PREVIOUSLY we left Daniel stealing wheat, getting a beating and having a feast with his mother.

FROM DANIEL’S DIARY

23- ‘WE HAVE A BATH A YEAR’

Armenians forced to march

One night there was a heavy rain storm while we were in the tent at Kurd Bahcheh. The men in the tent, who still had some strength left in them, went out and opened a trench to direct the flood waters away from them and therefore in our direction. Soon mother and I were floating in a flood of water in our bed. This was the first and only bath we had had for a year. We spent the rest of the night standing in the water and the next morning we stood in the sun and spread our bed on a rock to dry.

Under such dire conditions of suffering and starvation nobody seems to care for others, even their dearest ones. Those who dug the ditch were not interested in extending it a little further to save us from the flood. To be fair we must say that they did not have the strength to do so. People were indifferent to the death of dear ones; mother remembers only the case of one man “Balintz Garabed”, who cried when his two sons died one after the other. Mother herself did not have the strength to cry when her sister died at Kurd Bahcheh. This sister, named Iskouhi, was famous in Zeitun for her beauty. She was considered lucky because her sufferings had come to an end.

24- ‘SUFFERING KILLS HUMAN FEELINGS’
Ohanes Aharonian (Héynintz Vannes) was considered the top intellectual in Zeitun. He was the principal of the secondary school, the highest institutions of education and was much respected.

During the war, Aharonian and his son, with some other people of Zeitun, were working as porters for some Turks. They stopped at some point on the road put their loads on a wall to rest. At this point one of the men, who had always been an unskilled worker stretched his arms and said :“ Thank God, for he has made Baron Aharonian a slave like us”.

Aharonian’s son began to murmur whereupon the father said gently : “Don’t start a fuss now. This war will end one day and if we are alive we shall again become Barons but that man will remain a porter”.

In fact after the war, Aharonian became the principal of an A.G.B.U. orphanage. Then he started a business, and became the owner of a chain of stores. He earned millions, made his sons’ doctors and engineers, helped many his relatives to join him and became prosperous businessmen in Montevideo.

25-A CARPET BARTERED FOR A LOAF OF BREAD

As we walked along, we had thrown away things we carried because we were getting weaker and weaker.

One of the past possessions my mother had was a carpet. It couldn’t have been a very expensive carpet because otherwise the gendarmes would have taken it from us, but it turned out to be very useful to us. It was our home, our furniture, our floor, our roof and our bedding.

On the road to Kurd Bahcheh we gave it away in exchange for a loaf of bread for two reasons. First, because we were too weak to carry it much further. And second, because we were starving and would have given anything for some food. Mother begged the woman to give us at least two loaves but to no avail.

This carpet was the bedding for four of us, mother, her sister Iskouhi, Iskouhi’s mother-in-law and myself. All four of us wrapped ourselves in this carpet and spent the night.

This evening after the hundredth time of asking my kids to have their showers, pack their bags to school, tidy up the rooms before sleeping, I sat on my sofa and looked around my living room at the things my husband and I have carefully collected over the years. I realized that we collect so many things and surround ourselves with stuff – some that are useful and one needs but most we don’t really need. I looked at my favorite carpet, one I bought from a very poor Armenian family in Yerevan in need of money. I loved that carpet the moment I saw it. It is delicately weaved with images of dogs and horses. Looking at it I wondered if it would be enough to cover me and my family? Would it be sturdy enough to use as bedding? A roof over our heads? A blanket in winter? Could I barter it for a loaf of bread? Yes, in a heartbeat if the need arose. But the point is we take so much for granted these days. Hygiene, food, shelter, schooling, jobs, transport that we never stop to think what life would be like if it were all taken away. We look at the things we have with a critical and judgmental eye and rarely give thanks.

Some more from DANIEL’S DIARY to keep you going until next time…

26- PARTING FROM MY MOTHER FOR THE FIRST TIMR

Elsewhere I have mentioned how in Sultanieh we were told that we would be allowed to return home. Mother was told to go along with the caravan, promising to send me along in a train. Mother reached Kurd Bahcheh and waited for about a month but I did not appear. She was worried so she found a man and gave him her two gold earrings which she had concealed, with the understanding that he would find me and return me to her.

To be continued..
See you next Wednesday.