Meneshian: Javakhk: Summer Fun, Christmas Dream
By Knarik Meneshian

9/meneshian-javakhk-summer-fun-christmas-dream/
De cember 19, 2009

Campers studying.

Snow has fallen. It is the last day of September, and Javakhk’s
landscape is white again. In the village of Heshtia, Sisters
Haguintha, Datevik, and Serpouhi smile at the beauty before them.
They touch the shimmering, powdery softness and look around their
convent grounds, surrounded with trees, and at the meandering, icy
stream nearby which flows towards the river Kur. They remember the
laughter and excitement of their 300 young charges, ages 6-14, and the
tents pitched and filled with camaraderie, fun, and learning right
here on these very same grounds. Sister Haguintha explains, `Just a
few weeks earlier, the tents – our makeshift summer day camp called the
Cardinal Aghajanyan Camp – were filled with children. For three months,
June, July, and August, the days passed with such joy for them, for
all of us. We had two sessions, one for the younger and one for the
older children, and the hours were from 8am to 3pm. The children
studied religion, Armenian language and grammar, computer, drawing,
Georgian language, music, needlework, psychology, and sports. We went
on hikes, played games, and took our meals together. On August 30th,
the last day of camp, the campers, our volunteers (nine village
schoolteachers and older teenagers), and we, the Sisters, played our
final games. To celebrate the occasion, we dressed the children in
matching tee shirts and hats with the name of our camp printed on
them. That evening after mass, we had a bonfire and great merriment,
thus ending this year’s camp season. On September 2, we Sisters took
36 of our teenagers, who had helped us during the entire camp season,
to Batum to enjoy five days at the Black Sea. The boys and girls had
never seen the sea before. They had never even been outside of the
village before, so you can imagine what an absolutely wonderful time
they had!’

Preparing bonfire.
It is November now, and the Sisters have been busy with their duties
of assisting the villagers in any way they can, as well as traveling
back and forth to five schools in the area to teach religion. They
regularly visit the sick and the elderly and spend time with the
children. The youth choir they’ve established is growing. In a
recent e-mail to me, Sister Haguintha wrote, `We Sisters have begun
preparing for Dzmer Bab (Father Winter). Oh, how the children look
forward to this special time of the year! For the seven villages in
this vicinity, we are already preparing gifts for the children, some
handmade, some shuga-bought. But the best gift of all that we can
give them, and to everyone in Heshtia and the surrounding villages in
Javakhk, is a medical clinic. We have no such facility in this area.
So, we have been working very hard to make this – our Armenian peoples’
dream here – come true. Already, with the kindness and generosity of
donors, brick by brick, the walls are forming. I hope and pray that
one day their dream will come true.’

Photos courtesy of Sister Haguintha Mouradian