In Yerevan 2

 We have now been in Yerevan for 2 days and the first impression is that of a hot, bustling city of 1 million. The total population of Armenia is only 3 million, so Yerevan is a very important capital city. Arriving in Yerevan from the north one descends from the higher plains into the city which is much lower than most of the rest of the country. As it is now the end of August the days are hot and dry. Traffic is dense but moves surprisingly well on fairly well-developed large highways. The problem is when one searches out an address. This is quite an art as streets have back streets which lead to other back streets. Without a local driver, one would be hopelessly lost. One sees a lot of the leftover Soviet constructions of apartment buildings in various states of dilapidation. They were not nice looking when built and they have not improved with age.


Today we visited two projects which had received support from HERA in past years.

1. Lady producing layered wool (Which is actually called Felt)  clothing and shoes. 

This lady uses raw wool which she lays on the table in several layers and then goes over the wool bringing it together to form a kind of thick woolen cloth. With this, she makes vests that people can wear in cold weather. She received an iron from Hera which she uses to press the wool together. She says she works with two other girls producing vests, children's shoes, and decorations from this pressed wool.

Pictures of her work can be seen at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CoKh2czssVZMvQ7P9

2. Group of ladies producing hand painter ceramic products and other souvenirs.

Later we drove out of town to a residential area where there were huge ugly apartment buildings from the Soviet period. After driving around our taxi man finally found the place which looked really run down and falling apart. We were told to take an elevator which we did with some trepidation as it was only about 1-meter square and looked very unreliable. But when we got to the correct floor, 2 very charming ladies met us and invited us into a newly redecorated apartment which they (mother and daughter) use to produce painted ceramics, tote bags, and various small tourist types of trinkets.  They work with 9 other persons who work at their homes and sell locally as well as to the US and Canada. They had received an oven from HERA two years ago and were selling roughly for US $2000 a month. A well-run operation that employs two or three young girls in addition to other older adults,

Pictures of these ladies and their production as well as of our young interpreter Tamar can be seen at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tqmTnc8jXCye8eNW6

Signing off for the night.

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