The earthquake of 1988 left tens of thousands of Armenian families homeless and miserable. Many years have passed, but several families still live in shacks reminding them of that nightmare. The Galstyan family has been living under these dire conditions for the past 28 years. The Galstyans have been deprived of many things and have seen much sorrow. They lost their little daughters during the earthquake, and doctors didn’t have any hope for the life of the family’s son, Arthur, who was born in 1991, 1 kg and 6.5 months old.

However, this family of Gyumri wasn’t desperate. Moreover, due to the generous care of Arthur’s mother, Voskehat and Arthur’s great willpower, the boy, who has undergone two heavy surgeries and has a musculoskeletal problem, refuses to sit in a wheelchair and is trying to move on his own. His next achievement is joining the “Pyunik” Athletic Union for the Disabled, as a result of which Arthur has earned many medals and certificates at wrestling and arm-wrestling championships. He is also a qualified computer operator and is trying to find a job to help take care of the family’s expenses to a certain extent. The family’s only source of income is the subsidy and pension of Lyova, the father of the family who is a third-degree disabled person.

The German affiliate of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund wasn’t indifferent to the family’s touching story and, as a result of the unwavering efforts of the affiliate’s chairman Gilbert Momjian and through the generous donations of the Armenian community, a new and bright page was turned over in the life of the Galstyan family as the representatives of the Fund donated a renovated three-bedroom apartment to the family. The apartment is furbished, has a heating system and the necessary domestic appliances.

Words can’t describe how happy the family was when they received the keys to the apartment. That same day, another homeless family of Gyumri rejoiced when they received an apartment through funding provided by other German-Armenians. Anahit Sukiasyan, 53, has been living alone and taking care of her four children for the past 16 years. Due to the dire living conditions, the only breadwinner now has health problems, but does anything to provide her children with an education and pay the rent for the shack. Her elder son is serving in the army, and one of her daughters has left her studies behind due to problems with paying the tuition fee. The youngest of the children recently received writing utensils as a gift and has already started attending school. The rent for the shack hadn’t been paid for a long time.

The members of these families were constantly crying when they set foot in their new apartments, and it seemed as though they couldn’t believe what they were seeing and were silently exclaiming that miracles do happen.