By Timothy Straight | Founder and Executive Director
During the last week of September in 2023, the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh fell. Nearly 120.000 ethnic Armenians were forced to flee. On September 25th, a tanker was allowed in to provide enough fuel for them to drive out, leaving everything they know behind, but at least with their lives. All the men of city of Stepanakert gathered around the tanker to get their few liters for the journey. Then it exploded, killing hundreds and wounding hundreds more. A fiery bloodbath. Among those were the son and son-in-law of Armine. The mens' hands scorched and faces seared, they were flown out by helicopter. Armine, her husband and their two daughters escaped a couple days later, as much of their belongings as they could piled on the roof of their car - boxes of the most cherished items, chairs, a mattress.
A couple months ago, Armine walked into our office one day here in Yerevan, downtrodden and quiet. She looked at our crocheted items. When I asked what she wanted, she nervously pulled a crocheted bear out of her bag and asked if we could sell it. She broke down as she told her story. The bear had hashtags on it, appearing to have been beaten.
Armine was beaten up - by the burden of two men in her family still needing daily medical care, by losing her home and land, by not being able to find a job, by life. I thought long and hard that evening about whether it's right to help one individual and her family with a project, but thought of the old proverb 'save one and save the world'. I looked at the bear again, and baptized it Battered Bear, because we are all feeling battered in this complicated world. I thought that might be something people could relate to. And boy did they. Armine has been making 16 Battered Bears a week since then, and we pay her as she delivers, on the spot. So far, Armine has gotten orders for about 464 bears....way beyond our expectations, but guaranteeing her work for months, all the way up to Christmas and beyond. They've been shipped to the UK, Norway, Australia, Belgium, the US and more. Some people want just to make a donation. The bears made with those donations will be given out by an Armenian Santa at a Christmas party for kids from Nagorno Karabakh in December here in Yerevan.
Needless to say, Armine is a different woman today than she was that first day just a couple months ago. She walks in with her weekly delivery of 16 bears beaming and proud, chatting away. We're so pleased with this result, we can't even express it. We've made a difference for this one family.
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Thank you.
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