“After the 44-day war, like all Armenians, we considered it our duty to be able to help our small Armenia with something,” Ms Alina Vardanyan told in a conversation with Iravaban.net.
She has been living in France since 2005 and is the President of the Association Amitié Franco-Arménienne Var Est.
“My small family and I organized a collection of goods. We also asked the church to help and all the Armenians, even more the French, decided to help us. We sent much cargo 3 times through different associations.
Just during the war, France provided a plane so that we could bring the cargo. At the front line, the soldiers said what they needed, but we did not know where here that help was coming to, so I decided to send it to “Pyunic” Armenian Association for Persons with Disabilities. “We sent the parcels, which contained medical supplies, wheelchairs, beds, crutches, and walkers, directly to ‘Pyunik’,” she recalls.
Alina Vardanyan says that since the student years she has worked as a volunteer in to “Pyunic” Armenian Association for Persons with Disabilities. She notes that “Pyunik” is like a home for her.
“There is a person in France, Ollivier Tamagno, who is of French nationality, he decided to help us. He is the head of a large center and sells such products for nursing homes for the elderly in France, so we explained what is happening in Armenia and he decided to support,” Alina Vardanyan says.
She also said that they do not work with the Government to avoid additional difficulties, as people with functional disorders have difficulty in getting the items they need. “It is different with “Pyunik”; a person comes and fills in a small paper or we fill it in for him, he takes it for free and goes, if the person has a mobility problem our volunteers go to their house.”
The French-Armenian benefactor says that they help not only the servicemen who became disabled during the war, but also all the people in need. They also provide assistance to medical centers. She mentions that the last time they provided assistance to “Hrazdan” MC.
“Now there are 2 large parcels that we are going to send. We look forward to raising money to cover the transportation expenses,” Alina Vardanyan says.
Nothing is done for advertising. According to her, the work is done at the call of the soul․ “To know that we have a small contribution for our small homeland. They write to us on our Facebook page, when they receive help, they write again, they thank us, and it is nice.”
Now they are trying to help the servicemen with spinal problems to continue the treatments after the hospital.
“Even French benefactors turn to us to send aid to Armenia through us. There are cases when they express a desire to learn Armenian in order to establish personal contacts with Armenia.
“We are trying to preserve our Armenian identity with these steps, so that we do not get lost. If we do not think about this, we will not remain Armenian,” Alina Vardanyan concluded.
