A Special Gift from a Special Person

As you might know meanwhile that we are sponsoring several children in need in Armenia. We always enjoy getting news from them, either by reports from the charity Diaconia or by their own letters which are of course translated from Armenian to German. Sometimes we are even getting gifts from them like self-made pictures or needlework. These gifts are always a special treasure to us.

Today we received such a very special gift which we were very surprised and delighted about – a beadwork picture made by one of “our” girls, Astghik (propably with the help of her mother).

Astghik is the latest of our sponsored children (only since 2011) and the only one we don’t know personally. She is 15 years old and apart from “just” living in deep poverty has to cope with various disabilities and chronic illnesses. This can be tough enough in wealthy countries, but in a country like Armenia, where even healthy people are often struggling with finding a way to earn their living, disabled and chronically ill people hardly ever get a chance. Welfare payments for those unemployed or unable to work are by far not enough for even the most basic needs, let alone for any medical treatment which has to be paid for in full by the patients or their relatives. As long as our sponsorship lasts, Astghik will get basic medical treatment for free, as well as food, clothing and school supplies.

We pray that in the future even when the sponsorship ends she will be able to live a life in dignity and not end up in devastating conditions like far too many people in Armenia!

Our London Visit Day 3 Part 1 – Platform 9 ¾ and St. Sarkis

We only had to go two tube stations on Piccadilly Line to reach our fist destination on that day. It was the famous Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Railway Station. This was the platform from which Harry Potter took the train to Hogwarts. Not the real one, though, but just a sign and a luggage trolley “disappearing” in the wall, so that people can take photos in front of it. The actual filming location was situated between platforms 4 and 5.

Our next destination took us to Kensington, one of the most expensive parts of London. We took a Circle Line train to High Street Kensington. Here even the tube station itself is worth a look – it even has got its own little shopping mall inside.

From there we didn’t have far to go to reach Iverna Court and Iverna Gardens in the centre of which stands a church of the kind we had so often seen during our visit to Armenia in 2009. However, St. Sarkis is in London and in one of the best places in London, too. It had been built in 1923 for the survivors of the genocide in the Ottoman Empire which had taken place during World War I and in which more than one million Armenians, Aramaeans and Greeks were murdered systematically and with the utmost cruelty.

The church is surrounded by houses which at least partly seem to contain flats, and we wondered what it would cost to buy or rent such a flat. Far too much for us, at least ;)

My 1 Euro per Day Experiment

Even though we are sponsoring eight children in Armenia already and pay the therapy costs for one of them, I decided to do the 1 Euro per day experiment nevertheless, on which I wrote in the previous blog post. Simply to see what is possible (with GOD's help always more than one thinks). Each day I put one Euro in an old savings box which had belonged to either me or one of my brothers and of which I didn’t even know it still existed – until I noticed it standing on a sideboard in my middle brother’s living-room. When I exclaimed “Oh, you still have it???” he gave it to me, and after I had put it on my own desk I soon realized what it was good for.

However, the money which I’m saving in there is not meant to sponsor another child, but to support projects which are important to me. No, sorry, I will not take any suggestions, as there are already more projects on my (invisible) list than I will ever be able to support! The money for January will be donated to support the Arise Conference.

It's getting cold

This is the time of year to switch on the heaters. However, we are still refusing to do so and only using the wood stove for as long as possible. This means that most of our current life at home takes place in the sitting room, as it is too cold in the other rooms to stay there for long. We also keep warm with warmer clothes and, if necessary, blankets. The reason why we are doing this is to save money.

A good side effect of it is that we get a little (though just a very little) impression of how it feels to have to live in a place without proper heating. Of course, we are still spoiled. Our home is well insulated, there is no draught, we have got windows instead of just plastic foil and it is not dripping through our roof when it rains. So despite our little retrenchment we are not nearly as bad off as for example the people who have to live in these huts in Gyumri in the north of Armenia:

Everyday Blogging

I really admire those of you who are keeping up their blogs by writing about everyday happenings. For me this is difficult, because what I find interesting in other blogs I always think others will find boring in mine. I have just finished reading “Jane Austen’s Letters” and I’m astonished how she fills many pages just writing (usually to her sister Cassandra) about what she has done all day, who she met and of course the latest events among family and friends. Of course, personal letters are different than a blog which can be read by anyone. One cannot tell too many details, but I think my inability to write about everyday things is that I’m not a “small talker”. Or rather, I’m just learning to be one. Meanwhile I can talk quite a while about “the weather and the state of the roads”, as Jane Austen would put it ;)

