If you have plans to travel to Armenia, please consider visiting Mer Doon!
Where homeless young Armenians girls, over 18 old, grow in wisdom and goodness and inner beauty
http://mer-doon.org/html/news.html
http://mer-doon.org/html/ourresidents.html
http://mer-doon.org/html/aboutus.html
http://mer-doon.org/html/donate.html
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From orphanage to womanhood, teens in transition find a
warm home at Mer Doon
VAGHARSHAPAT, Armenia:
Growing up in the Gavar Orphanage
in Gamo, Ani approached her
18th birthday with trepidation.
Like all orphans who age out of
the system, she would soon be required
to leave the only home she
had known.
I often ask myself how my future
looks, growing up with no family
and not knowing where I will
live, wrote Ani, who had become
an expert carpet-weaver at the orphanage.
With this I will be able
to work and earn a living, but still I
have no place to live.
Anis plea for the warmth of
family love was answered on November
11, 2006, when she entered
Mer Doon, an Etchmiadzin residence
for young women in transition
from the orphanage to full
adulthood.
Mer Doon has earned the reputation
of being a respectable and
well-organized program and often
enjoys visitations from guests
worldwide, says Julie Ashekian,
president of Our Home-Mer Doon,
Inc., the American support organization
for Mer Doon NGO in Armenia.
The visitors enjoy spending
quality time with the girls, and on
occasion enjoy a delicious meal prepared
by them.
This place was incredible for
me because without this facility,
where would these girls be, where
would they have gone and how
would they have done it? asked
Sam Chapootian, who was visiting
from New York City with his
mother.
Mer Doon NGO President Tigranoohi
Karapetyan is such a
dynamic individual, Mr. Chapootian
added. She makes sure the
girls do the best they can on an
educational level.
Mer Doon is impeccably clean,
continued Mr. Chapootian. This
program is really, really important.
Mer Doon allows these young
women to experience life.
Spring is a busy season at Mer
Doon, where a large garden produces
vegetables, herbs, fruits, and nearly
everything necessary to prepare native
meals. Because the garden is so
valuable, the residents have become
expert gardeners and cooks.
In addition to maintaining the
garden, the young women make
jewelry, crochet, bake, arrange
fruits and vegetables, and create
beautiful greeting cards. With the
staff , they also create the annual
Christmas decorations that adorn
Mer Doon inside and out.
Not only we think them to be
beautiful, but the Municipality of
Etchmiadzin did as well, awarding
Mer Doon with fi rst prize in their
competition for the third consecutive
year, observes Ms. Ashekian.
We are proud of Mer Doons accomplishments
in its short existence,
she adds. Our mission has
proven that these beautiful young
ladies have achieved our goal (and
theirs) of becoming healthy, mature
and productive members in
their homeland of Armenia. They
realize living at Mer Doon is only
possible because of individuals who
truly want to help Armenias less
fortunate youth by aff ording them
a chance for a meaningful life.
All those individuals involved
in the establishment and ongoing
maintenance of the Mer Doon program
deserve praise for the selfless
devotion to the needs and welfare
of the young women domiciled in
the beautiful Mer Doon Facility,
writes a donor.
The loving care and
concern being extended to these individuals
serve as shining examples
of what can be accomplished when
Armenians of goodwill put their
minds and souls to filling a void that
is not being adequately filled by a
nation that is beset with so many
pressing problems and needs.
Four of the 11 original residents
have married, with the entire Mer
Doon family as witnesses to the traditional
Armenian ceremony, and two
of the brides are now raising families
of their own, according to Ms. Ashekian.
We look forward to the addition
of four young ladies leaving orphanages,
and who will soon join our Mer
Doon family, she adds.
I am so happy to be in Mer Doon,
Ani says today. Here I feel love and
attention. I lack free time because I
am busy learning English, French,
and Russian, studying at a local
university, and of course, weaving
beautiful rugs.
website: mer-Doon.org
http://www.reporter.am/pdfs/AE100309.pdf