Success stories

As Anton Chekhov said, “Indifference is a paralysis of the soul, a premature death”. Many children in the world who need help become happy because of the attention and care they receive. ‘’We are not abandoned”, this conclusion and the awareness of their own importance for the surrounding give strength to live and act. This aspiration to live infects everyone, proving also that heartfelt love is the flight of soul, eternal life.

It is great virtue when in every corner of the world the kindness dominates and makes certain individuals and organizations to invest in charitable or developmental programs.

However, the joy of all of us is multiplied when we meet the implemented programs, where the heartfelt attitude of those who overcome state borders motivates the youth of the native land. Yes, it happens, when young people who are members of the charitable foundations which are not indifferent to the problems of Armenia, become benefactors and bring a happy life to the children who are in need.

When the guests enter the office of Jinishian Memorial Foundation in Yerevan they are amazed to notice that 21st century’s innovative progress does not pass round the members of Jinishian Memorial Foundation. The device with the look of wise robot is the usual trash, which does not allow human stretched hand unanswered and opens trying to say that it stretches its hand to help all those who need it. Sargis Keveyan is the author of this device and it has been made in his founded laboratory.

The expression “Let’s play” has magnetic gravity. Attention to the game cuts you off from an actual reality and moves you into a world where you can rearrange and reorganize easily, even in the most difficult relationship. Unlike our confused and imperfect social-public life, the context of a game proposes temporary perfection, sets mandatory rules and becomes the ideal model of society. In the framework of the “Play it Fair” project implemented by the Jinishian Memorial Foundation, we tried to re-evaluate social behavior and attitudes towards one another with middle-grade students using game theory as a tool. Before starting the program, school-age children, their parents and teachers frequently emphasized in their conversations that they feel society views them (and sometimes their families) as inadequate. They spoke about daily problems and barriers they face. Also, they mentioned that the values which should create equality in social relations seem to be lacking or misinterpreted.

Pokr Vedi village is home to 3,000 souls, Christians nestled in the valley of Noah’s Mount Ararat between Turkey, Russia and Iran. Residents of the Armenian village remember ancestors brutally exiled and annihilated by the Ottomans 100 years ago—a horror still unrecognized by Turkey, whose closed border lies just a few miles away. Just 25 years ago these villagers lived under the Soviet state and have struggled to provide for their families ever since. 

How does one subsist with no resources to cultivate his land or her business? How does one recover faith after genocide and atheism? 

When a mobile medical clinic arrived in the tiny village of Arpunk offering free health screenings to women, they found Karine Petrosyan. Day and night, pain gripped her abdomen. Massive fibroids were silently consuming her uterus. Karine needed emergency surgery. In this remote corner of Armenia, there was little to no access to routine cancer screenings until Jinishian began a reproductive health program in 2016. Without early screenings such as mammograms, breast cancer can be deadly, making mortality in Armenia among the highest in the world—a devastating toll that Jinishian is determined to reverse, one village at a time. The Jinishian Memorial Program chose to partner with Maple Leaf medical services to focus on the area around Vardenis first—a deeply poor, volatile border zone with Azerbaijan where birth rates are low. In two dozen visits, the clinics reached nearly 600 women like Karine, 90 percent of whom had some form of gynecological disorder. Karine was swiftly transferred to the hospital, where doctors removed her invasive fibroids. She was far from an isolated case. Hers was one of sixteen vital surgeries. Women desperate for medical intervention finally had an advocate with the expertise to shepherd them through Armenia’s complex healthcare system.

Tsapatagh had a multi-purpose community center which was almost ruined. The building used to have a health center, a post office, a sewing workshop, a municipality office, musical, drowing and dance classrooms, etc. In 1989, when Armenians fled from Azerbaijan to their Motherland, some of them settled in Tsapatagh, that used to be inhabited mainly with Azerbaijanis. The new comers found the community center looted and partially collapsed. Despite its deteriorated condition, the bulding still served to the community for a few years also. Finally the community center was closed, as further exploition became dangerous. 

Since 2013 JMF is implementing Vardenis Development Initiative project in rural communities of Vardenis sub-region in Gegharqunik marz. Tsapatagh is one of the 23 communities targeted by JMF. In late 2015 Tsapatagh community activists came up with an ambitious community enhancement project, named «Community cultural center creation». The project leaders firmly insisted that the community is willing to revive the cultural life in the village and they will do their best to accomplish the project, to recover the art hub at the former multi-purpose community center.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right.”, Henry Ford.

Khachatur was only 14 years old when he first joined the Jinishian Memorial Foundation’s school debate club project in his school #190 in Yerevan. This is one of the 130 schools where the JMF established debate clubs within its Civil Society and Education program.
 A teenager, who was born in Lebanon where his musician parents were in a concert tour, and a grandchild of a Musa Dagh survivor realized and firmly believed that he is the one among the Armenian youth who is able and responsible for personal contribution in development of Armenia towards its path in becoming a democratic country and a country of a dream for all Armenians. The participation in debate club was a great opportunity for development of leadership, critical thinking, and public speaking skills vital for realization of his beliefs.

The JMF has been implementing the Youth Engaged in Civil Society project since 2004. The project is aimed at fostering democracy and developing civically conscious and socially responsible citizens in Armenia through the creation and development of Debate Clubs for secondary and high school students. About 130 established debate clubs involve students aged 14-17, who later use debate as a tool for being engaged in the civil society development process. The project provided knowledge to high schools students about key issues related to the development of civil society, democracy and human rights, building communication and analytical thinking skills that will permit them to more actively participate in the development of Armenian society. The debate clubs, organized in the schools as extracurricular activities, also add value to the education system. The initiative builds links between youth, the NGO sector, and governmental agencies through a civic initiative seminar series and round-table discussions.

“When in summer 2013 I gave birth to my daughter Karine, all of us were very happy and excited to welcome our first child into our family”.  All of a sudden at the maternity home I was told that Karine had hip dysplasia. It was quite a stressful period of life for our family. 

Hip dysplasia is the medical term for instability, or looseness of the hip joint that affects thousands of children each year. When a baby is diagnosed with developmental dysplasia of the hip and treated early, the outcome is usually excellent. If treatment is delayed, the further steps are more complex and with less chance of success. In the framework of the JMF implemented health project numerous ultrasound doctors were trained to diagnose various forms of hip dysplasia via examination of infants at maternity homes; something which was not practiced before.