HFH Armenia, Gavar, Gegharkunik Region
HFH Armenia Garegin II Work Project, Gavar, Gegharkunik Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Habitat for Humanity 2006
Before shooting off to do some work for an exhibition to be sponsored by the Tufenkian Foundation during September as well as an article and photo story for Eurasianet and the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), an update on work for Habitat for Humanity Armenia.
Habitat for Humanity Armenia is a non-governmental, charitable organization that supports community development in the Republic of Armenia by assisting in building and renovating simple, decent and affordable homes, as well as advocating the right to decent shelter as a matter of conscience and action.
Last week I went to the Gavar site of the Catholicos Garegin II Work Project to grab some last images of the construction of apartments for families currently living in rented accomodation. The project should be complete by the second week of September.
The Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians invites you to participate in the Build on Faith event to be held in His name in Armenia September 5-9, 2006.
The build will take place in northern Armenia, near Lake Sevan. During just one week, volunteers from Armenian churches and Diaspora worldwide will build homes alongside future Habitat homeowner families from the community. Our goal is to complete 37 homes, symbolizing each Diocese and one for the Holy See, representing the Catholicos of all Armenians.
Anyway, below are some images shot last Monday now that they’re scanned and we’re almost finished picking 40 images that will be exhibited at the Marriot Armenia Hotel at a special event marking the start of the last phase of construction and which will be attended by His Holiness Catholicos Garegin II on 4 September 2006.
HFH Armenia Garegin II Work Project, Gavar, Gegharkunik Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Habitat for Humanity 2006
From what I gather, donations are still always welcomed so check out the relevant page on the HFH Armenia page here.
Habitat for Humanity Armenia is a charitable organization that is based on principals of volunteerism and benevolence. All the funds required to ensure smooth work of the organization as well as neseccary for the construction simple decent and affordable houses are donated to the organization by numerous donors. Our donors and supporters are Diasporan and Armenian Churches, Organizations, Corporations other Habitat affiliates from all over the world and numerous individuals from all walks of life and backgrounds.
We are encouraging you to join the army of our supporters by your gift and thus to help us eliminate poverty housing in Armenia. All the funds you donate will go to Habitat for Humanity Armenia construction program and will help a needy Armenian family to become a full-rights owner of their first ever home.
Incidently, there will be quite a few media and public events scheduled for the first week and half of September. For media enquiries please contact Zaruhi Tonapetyan at HFH Armenia here.
HFH Armenia Garegin II Work Project, Gavar, Gegharkunik Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Habitat for Humanity 2006
And with that, I might make one more post before shooting off to complete a lot of work, but it depends. Still have work to complete for Habitat for Humanity, an article to finalize for New Internationalist, an albeit meeting to attend on Monday evening, and final preparations to make for another outing with the HALO Trust.
Incidently, there are posts on landmines which include links to articles I wrote a few years back for Transtitions Online and others at http://oneworld.blogsome.com/category/landmines/
As strange as it might sound, I loved the last three times I went out with these guys in the field, and there’s something surreal about photographing in the middle of a minefield although it has to be said, HALO know what they’re doing and the last thing they need is a journalist being blown to pieces.
Zarchka at Life Around Me is apparently a little disappointed to hear this. Turns out I promised my iPod Nano to her in case of my demise. Still, as it will be in my pocket when I’m photographing Demining and Battle Area Clearance operations with them, it won’t be much use to her if something does happen.
Sorry, Zara, they’re sturdy, but not that sturdy. However, if something does happen, feel free to keep the Kate Bush CDs I lent you — if you promise to sing one of her songs at my funeral. 
Wow, totally off-topic, but as I mentioned Kate Bush albeit briefly, I was just reading the Wiki page on Hounds of Love in particular and it says that there were Georgian folk influences in one song.
I knew about her love for the fantastic Bulgarian folk tradition, but not Georgian. Must get hold of a copy of Hounds of Love on CD. Can’t remember the song it was so long ago when I had the album on vinyl, but no wonder The Independent quotes Georgian-born Katie Melua in a recent article.
Anyways.
Comment by Onnik — August 19, 2006 @ 10:48 pm
Back to HFH Armenia and there are two posts about the Gavar construction on the blogs of the Armenian Volunteer Corps (AVC) and Anoush Rima.
Actually there’s been quite a lot of intermittent blogging this summer about HFH Armenia by foreign and Diasporan volunteers who’ve been involved to some extent. Here are just some of them.
If you know of any others, please post the links in the comments section of this post.
Comment by Onnik — August 20, 2006 @ 12:55 pm
I have the entire Hounds of Love CD saved as MP3s on my iBook. It is a special edition disc with several bonus tracks. When I return I will burn a disc for you. I have The Sensual World, too.
Comment by Christian Garbis — August 26, 2006 @ 4:53 am