Very often we like or dislike a certain foreign city taking into consideration many minor details. The architecture of the city, the culture, night life, cafes, transportation, the dirty or clean streets outline the entire image of the city.
However, we don’t only like the city for that. No matter how much we adore the architecture of this or that building, we still form an opinion about the given city just by the citizens. After all that we finally decide whether or not we want to visit that city once again.
Brandon from America would probably remember Yerevan as a temporary working site (he works at the U.S. Embassy of Armenia) if it weren’t for the event that took place on Mount Aragats.
“In August of this year, we decided to organize a small hiking trip to Mount Aragats. First, we wanted to reach the plateau of Aragats and then go to the western peak,” says regional security officer for the U.S. Embassy of Armenia Peter Ford, who had gone hiking with two infantries (one of which was Brandon). Brandon lost his wallet while they were coming down the western peak. After an hour of searching, the American mountain climbers realized that the wallet had fallen somewhere where they could never reach. Brandon had his documents and 43,000 drams in the wallet. “We were convinced that we wouldn’t find the wallet, thinking that nobody would dare climb that part of the mountain. We were very surprised when they called us after a while to tell us that they had found the wallet.”
The person who found the wallet was a small boy by the name of Aram.
“At first, we couldn’t believe that the little boy had managed to climb that high. The child hadn’t touched the money, all the money was in the wallet and didn’t even want a reward. Later we found out that the child was an orphan,” said Peter Ford. The U.S. Embassy thanked the boy with a “medal” and awarded him with a badge with the Armenian and American flags. According to Peter Ford, the doors of the U.S. Embassy of Armenia are always open for the boy because he is now considered their friend. “We hope that one day he will become president of Armenia, or the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia,” said Peter Ford in a half-joking and serious tone. However, Aram is still dreaming of becoming an alpinist and reaching the top of Mount Ararat.
Who is Aram the hero?
Aram Nersisyan is an orphan of the “SOS-Children’s Villages” orphanage. This is an organization that takes care of the needs of orphans or children who don’t have legal guardians. “In contrast to other organizations, this is long-term and we take care of the children as one family. Basically, the child is taken care of until the age of 22-23 and sometimes until 25-26. The child gets to have a new home and a new family,” says director of the “SOS-Children’s Villages” fund Ashot Kocharyan. The first village orphanage was founded in the Kotayk region, where there are 13 homes and the SOS nannies work with the kids. The nannies try to give the care and love that children need to feel in the family.
The organization functions through phases. After a while, the child is transferred to Yerevan and lives in Youth homes for 3-4 years, after which he moves to an inherited home (let’s say, the homes of relatives or parents), or the organization rents a home. The organizatoni pays half of the rent. “We were very happy when we found out what young Aram had done. We’re happy that we are able to discipline honest and just children like Aram,” says A. Kocharyan.
Aram Nersisyan is in the 2nd grade and studies at the #82 school. He likes mountain climbing. He has been mountain climbing with his godfather Aram since he was two years old. This year he has climbed the plateau of Mount Aragats two times-the Azhdahak, Hatis and Ara mountains. September 21 was yet another day for climbing and he had decided to climgb the western peak of Mount Aragats.
“The weather is bad in the southern and western parts of Mount Aragats. Many people were coming down from the mountain and they advised me not to climb. But Aram and I decided to go up. Aram was ahead of me. It was very rocky and it was hard to find anything, especially since 15 professional mountain climbers had already went down. It turns out that all those people hadn’t noticed the wallet; only Aram was able to spot it with his keen eyes,” says Aram’s godfather Ara. Young Aram doesn’t like to talk about his heroic deed. The only thing that he said was the following: “I tripped and fell right where the wallet was. So, if I hadn’t fallen, I wouldn’t have found the wallet.”