Hi, I’m Elda, an executive producer working in television, a filmmaker, a wife and a mother and not necessarily in that order. In fact the order changes according to the day and the crisis. Today April 24th is the date of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. So, to introduce myself properly – I am Elda Khanamirian. The ‘ian’ is a dead give away for all Armenians on the planet… And it was a problem in my life growing up but I will tell you that story later. Today Armenians are commemorating the beginning of the Armenian Genocide and I wanted to share snippets of my grandfather Daniel Vosgian’s diaries with anyone interested in stories of courage against all odds. Daniel became a man at the age of six. See, he had to take charge of his life when he found himself completely alone with no adults to take care of him. The world was at war and everything around him was burning or dying. Daniel didn’t understand what was going on or what genocide meant. When I read his diary over twenty years ago, it was a turning point for me. Since then I have wanted to share them but not being a writer or a historian or an expert of any kind on the Armenian Genocide, I really didn’t know how to start and what to do and I really wanted to do them justice. However, Daniel was a historian and more importantly an eyewitness to the Genocide and the events of 1915. So last week, I decided to start this blog but most importantly decided not to chicken out as this story has been pricking my conscience for over 2 decades and today is the perfect day to start. To be honest I’m not sure how this blog is going to develop but I hope you will enjoy this journey with me as I relive Daniel’s stories with their messages of courage, perseverance, ambition and hope in the face of hopelessness but also his humour at the most un-expected of moments and his joys in the small gifts of life… Well, I need an injection of some of these qualities right now in my life… A hundred years ago today my life changed and that is the story I want to tell you. Ready?