The biggest Urfa orphanage was run by NER, whose local representative was Caroline Holmes. It cared for more than a thousand orphans who were lodged in tents in Blunti, on a hill in the northern part of the city; some of these children had been under the care of Urfa’s former German orphanage and were living in Blunti pending construction of a new, permanent building. The orphanage and the school affiliated with it were under the supervision of Mary Holmes. Another, smaller but better organized Urfa orphanage was run by a group of Capuchin monks; one hundred thirty-seven children were cared for here. These orphans manufactured shoes and socks.49
The situation in Aintab resembled the one in Urfa. The city’s Armenian population, thirty-six thousand strong on the eve of the War, had been reduced to roughly sixteen thousand, counting the two thousand refugees from other regions, notably Sivas and Harput. There were no fewer than two thousand orphans in the city. As in Urfa, the Armenians had not, as a rule, succeeded in recovering their property, despite the presence of Allied occupation forces.50 What is more, twenty-four ... Read all
Humanitarian Work in Cilicia
Genocide survivors from Sivas gathered in Aintab, with AGBU representa-tive T. Atamian, in early 1919
(Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Genocide survivors living in Armenian church buildings in Aintab early in 1919 (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Adolescent girls and widows recovered from Turks and given shelter in the NER mission in Aintab in 1919 (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Girls from Harput taken under the AGBU's care in Aintab in early 1919 (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Pre-War Aintab (Coll. Michel Paboudjian).