Manoug Khoudanian was born in 1911 (January 16) in the city of Van. The Khoudanians escaped from Van due to oppressions when Manoug Khoudanian was two and half years old. Kurds helped the Khoudanians to escape from Van to Egypt. After living in Egypt for some time, the Khoudanians left for Ethiopia, where Manough’s aunt and uncle lived.
The Khoudanians were satisfied with their lives because they were not oppressed any more. There were several more Armenian families in Ethiopia who had escaped too. The Ethiopian Armenian community was small, but it was respected by the locals. Manoug Khoudanian got his elementary education in the local Armenian school. Manoug Khoudanian was interested in trading from his early childhood: he collected money from his school friends and ordered balls for them and then waited impatiently for his order to arrive. Manoug Khoudanian’s father had rheumatism and the Khoudanians decided to give their house in Addis Abeba for rent and leave for Jibouti, which was a small French colony near the Red sea and had a better climate.
Manoug Khoudanian started working when he was young, but he didn’t make much money. After a while he got involved in trade actively and learnt trading skills. He was very good in mathematics and had a strong character. “In that period, as he told me, there was going to be a bicycle competition in the city, he didn’t tell anyone about that, just took his own bicycle and participated in the competition. He won the competition, even though his bicycle was not a sports bicycle”, says Manough’s wife Alice Khoudanian. At the time, there were several Armenian families in Jibouti. Manoug Khoudanian used to walk in the city and ask about Armenian families. “He invited my mother, my two sisters and me to their house. They treated us very well; they were happy to learn that our family was originally from Van too. At that time I was eight years old, and in the future I became his wife”, remembers Alice Khoudanian. Three years later the Khoudanians returned to Addis Abeba. Manoug Khoudanian took small electric parts with him with the purpose of selling them in Addis Abeba. His father was a carpenter, but since he was sick, he did other things. Manoug Khoudanian helped his father to get their shop running. Manoug Khoudanian took a small corner in their shop and showed the electric parts he had brought with him for sale. It was a time when there was no electricity in the houses of Addis Abeba. Once a person visited the shop and bought electric parts from Manoug. Manoug was happy about his first success in trade and ordered new parts from abroad, which he received in 2-3 weeks. During the three years that Manoug lived in Jibouti he learned French, which was as widespread in the world as English is now. Some time later Manoug and his father founded two shops close to their house and moved to that shop. They moved to a new, bright and better shop, where they sold electric parts, tools and facilities, as for the other shop, they gave it for rent. People started installing electric lights and facilities in houses and streets, due to which the Khoudanians could improve and develop their business. Manoug Khoudanian was young, and his parents wanted him to get married. “I was his destiny. My parents had escaped from Van too, later they met in Egypt and got married. We got married in 1935, I was 16 then, Manoug was 24. We were happy together. I learnt a lot from Manoug’s parents. There was a war, the king had left for Switzerland to ask help from the Summit of Nations. People were confused”, remembers Manoug Khoudanian’s wife. Manoug Khoudanian moved to the building of the French consulate with his family with the purpose pf protecting them. There were other people there too. The French consulate had its own soldiers, but it gave weapons to others too so as to enable them to protect themselves in case of danger. Those times passed, and Italians occupied the city. “When we returned we saw that everything was collapsed. Our neighbors, whom Manoug’s parents had helped much, had saved our house from fire. One of Manoug’s uncles died a week after our marriage. Manoug’s family took care of them. There were five children in that family. They had a very beautiful house, but after the attack of Italians, when they returned they found their house burnt and collapsed. Manoug and his father built a small wooden house there, otherwise Italians would occupy that territory too” tells Alice Khoudanian. After Italians occupied the city, Manoug’s business started developing rapidly because in that period, Italians did their best to develop the city. Manoug started collaborating with factories. The city was called “Little Italy” because Italians did their best to construct and develop it. In 1939 Manoug and Alice Khoudanians had a daughter and named her Aida-Armenouhi.
