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Home » Our work » Success Stories
 | Artash from Choratan
Knarine Ghazanchyan
Training Coordinator
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"A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
Albert Einstein
Artash Udumyan, a 48 years old man, lives in Choratan, a typical Armenian village located on picturesque hills of Tavush region. The village lies within favorable zone for agriculture: it has soft climate, enough precipitations, while the people living here are match for the climate: they are gentle, friendly and hardworking. Anyone who wants to see typical rural Armenia should visit Choratan.
According to a legend, the village was founded by a young couple who were passing through this place looking for a nice place to settle. Among dense forests they noticed an old construction that after a close look appeared to be an early Armenian church tracing back to the first years of adoption of the Christianity. This was considered as a sign from above, and the strangers settled here. They established a farm, had many children and thus started a village. The village was called “Choratan” (a drink made of matsun, Armenian yoghurt), which is very popular among Armenians. Three hundred years have passed since, many new inhabitants settled in the village, the generation were changing each other, but the memory on the first settlers remained in the memory of the inhabitants of this beautiful village.
Back to Artash Udumyan, let’s mention that he is the community veterinarian and serves also as Heifer project leader in Choratan. The project has been launched last year, in 2008, and 25 families have received pregnant heifers. Artash is a very knowledgeable and skilled specialist. He graduated from Stepanavan Veterinary College (Stepanavan is a town in Lori region of Armenia) and just after College practiced his favorite work. After returning to his village, he married Gohar, a pretty woman from his village. The couple has three children now: Vanuhi is a student of Pedagogical College, she is very fond of studying and does her best to become a good teacher in future; Varduhi still studies at school, she is a pupil of 10th form and she dreams of becoming a nurse; Gor is only 7 years old, but is real friend to his father, he helps Artash in any work, and is very clever. His parents are sure that Gor is going to become a veterinarian, just like his father.
To my question, “What was your expectation from Heifer, as you being a leader and veterinarian have not received an animal?”, Artash answered “Though I have not received cow, but I appreciate very much what Heifer does for the people of my village and I feel myself a part of Heifer’s big kind heart that empower me to serve my community work better, be committed to the project and I do everything what depends on me for the project to succeed. Animals’ health and healthy calves mean also health for the people. The most important thing for me is human factor. Heifer trainings and workshops allowed me to meet many interesting people from various corners of Armenia, communicate with them, exchange experiences and opinions and celebrate the common success of our projects. I really feel myself a demanded person both in the community, at Heifer meetings and my opinion matters everywhere. When you realize that people need your help, believe me, nothing material can compare to that…”
Indeed, kind people are not rare in our reality. It depends on what opportunities you open to them. Artash is a real kind hearted and a sincere person. God bless Artash and all kind and dedicated people all over the world.
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