Dr Naira Velumyan
Q - Tell us about your background - your story of seelf-discovery and your amazing achievements
A - I'm 46. I grew up with my parents divorced. They divorced when I was three years old. They
lived in different cities, so I lived with my mother but was spending time with my father regularly. I think they were both just dealing with their own lives at the time. So, I had to go to boarding school. I started attending boarding school as a kindergarten pupil.
I spent the weekdays in school and came home on weekends. Later, it became six days in school and only Sundays at home. It was a good place, actually. At least it was clean and we had good care. But the one thing I didn’t have was my parents. So I learned to take care of myself, to resolve my problems very early. I was an excellent student and at school I had to establish myself.
As a child, I learnt to find answers myself because there was no other person who could give me answers, I mean, kids have many questions, they need their mother; somebody to talk to, confide in, explain things to. But I had no one, so I was always looking inward, digging into myself. And it so happened that at the age of 16, even earlier, I met my future husband. He was 12 years older than me. I fell in love with him. My parents and teachers weren’t expecting this from me because I was an excellent student but I had made my decision. Therefore, I married my husband at the age of 16 and I was very happy with my choice. We worked together for seven years. I had my daughter at the age of 18 and my son at the age of 20. Unfortunately, when I was 23, with two kids, my husband was murdered. It was a shocking blow but I stayed with my children and I made the decision that they will never feel any lack in this life; I promised to
provide everything for them as if they had two parents.
But what does it mean for children to have two parents? I