Helen Arakelyan. The woman treating wounded soldiers with colorful butterflies

The desire to mitigate the consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict escalation and to help wounded soldiers in some way brought Helen Arakelyan to Armenia this Christmas day.

Despite her health problems and the doctor’s advice, the woman, who had been living with her family in Los Angeles since 1995, left her job as an English teacher at school and came to Yerevan with her sons, one-year-old granddaughter, with her own means and ideas.

She is currently leading one of the educational programs of the Homeland Defender Rehabilitation Center. Among the boys wounded in the war, Henrik, Hayk, Gevorg, Petros, Vardan, Seyran, make compositions from butterflies, advertise and sell them, donating the money to the rehabilitation center.

They plan to organize an exhibition on April 3 and hope the pandemic and the new restrictions will not hinder them.

Helen Arakelyan buys butterflies with her own means, mainly from breeders in Canada, Latin America, and Mexico. While working on beautiful compositions, the boys are carried away  from everyday life, forget what they saw in the war.

“Sometimes butterflies are damaged, the boys do not want to throw them, they say they are wounded like us, we must use them and try to cure them. “These guys are re-evaluating everything,” says Helen Arakelyan.

WomenNet.am spoke with Helen Arakelyan, who came to Armenia on a mission to teach wounded boys a new profession and earn money through their work and provide them with psychological support.

– Mrs. Helen, how did you decide to return and help the homeland in crisis due to the war?

– The intention and readiness to help has always been there. I have worked as a pedagogue for almost 30 years, I taught Russian language in Armenia, English in the USA, during that time I always tried to instill patriotism in children. In my opinion, patriotism starts when you do your best first at school and then at university, that is, if you prepare yourself to do the best  for  society, it is already patriotism.

On the second day of the war I already wanted to come to Armenia. My eldest son said, “Mom, let’s think hard, here you can do more useful work.” My son was right, because in those days the work in the rear  was very important, the protests, the support of the organization of donations.

I know that there have been unjust things related to the provision of aid, but you know, unlike many who were offended and upset to see unjust things, I said we have no right to be offended by the homeland and especially the soldier, thanks to whom we have this homeland.

When the war ended, I said again that I wanted to go to Armenia. My eldest son, who is my guardian angel, said, “Mom, maybe you should wait?” I said, I have to go. Then my doctor did not allow me to move in the winter, I said I have to, I want to do my part.

I do not know how long I will stay in Armenia, at this moment I do not even reserve the moral right to think about returning. I will wait until the boys recover. When I arrived, one of them was walking on crutches, the others were on wheelchairs. Now the boy with crutches walks without crutches. I introduced the boys to my one-year-old granddaughter. They are joking, Mrs. Helen, you will go to Ani’s wedding and come back (laughs). We have got used to each other.

– How did you decide to “introduce” colorful butterflies to the wounded boys?

– Making compositions from real butterflies is my hobby. I thought, because there are many nerve nodes on the fingers, it will help the boys, and creative work will heal their souls. In that work you can forget both the past and bad memories. Beauty is healing. Knowing my idea, my acquaintances wondered if it would be interesting to a soldier who went through a catastrophe. But I believed in its success. If people had so much will and went through the disaster, they will find the will and do that thorough work. They believed in me, they trusted me. At first two boys approached me, then they became four, now there are already eight boys in the group and their number is increasing. One deals with invitations, one runs the exhibition page. Glory and honor to my boys for  their decision that money will be provided to the center. We have enviable boys, just as their spirit was high on the battlefield, so it is now. It is very difficult for them to do  all this, but they do their creative work conscientiously, with pleasure and aspiration.

It is very difficult for them to do all this, but they do their creative work conscientiously, with pleasure and aspiration. They say butterflies help them more than therapies. They say, “we are not sick here, we are recovering”. Their minds, the day is filled with beauty. They continue to be useful, to struggle. They do not say we are in a wheelchair, what do you want from us? This is patriotism. I arrived in the homeland very broken, but now I am strong. They give me strength. When they smile, I am happy.

– Are butterflies in demand?

-Yes of course. As a teacher, I first did my homework, found the butterflies, the glue, then the manufacturer of fine organic glass, the maker of wooden frames… Glory and honor to those who do quality work. It is very possible that small businesses will work during the pandemic. I am very happy that this initiative helps not only soldiers, but also other producers.

Our boys have such a high aesthetic taste that wonderful samples are made. I asked the boys to be taught how to make a wooden frame. My goal is for the boys to be able to do this work in the future as well.

We have already sold butterflies. For example, a man sent $ 1,000 from Norway and asked for two compositions. The Buy Armenian initiative is very interesting in the USA. As we are preparing for an exhibition dedicated to the man of the year, the mothers of the dead, missing, captive and wounded soldiers, we do not want to sell the exhibits much. We plan to hold an exhibition in the US in May of this year, we want to sell online.

– Mrs. Helen, you have lived in the USA for many years, you have taught English, you did not use any foreign words in your speech.

– You know, maybe I think in English, but I never use Russian or English words in my Armenian speech. Now in our group of the center we are implementing the “100 AMD for using the wrong word” project. Those who use a foreign or incorrect word are fined. I have already been fined 1000 AMD (laughs). We have a problem with language preservation in Armenia, we have a distorted speech, I do not know what we will pass on to our generations. We intend to spread this movement throughout the center, why not in Armenia in the future.

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