Miracle due to kind people

A recent article published in 168 Hours newspaper, “10-year-old Avetis was warned not to appear in front of the NA,” received huge feedback. The family of Sharmakh Sargsyan residing at Hovnatan 20,Malatia-Sebastia community, and the editorial team of the newspaper were surprised to receive so many calls.

Since the publication of the story about Avetis Hakovyan and his family, the editorial office is receiving many calls and letters. Many people visited this family to offer financial and moral support. Not going into details who is responsible for this family and why they appeared in such difficult situation, now we know that the life of Avetis changed due to the people who are ready to share what they have with this family. Everyone was so surprised at these altruistic actions that even Avetis was in shock. Probably this boy has not seen so much love and compassion from other people in his life. Armenians from the US and Canada helped Avetis too. Liana Yeremyan from Montreal initiated fundraising and collected 1000 dollars from the donations of friends and other Armenians, which will be spent to reconstruct the place of living of this family. Many people also donated food, clothes, money and other things to this family. Some people visited the family and paid the 108.000 dram debt for electricity and bread from the nearest shop. A couple of days ago blognews web site launched a campaign, which was very impressive. The team of blognews and their friends changed Avetis’ life so fast that it looks like a book story. In other words, all these people gave a feeling of happiness to Avetis.

We saw a group of young people visiting their hut and the surprised face of Avetis as if he did not believe what was happening. This group donated a washing machine, TV set, fridge, clothes and money to this family. The best thing we saw was the hope for tomorrow’s day that this group of young people brought to this family. The group that arrived from blognews did everything with love and compassion, and this love made this family feel good, and maybe it is the first time they feel appreciated so much. The editor of blognews, Aram Antinyan, asked questions to the family members and promised to try finding jobs for them.

Yesterday we received a call from Sh. Sargsyan, who was barely speaking because of excitement, “I am so surprised that I don’t understand what’s happening. It is a celebration for my family because so many people stand by us and so many people are ready to give their last money for my son. This is the happiest thing that happened to us in our life and it is difficult for me to speak about it. I was thinking the poor and needy were lost in this country, but now I see we are surrounded by real Christians. I had not seen so many compassionate people. My children are so happy that they are not realizing what is happening. Please tell everybody that we appreciate and are grateful. Saying “thank you” is not enough and is nothing compared to the feeling they gave us. When that group came to our place, they hugged Avetis, talked to him and brought their love, and it was the best feeling we had ever had. Now we know that we are surrounded by real good people. My phone does not stop ringing and people come here to bring money, food and clothing. Actors, businessmen and other people are visiting us. There are also people who visit us to talk to us and ask what they can do for us. I want to find words but I can’t find the appropriate words to describe the great feeling I have. This is like a dream.”

We also received a message from a facebook user, Sh. Sargsyan, who asked to give the contact details of this family and said her sister lived in India and was offering to take the boy to Kolkata to get good education in the local Armenian school. One of the readers of our newspaper contacted from Armavir region and offered to take Avetis to their house in winter. “I have a big house, two boys. I will take care of him like my son and will send him to school, if his mother agrees,” he said.

Sh. Sargsyan also said that the day before the son of the president’s brother had visited them too, “You know, we don’t know such people. When he said who he was, I was shocked. He was with a friend; they brought food, clothes and gave me a lot of money. He said he would come over in several days and would take Nshan to hospital for checkup, and would also take care of free eye and heart surgeries. He also made a couple of calls and said would solve the problem of finding a job for us too. He told us to tell them what we needed and he would help.” After the publication we received a call from a friend of MP Mher Sedrakyan, who asked to arrange a meeting with Avetis. We saw how Mher Sedrakyan entered shops holding Avetis’ hand and bought a lot of things for him. By the way, Mher Sedrakyan was choosing clothes for Avetis himself and also was asking for his opinion. He donated money too.

During these days I have not been able to follow news and I don’t know how many times Paruyr Hayrikyan applied to the Constitutional Court and recalled his application. I haven’t been able to follow the “groundbreaking” promises of the candidates. I have only been able to pass the contact details of Avetis’ family and see how people that don’t know each other come together to help this family. We hope henceforth this will be a good example for those on the “top” and they will understand that they still have a lot to learn from ordinary people. If they don’t want to share what they have, at least they should learn to have compassion to others.

By Lusine Stepanyan