The CNEWAConnection
CNEWA is deeply concerned for poor and marginalized people throughout Eastern Europe, and works with religious and lay agencies to provide support where it is most needed. The association has partnered with Flora Sargsyan and Caritas Armenia to serve Armenia’s elderly population, rescuing senior citizens from hunger, cold and isolation, and helping to build community and inspire hope. To lend your support, call: 1-800-442-6392 (United States) or 1-866-322-4441 (Canada).
charity, since every person is called upon to develop and fulfill God’s design. In this way, every life is a vocation. Thus, I am convinced that all the things I had experienced in my childhood and youth had their expression in my later life and work — my experiences helped me to become who I am today. For 27 years, I taught English at a secondary school in Gyumri, at the Shirak Regional Center. Teaching children from their early age, from the first grade up to high school, allowed me to observe and understand from another
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perspective the changes that take place as we grow older. With my language skills, I joined the NGO Training/Resource Center in Gyumri, working as a technical assistant and later as a center coordinator for about ten years. There, I learned to develop, run and manage an organization. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in Armenia established Caritas in the northern city of Gyumri, which became one of the most active organizations supporting humanitarian activities in the poorest regions of the country. Quickly, Caritas Armenia added
development projects as well, and joined the Caritas family of organizations worldwide. It was my pleasure to join Caritas Armenia and to work with the elderly. Despite years of work experience, Armenia’s elderly find themselves in hard socioeconomic situations in this post-Soviet period — deprived of jobs and a steady income while trying to live on miserable, inadequate pensions. Unfortunately, their situation has worsened with the massive migration of young people seeking jobs outside the country, leaving their aged parents alone and helpless.