Episode 1 - Voices From Vakf
This inaugural episode of Voices is dedicated to my grandfather, Ignatios Chldryan.
"There is something inexplicable about holding hands with generations of people and dancing to the beat of a drum on lands that holds history of thousands of years. Hearing songs that have been passed down from generation to generation, telling stories of who we are."
Reflections
We have immense gratitude for Ignatios, a resilient and kind man, who in the face of the Armenian Genocide, made it over these mountains to then be taken to port said in Egypt, then Lebanon, and Syria, where he met my grandmother Trvanda Svajian.
I was seven years old when my grandfather passed on, I wish I had more time to hear his stories, to know his voice, and to preserve it for posterity. My family tells me what a wonderful storyteller he was. They speak of his kind soul, wise words, and loving heart.
These moments were the most unforgettable moments of my life,
to be able to see my father stand on the same soil as his forefathers.
To go through this experience with the two very people who gave my brothers, Movses, Tigran and I life.
To walk the streets of where it all stared, see how the water flows down the hills, hear the sounds of nature… helps me imagine the life he lived.
To hear my mothers voice fill the air with her songs and hold my fathers hand as he stands on grounds where his father, grandfather, great grand father… and so on
were born and raised, will be moments I treasure for all time.
As Movses so beautifully posited, “you cannot without family”.
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