I first decided to start this fundraiser while I was at work. The store was pretty quiet that day, so I was just sitting behind the counter scrolling through Instagram. Like other Armenians my age, a lot of my feed consists of Armenian news outlets. So many different accounts, but the headlines were all the same: Azerbaijan breaks ceasefire. Azerbaijan opens fire on civilians.
The most heartbreaking part comes when you read the Azeri comments. Their usernames all fall somewhere around “death_to_armenians.” There are seas of comments like, “these are your easy days” and “karabakh is azerbaijan.” I recently found one that was more disturbing than the others: “it’s just a matter of time, we are closing in.” All of these messages are followed by the flag of Azerbaijan and other Azeris ganging up in the comments section.
As I sat at work looking through my Instagram feed, I realized how desensitized I have become to it. I can’t even bring myself to react, or else I might get upset, frustrated or even start crying. That’s when I snapped out of it. It finally hit me that this is not normal—it’s horrifying, and it should make me upset. I should be angry, and that is okay. I decided at that very moment I would take action. No more simply reposting things on my Instagram story.
I was going to work the system and directly get aid to those people.
Earlier that week I had been messaging a friend of mine in Yerevan. She said that she could get me contacts for families she knew who were trying to seek refuge and a safe place to live.
That very day at work, I decided that I would take her up on that offer, and I made a GoFundMe. I sent it to a few friends and put it on my Instagram story. Some of my Armenian friends reposted it, and I contacted the Armenian Weekly. I knew I had to get the word out there.
My family is from Armenia, and this cause is very close to my heart. I am asking that other Armenians have the same epiphany that I did and donate money to the cause. All those times I thought about doing something, I didn’t, and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t make good on the promises that I made to the Armenian people.
Grace Asbedian
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