LILIT – 12/1/2022

The Prelacy’s Orphan Sponsorship program, established in 1993, remains the centerpiece of the Prelacy’s mission in Armenia and Artsakh. We are pleased to share some of the letters that children regularly address to their sponsors.  

This week’s letter is from Lilit,* who is sponsored by Davit and Elizabeth Sharoyan. 

* We use only the first names of the children to protect their privacy.   

Dear Sponsor, 

This is Lilit, daughter of the hero Nver… 

When the war started at 7 am, we were peacefully sleeping. My father was a commander, so he took us to the cellar and went to join his division to go to war. 

The enemy bombed and damaged our apartment building, and we were crying and yelling in the cellar. My mother couldn’t take any documents from the apartment. With nothing at all, we fled towards Armenia. We are 4 children: my brother is a soldier in the army, and we are 3 sisters under 18.  

We lost everything and we were in lots of trouble; whoever could, helped us with food, clothes and shoes. The fighting was getting fiercer. The Turks took Hadrout, we (the Armenian side) suffered lots of losses and our building stayed in the enemy territory.  

Fighting, my father gets to Shushi with another 300 fighters, and he calls us on November 7. We talk on the phone and unfortunately, it is the last time that we hear our father’s voice. He dies trying to protect his soldiers. His body was recovered late, and he was buried in Yerablur only 20 days later.  

We currently live in a rental apartment, and we lost everything.  

Lilit, from Hadrout