Tuesday, June 28, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

A Visit to a School and An Orphanage in Gyumri

by Asbarez Staff
December 30, 2018
in 2018 Year-End Special Issue, Armenia, Columns, Community Links, Latest, Top Stories
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Catherine Yesayan
Catherine Yesayan

BY CATHERINE YESAYAN

On my train ride to Gyumri, where I was planning to stay for a week to look back to the devastating earthquake of thirty years ago, I sat next to a young mother with her two small kids, traveling to Gyumri to stay for the weekend with family.

Her name was Tamara. I started a conversation with her. I wanted to know about her experience during the earthquake. She was born and raised in Gyumri. She gave me a piece of information that I was not aware of. She said that three years after the earthquake, Great Britain built a school in Gyumri where she attended. The school was named after the poet Lord Byron.

A historical side note: The school was named Lord Byron, because Byron had shown affection for the Armenian culture. In 1816 at the age of 28, Lord Byron had arrived in San Lazzaro Island in Venice, Italy, where the Armenian Mkhitarian fathers had established a prominent center of Armenian studies and culture, and he had plunged into the study of the Armenian language.

Tamara added, “The school was built with the latest technology of the time. It had solar power and during the years between 1991-94 known as the dark years, when Armenia was the throes of the Karabakh war and there was no electricity, and no school in all of Armenia had power, only the Byron School enjoyed electricity.”

Following the 1988 earthquake, all kinds of help from all over the world poured into the country. However, Britain was the first country to erect a school in Gyumri. Later French and German governments rebuilt schools with their respective language emersion.

Prime Minister Margaret Tatcher at the opening ceremony of the Byron school talking to the school kids
Prime Minister Margaret Tatcher at the opening ceremony of the Byron school talking to the school kids

Schools in Armenia have language inclinations, meaning some are taught Russian as second language, some French or German and so on. Also the schools are known by numbers. The Byron school which originally was the #20 school in Gyumri, had English as the language emersion.

During the earthquake the original #20 school was hit hard and had toppled, killing 40 students and staff. However, there were a few other schools which had lost three or even four hundred souls.

The five million sterling Pound to build the school was provided partly by the British government and partly by donations raised by the British people and the Armenian community of England. The entire fundraising activity was coordinated by Mr. Kyurkdjian, an Armenian benefactor living in England.

I visited Lord Byron school with my host, Varduhi. There I had the chance to meet with the principle of the school. He gave me a thorough history on the school.

Schools in Armenia are built on multiple levels, however the Byron school, contrary to the norm, was constructed in a single level. At the entrance of the school, the bust of Lord Byron was placed with an inscription.

The author (center) with the principal and vice-principal of the Lord Byron school
The author (center) with the principal and vice-principal of the Lord Byron school

The principal said all the building material, the furnishings, the computers, the books and the labor were exported from the United Kingdom. He described how everything had been shipped by boat to the Persian Gulf and from there via land, through Iran, to Armenia and then to Gyumri.

The Byron school opened its doors on June 10, 1990. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time, Margaret Thatcher, attended the opening ceremony. It was her first trip to the Soviet Union. They named the street that the school was on, Margaret Thatcher.
***
On the same day on August 20, after visiting the Byron school, I visited the Terchoonian orphanage in Gyumri. There I met with Sona Simonyan, who has been the director of the orphanage since the day the facility was re-opened fifteen years ago.

I found the orphanage extremely organized and very well maintained. It was a few days before the start of the school and the fresh smell of paint indicated that the school was newly painted and about to open.

Although I had not made a prior arrangement with Sona Simonyan to meet, she welcomed me and allocated enough time to go over the details and answer all the questions I had about the school.

The site of Terchounian Orphanage, which in Armenian is called “Home for Kids,” is steeped in history. Originally the building was built in 1830 to serve as a base for the Russian Army. In the early 20th century, the Near East Relief chose the site to operate an orphanage. Later the building reverted to a military headquarter for the Soviet army.

During the 1988 earthquake, the building was heavily damaged. Thanks to Mr. Terchoonian’s bequest, and the hard work and dedication of men such as the late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian and Romen Gozmoyan, the orphanage was revived.

Sona Simonyan, the director of the Terchoonian orphanage
Sona Simonyan, the director of the Terchoonian orphanage

The Terchoonian Orphanage of Gyumri, re-opened its doors in the fall of 2003, fifteen years after the earthquake. This was made possible by the generous donation of $350,000 by the family of the late Vahan Terchoonian, to establish a “home for Kids” in Gyumri. Today the orphanage is sustained by the Herman Khenderian Foundation in Detroit.

This was the same orphanage that Mr. Terchoonian as a child had found refuge after escaping the massacres of the Ottoman Empire. He eventually immigrated to the United States.

The name Terchoonian can be translated into “Not having an owner.” Mr. Terchoonian had chosen that name for himself because he had no one in the world.

At present, the orphanage caters to 90 kids— 50 kids stay overnight. There are 53 staff and 27 teachers.

Today there are two more orphanages in Gyumri. One is for handicapped children and the other is managed by the Catholic Charities.

The Armenian Genocide, which took place at the end of the Ottoman Empire in the early years of 20th century, sent waves of refugees from Turkey towards the East. Gyumri is within a close proximity—only 10 miles— East of the border of Turkey, in Armenia, thus a large number of victims fleeing from the mass killings could reach Gyumri and find refuge there. The orphanage was operated by the Near East Relief.

The Near East Relief (NER) was founded in 1919 to raise necessary funds to take care of people who had flown mass killings from the Ottoman Empire.

The NER produced many posters, through which the organization could reach people and raise awareness about the misfortunes happening to Armenian people during those days.

Fortunately, the collection of those posters still exists. One of the iconic posters is a photo of the Terchoonian orphanage, in the early 1900s, where the students have lined up on the grounds of the orphanage and have spelled out the words: “AMERICA WE THANK YOU” that was captured in an aerial shot.

On the walls of the school/orphanage, I saw many pictures from the early 1900s. One of the pictures was that iconic picture that depicts “America We Thank You.”

This humanitarian effort of Near East Relief gained momentum when the American ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau, wrote a report detailing the genocide of the Armenian people in Turkey. On October 22, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson urged the American people to make contributions to help Armenians in distress.

The Near East Relief saved the lives of 132,000 orphans who were placed in different facilities.

The NER also mobilized the American people to raise over $116 million, in today’s dollars equivalent to $1.25 Billion.

This research about the earthquake expanded my knowledge and I learned facts that I was not aware of. I did it with love, and I hope you enjoyed reading my reflections.

Asbarez Staff

Asbarez Staff

Next Post

Armenia’s Foreign Policy Challenges and Priorities

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Menendez, Schiff Alarmed that Biden Again Approves U.S. Military Aid to Azerbaijan

Menendez, Schiff Alarmed that Biden Again Approves U.S. Military Aid to Azerbaijan

20 hours ago
Press Boycotts Pashinyan’s ‘News Conference’

Press Boycotts Pashinyan’s ‘News Conference’

23 hours ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • asbarez.com
    • June 28, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to