When I think about last week I suppose my most interesting days have been Friday and Saturday. One reason was that from Tuesday till Thursday I suffered from low blood pressure and even had to cancel a dentist appointment. On Friday Hermann and I attended a birthday party and in the evening I released a book into the wild. This is the BookCrossing term for putting a book where other people can find it and hopefully take it home and register it at the BookCrossing site. So I left a book on a park bench (wrapped into a plastic bag, of course). Yesterday morning it had still been there, but I’m hoping for many passers-by today afternoon, especially as the weather is fine, and that one of them will take the book.

Yesterday we received the good news that one of the Armenian children we are sponsoring no longer needs our help, because the family is doing much better financially. We also received the request to support another child, which we agreed to. Astghik is 12 years old and suffering from cerebral palsy and eye problems. As if this wasn’t enough her father left the mother before the child’s birth, so the two have to get along by themselves. At least the girl is able to attend school despite her disabilities and via the sponsorship she can get some medical help, too, apart from other things like food and clothing.

This afternoon I hope to be able to go for a walk, but this depends on what Miss Migraine says.

Home Again

On Friday evening we returned from our London trip and meanwhile I have also returned home mentally (after our trip to Armenia last year it had taken weeks to get my brain set on “home” again). We had a great time and I was happy to see the town again after 22 years (I do not count a very short visit in 2005 when I wasn’t able to see much of it). Many things have changed, but the megacity atmosphere which I enjoyed so much during my year there was still the same. Also the weather was nice most of the time (except one day with rain). Hermann was very impressed and found London “addictive” – I completely agree on that ;) If there is one place I would really find it perfect to live it is this crazy megacity!

A Tragic Story

I read through this book almost without putting it down. It is the beautiful but sad memoir by Turkish human rights lawyer Fethiye Çetin on her grandmother.

Here is the description from the cover:

When Fethiye Çetin was growing up in the small Turkish town of Maden, she knew her grandmother as a happy and universally respected Muslim housewife. It would be decades before her grandmother told her the truth: that she was by birth a Christian and an Armenian, that her name was not Seher but Heranuş, that most of the men in her village had been slaughtered in 1915, that she, along with most of the women and children, had been sent on a death march. She had been saved (and torn from her mother’s arms) by the Turkish gendarme captain who went on to adopt her. But she knew she still had family in America. Could Fethiye help her find her lost relations before she died?

There are an estimated two million Turks whose grandparents could tell them similar stories. But in a country that maintains the Armenian massacres never happened, such talk can be dangerous. In her heart-wrenching memoir, Fethiye Çetin breaks the silence.

Vacation

We had a great time on our trip to East Frisia, it was a very relaxing vacation :)

Talking about vacation, I know the summer season is almost over, but I would like to introduce to you this campaign below, in which we take part (we sent pictures from around our home town and from Armenia). I think it is a very nice thing which a father is doing for his murdered son and it is also a campaign to condemn terrorism which kills so many innocent people each year:

My Personal Summer Song :)

This was the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 contribution by Inga & Anush from Armenia. I love to dance to that song :) Don’t know why these two ladies keep reminding me of my favorite band ABBA ;)

Belt Tightening

We had to buy heating oil and the car needed its regular inspection – all this together cost us about 2000 Euros (1750 GBP, 2800 USD). This means that for the next four weeks we will reduce our expenses to the absolute necessary. We had done that already before our trip to Armenia and I regard it as a challenge to look for bargains and to think about what we really need at all and what can be postponed. It’s always good to improve one’s money saving skills ;)

Japanese, Anyone?

Yesterday I found out that the link to our Armenia travel report has actually made it to a Japanese blog :) Okay, this is not a mere coincidence – the blog belongs to one of my old friends from my time in London who I notified by e-mail about the site. Sayori and I had been flat mates for a while. She is in the fashion business. Sometimes she publishes lovely photos on her blog, that’s why I visit there occasionally, even though I don’t understand a word of what she writes ;) Anyway, I have added her blog to my blogroll now – maybe one of you happens to speak or at least understand Japanese and is able to read it :)