“Once father Vahan Hovhannisyan came to Addis Abeba from Venice. Many Armenian families were going to send their children to study at the Armenian school of Venice named after Mourad Rafaelyan. Manoug took care of all expenses for Zareh Baghdasaryan and my brother, Varoujan Avetisyan and sent them with father Vahan to study in Venice. They had to return in four years, but Manoug sponsored one more child, whose sponsor had died”, assures Alice Khoudanian. Manoug Khoudanian started his charities and founded a sports team. Even though he didn’t play in that team, he provided financial aid. The Mouradian chorus was founded in that period and Manoug Khoudanian was one of its founders. “He liked singing very much, especially old and religious songs. He organized a wonderful party dedicated to the 50th anniversary of his parents, where he invited relatives and friends. That day he presented a big sum to the Red Cross”, remembers Manoug Khoudanian’s wife. Manoug Khoudanian supported the Armenian Diaspora during all his life. In 1940 Manoug Khoudanian was elected in the first colonial board consisting of seven members, where he was the youngest member. He provided financial support for 5-6 regions, organized and sponsored over forty wedding and baptizing parties of Armenians. Manoug Khoudanian supported his colleagues too; he took care of all expenses for an eye operation in Switzerland for one of his friends. Manoug Khoudanian provided financial aid to cover educational expenses for universities of many Ethiopian children, worked as representative of “Philips” company in Ethiopia for many years. When Manoug Khoudanian learned that land slide had collapsed the lands of Holland that they had made with their efforts, he provided financial aid to the government of Holland to cover their losses, for which he was given a gratitude letter. Manoug Khoudanian worked with English companies as well. When Manoug Khoudanian left for London in 1947 and saw the results of the war, he presented a huge sum to the fund of reconstruction of England, for which the government gave him a gratitude letter. While in London, Manoug Khoudanian had the honor to meet the prime minister of England, Anthony Idon, who sent his hellos to the Ethiopian king with Manoug Khoudanian. “Manoug did his best for his family, for him his daughter was higher than everything else in the world, he always traveled with his family. Since 1944, Manoug provided support for Ter Mambre Archbishop Sirunyan, who was the leader of the Armenian Church in Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia and was a very kind person. Manoug worked much and liked presenting crosses and other things to the Church”, tells Manoug Khoudanian’s wife. In 1963 the Catholicos of the Great House of Kilikia, Khoren the First granted a crown to Manoug Khoudanian for his charity activities and for supporting the Armenian Diaspora. “That crown has a special place in our home now”, says Alice Khoudanian.
It was very difficult to privatize lands or territories in Ethiopia. Manoug Khoudanian used his resources and contacts and privatized a territory in the city. Later he built a three story building in that territory and made it work and hepaid all the income for the needs of the Armenian Church and educational expenses of children and students. In 1958, Manoug Khoudanian’s daughter, Aida married Karo Shahbaz, who had graduated from the American academy of Cyprus. In 1971 Aida’s family left for the city of Melbourne in Australia to live there. After a short while, they bought a private house in Australia. In 1973, Manoug Khoudanian decided to leave for Australia with his wife and celebrate the New Year and Christmas with his daughter’s family. “We had invited friends and relatives, we were happy. After the celebrations we continued our trip to Hong Kong, and later Delhi city of India. Later we left for Bombei to take the Ethiopian airlines to Addis Abeba. We met Ethiopians there who told us that there had been a revolution in Ethiopia and a new government had come to power. When we arrived in Addis Abeba, rich people were oppressed everywhere. Manoug was thinking of giving our houses for rent and leaving, but rich people were still oppressed. When Manoug saw that they were taking from him everything that he had earned during fifty years of his life, he got a heart attack. We decided to leave from the country, but we met obstacles everywhere. Very soon we left the country with the help of an important person. In November, 1979, we reached Kenya, Nairobi, where Manoug stayed in a hospital for one month. His health conditions were very bad, but due to doctors he recovered his health”, remembers Alice Khoudanian. In 1980 Manoug Khoudanian left for Australia with his wife. “Each time he saw his grandchildren he felt so happy that it seemed he hadn’t experienced that much trouble”, tells Alice Khoudanian. On January 29, 1981, Manoug Khoudanian got one more heart attack and passed away.
Narrated By Alice Khoudanian