The last two days were a special, memorable opportunity for our group. We meandered our way northeast from Yerevan, through beautiful mountains on a frosty morning, to the community/village of Debed set a valley between the snow capped mountains. Here, over a dozen families are receiving Heifer assistance in conjunction with assistance from the Fuller Center, an NGO that provides housing. We spent the day visiting families who had received only heifers or bees, and the evening lodging with families who had received improved housing from the Fuller Center as well. You can read more about this partnership in an article from the World Ark Summer 2011.
I'll allow the pictures to speak for themselves, and your friends, family and colleagues who are on this journey to share their individual stories with you. We are fortunate to have different experiences lodging with Heifer's Project Partners since we split up in to groups of 2 - 4 for our overnight in Project Partner homes.
The family Kate and I stayed with had received a heifer from Heifer, and they now have 5 cows. Their home is visibly more improved than those we'd visited during the day, and they have added bees to provide biodiversity. The mother works in a local grocery store (see pictures), the father is away working, and of the two oldest sons, one is a driver (sometimes 200 km a day!) and the other is in the Armenian army. Also living with them are the grandmother and her sister, and a younger son who is 13 years old. We had no translator, so what we learned was purely by communicating with hands, gestures, photos and sounds. It was really quite amazing... and we both feel so fortunate to have had time with this particular family. Our visit ended with a large breakfast of black walnuts, walnuts, apple/pear cake, bread, fruits, yogurt, cheese, and other unique dishes. The grandmothers, our hosts for the morning, also shared with us non-verbally their feelings of sadness from the Armenian genocide, as well us leaving them to go back to America. It was an experience we will never forget.
Once all corralled, we took the bus to Lake Sevan, a beautiful lake surrounded by snow capped mountains. We visited the Monastery of Seven, high atop a hill. It was the perfect end to our two day adventure.
To put into words the experiences we've had with Heifer's Project Partners would be almost impossible, but it is a challenge each of our Area Volunteer Coordinators (the tour participants) will face when they go back home. How do you take an experience that was not only educational, but also quite emotional and spiritual, and convey the deepest of those both cohesively and with meaning?
We all feel guilt that we are the representatives from the Heifer support community who have both the privilege and honor of experiencing Heifer's work in Armenia. I wish we could share it with everyone who has given a penny or a million dollars to Heifer. But I want to say, with all of my heart, that this group of selfless individuals who take Heifer's message to their communities is more than deserving of this opportunity. They are our heart, our legs and our voice, and they have made this work possible. They are amazing.
Please enjoy photographs of our day in our Visit to Debed & Lake Sevan Picassa photo album. You can also enjoy a wonderful video of a visit to a Project Partner's home here.
Merci, constant reader. :)
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