When Tatevik Hajipoghosyan, 27, and Karlen Ghazarian, 29, met at a fabric store in Vanadzor, Karlen never would have guessed they would be married two years later.
Karlen, a constructor from Gyumri, feared Tatevik would reject his proposal. “But fate brought us together,” Karlen said. “Tatevik was tough at first. She wouldn’t talk to me; she was shy and indifferent. One day, I walked her home, we stopped for ice cream where I guessed her favorite flavor. Soon, we were dating.”
Tatevik was abandoned at seven years old and grew up in Vanadzor orphanage along with her two sisters. She remembers that every child there was given a job. Her jobs included helping in the kitchen, cleaning up her room, and sewing. She was 15 when she started receiving help from FAR’s Gulamerian Scholarship Program and studied nursing at Vanadzor College. However, she soon found that being a seamstress was her passion.
After marrying in 2018, the couple received support through FAR’s Assistance to Orphans and Resettled Syrian-Armenian Project, which provides support to improve living conditions and quality of life. Launched that same year, the project has helped 50 young people, among them 42 adult orphans and eight Syrian-Armenian families.
The couple now rents an apartment in Gyumri. “It was dirty and empty when we set foot in this apartment. There was only one couch, a wardrobe, and a gas stove,” said Tatevik. FAR’s support helped them to purchase “the basics” for their new place. In addition, it enabled Tatevik to buy her own sewing machine, which she used to start her own small textile business.