Armenian genocideof 1915 remembered in Maine

Facebook friend Alan Manoian posted this message about the experience of his grandmother, who was a victim and survivor of the Armenian genocide of 1915.  

Alan S. Manoian facebook

My grandmother, Agavni (Amboian) Manoian, born in 1904, witnessed the killing & massacre of her mother, sisters, her entire extended family and entire village in 1915 at the age of 11. 

In the midst of the mass slaughter someone grabbed her and hid her in the indented corner of a house, placed a barrel in front of her and told her to be quiet; the Turkish soldiers missed her. She arose after the massacre and alone walked off in the "death march" through the high desert. She amazingly survived. Seven years later in Lowell, Massachusetts someone tells her uncle Nazar Garabedian that they have seen Agavni Amboian in an orphanage in Aleppo, Syria. Uncle Nazar responds "No, it can't be, they are all dead". He seeks and finds her in the Aleppo orphanage and brings her to Lowell, Massachusetts, where she is met by and wed to Arakiel Manoian, (both the Amboians and Manoians were from the same ancestor town in Armenia). They go forward to live at 33 Basset St. in Back Central Lowell, have three strong sons and live their American dream. Agavni lived strong until the age of 97 years. She was determined to survive.

A century after the tragedy, the Armenian people are still able to continue educating the world about this ethnic disaster. President Obama has not called the Armenian massacres a genocide but other nations have done so.

Obama should say “genocide” when he talks about what happened to Armenians

In Maine, the Armenian genocide is remembered at an exhibit at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center (HHRC) on the campus of the University of Maine Augusta (UMA) in Augusta.

http://www.centralmaine.com/2015/04/13/hhrc-exhibit-to-focus-on-maines-armenian-community/

AUGUSTA — The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine joins the Armenian Cultural Association of Maine to present “Nor Ashkhar: Maine Armenians in the Century After Genocide” opening Thursday, April 16, and running through May 29, at the Michael Klahr Center on the campus of the University of Maine at Augusta, according to a news release from the center.