Armenia helps 100,000 refugees from Artsakh after war

Carolyn is one of 30,000 Armenian children without a home - again

Fleeing the mountainous enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh before Azerbaijan attacked last month, a 12-year-old girl faced an unexpected encounter. Crossing the Lachin Corridor west to Goris in Armenia, she discovered her favorite social worker, Arpe Asatourian, founder of Frontline Therapists (FLT). Arpe, for her part, was flabbergasted. Among the 100,000 refugees from what Armenians call their homeland of Artsakh, she found the same girl who was forced from her home three years ago. A special bond developed between them, when Carolyn was just a 9-year-old girl, she hugged Arpe tightly before returning home.

Located in the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, the Armenian enclave survived a bloody 44-day war in 2020.

More than 6,000 soldiers died before a Russian-backed ceasefire left local Armenian authorities in control of only part of Artsakh's former land.

Till then, Carolyn and her family returned anyway, vowing to continue their stay for generations.

But after enduring malnutrition during the nine-month blockade imposed by Azerbaijan, they had to make the thirty-day journey in a slow-moving convoy of cars and buses through Lachin, the only road connecting the enclave to Armenia.

For a week and a half, Artsakh residents crossed the border at a rate of 15,000 people a day.

But the bitter encounter with Carolyn is far from being the most difficult ordeal for Arpe Asaturyan.

She faces the hardships of resettlement and the chaos of war when several mothers tell their children that they will find their daddy in Armenia. As a counselor, Arpe was asked to tell them that their fathers had died.

"It's heart wrenching and you know it's going to be the worst day for the rest of their lives," Arpe said. "With everything that has happened, it's hard to find faith. "

When war broke out in 2020, Arpe, originally from California, left a successful practice in trauma counseling to join her ethnic brothers in helping returning soldiers and widows.

Funded by the Armenian diaspora, she runs a small staff of paid and volunteer therapists providing free mental health services.

But after last month's conflict, her office became a humanitarian center.

20 truckloads of aid have already been sent to Goris and the summer asylum camp in central Armenia where she first met Carolyn.

"They know their lives there have been precarious - they even laminate their documents," Arpe said. "It's still a shock phase, but the grief is being postponed as the motherless now have to struggle to find work. "

The Armenian government initially prepared to receive 40,000 displaced people from Artsakh; 40,000 arrived on Sept. 27 alone.

The total number represents 3.4 percent of Armenia's population, to which is added an existing refugee population of about 35,000. That doesn't include at least 65,000 Russians who fled to Armenia because of the war in Ukraine, which has increased real estate values by 20 percent as rents rise.

The Armenian government is providing the displaced with a $260 per person allowance and promised monthly payments of $100 for rent and utilities.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is asking for $97 million in international aid, with the United States leading the way with a pledge of more than $11.5 million.

"Little things," said Marina Mkhitaryan, executive director of the Armenian Society for Benevolent Union (AGBU), a 180-year-old organization with ties to the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Collaborating with World Central Kitchen, AGBU has helped provide 80,000 nutritious hot meals to those in need.

The AGBU will soon move to supply dry food kits so families can cook their own meals for four days. However, the focus is on integration, equipping resettlers to live independently.

The logistics center helps with the little things like official documentation, opening bank accounts and understanding taxes. And AGBU is partnering with a local employment agency to help resettlers find jobs and provide entrepreneurial training and skills training for entry-level positions in the strong Armenian IT sector.

Cautious about terminology, however, Marina Mkhitaryan wants more for former Artsakh residents than current stability.

"These are displaced persons who will eventually return to our historical homeland," she said. "The concept of a refugee presupposes a state of irrelevancy, and this is not our position. "

Pastor Vazgen Zorabyan believes this is only possible as citizens of Azerbaijan.

"But there is no hope for their return now," he said. "My main concern is where they will live. "

His Abovyan City Church (ACC) with 400 families opened its doors, provided hot showers and spread mattresses on the floor for all who could fit. In total, they helped 300 people find temporary shelter locally and elsewhere, providing food for 150 families.

Many fled their homes, leaving behind family photos, shoes and documents.

In the war and aftermath, Samaritan's Purse, an American charity, and other organizations helped him assist 12,000 families.

Although the U.S. charity has returned to Armenia, funding for ACC is provided by an Armenian-born pastor of a Pentecostal church in Argentina.

But Zorabian is nearing the end of his resources and almost the end of his faith.

"We prayed for victory and thought God would give it," he said. "It was a very painful lesson: Jesus did not die for the earth, but for the souls of these precious people. "

Last Sunday, 40 refugees from Artsakh confessed their faith in Christ.

Earlier, Zorabian preached to 70 new believers who returned to the enclave to start a sister church. He visited them once a month until the blockade cut off their physical connection.

He says many Armenians blame Russia.