"The hope it gives people to know that people are thinking of them and
they are not forgotten. One old woman actually said to us, we have
been here for 20 years and no one has shown us any attention. This
is the best day of my life as her grandchildren opened their
shoeboxes. Another grandmother brought her grandchildren on a snow
sleigh to get their box. They were thrilled to meet us," she concluded,
adding that she hoped her trip would encourage Athlone people to
increase the number of shoeboxes for the initiative next year.
Kathleen Egan expressed her thanks to everyone who supported the
Shoebox appeal in the Athlone area and a recent fundraising coffee
morning in Fardrum.
She singled out for special praise her son Darren and sister-in-law
Germaine who travels far and wide picking up boxes and fillers
throughout the year and a local lady who collects teddy bears. She
also paid tribute to Helen Glynn, the coordinator of the Shoebox appeal
in the Athlone area, for her help and advice organising the trip.
Photo: Kathleen Egan pictured in snow-covered Armenia with a group
of children who received their shoeboxes at a centre near capital
city Yerevan.