HRI 2017 - Day 1

Contributor - Omid Niroumandzadeh

It’s been a surreal few days. I hurriedly finished a gruelling day at work on Thursday, packed a random assortment of shirts into my luggage, and rushed for the airport.

Having not gotten much sleep between my layovers in New York and Moscow, I arrived in Yerevan just in time to get ready for the Hidden Road Initiative’s first meeting before our 10 hour road trip to rural Shvanidzor.

Still loopy from my jetlag, it’s difficult to believe that I’ve driven the span of Armenia, and I’m now a stone's throw away from the Iranian border (quite literally!), my birthplace which I’ve not seen in 18 years.

Signs dotting the highways are often found in three additional languages: Russian, English, and Farsi. The signs reflect the diversity of Armenian communities worldwide, and particularly our own team.

We’ve got members from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Armenia, Iran, and the United States. 

Spread out across the country’s roadways, you see grave markers where families have set up small memorials. These markers are often accompanied by water fountains and seats for weary travelers; a fitting and timely reminder that our past influences the eventual destination we reach.