Hajin was one of the cities on which the AGBU lavished special attention. In October 1919, it sent the orphans under its care in Damascus to Hajin by way of Tarsus, remodeling the old orphanage that had been built in the city’s St. James Monastery in order to provide them better accommodations. Although the orphanage had not been totally demolished by the Turks, it had been rather heavily damaged and had to be completely renovated, a task taken on by the AGBU. In addition to its orphanage, the Union also transferred its Damascus hospital and its health clinic to Hajin, setting them up in the American Girls’ School in neighboring Kerdet. The orphanage and health-care institutions were inaugurated in December 1919.19 The orphanage’s running costs were to be met by the AGBU’s California chapters. At about the same time, Bishop Bedros Sarajian, the former prelate of Hajin, returned from Damascus, to which he had been deported, and personally oversaw the work of the local AGBU, which could already claim one hundred seventy-five members by December 1919.20 Let us add ... Read all
The AGBU's Return to Cilicia
Tavit Atamian, AGBU representative in Cilicia, with six children found in the Syrian desert who are about to leave for the orphanage in Dörtyol (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Children from the AGBU orphanage in Hajin, with its first director, Rev. Harutyun Khtachadurian, and his assistant Miss Cold (center), on the occasion of the 1919 visit of the AGBU educator M. Ughurlian (to Miss Cold's right) (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Hajin in 1919 (Coll. G. Chaliand/Paris).
The AGBU's Hajin orphanage in 1919 (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).