Zabelle Berberian / Զապէլ Պէրպէրեան
Zabelle Barbarian aka Berberian is a repat in Armenia. She and her husband Nigol Abrahamian moved from Canada in 1999. They decided to weave their destiny with that of the Nation. They both believe in giving back to the community. First they lived in Zeytun where they organized and assisted widows of fallen soldiers of the first Artsakh War, and also helped the orphanages of the area.
Later Proshyan town became home for the couple. In the 2020 Karabagh war the town of Proshyan lost more than twenty of its residents. The couple started “family-2-family” a direct sponsorship program for war affected underage orphans. This is where Zabelle’s path crossed with Naire Boghossyan-Melkonyan’s. Together and with the support of dedicated patriots they grew the program and started assisting a few hundred affected children. Zabelle is grateful for the support of Ani Ayanian, Tamar Kilijian, Laura Simonian and the many sponsors from California, Toronto and Montreal that help[ed her act on her values.
Zabelle believes that family assistance is essential to the fallen soldiers’ families especially during the first year. At the encouragement of Raffy Ardhaldjian , Zabelle founded the New Bird’s Nest nenevolent NGO with Naire and Raffy to address the needs of thousands of war affected children and follow the footsteps of Maria Jacobson (the Danish missionary that decades ago gathered thousands of orphans of the Armenian Genocide from different parts of the Ottoman Empire and gave them shelter in an orphanage that she named “Bird’s Nest” in Lebanon).
Nayre Boghossyan-Melkonyan / Նաիրե Պողոսյան-Մելքոնյան
Naire Poghosyan-Melkonyan is a freelance translator and journalist. Naire is also the founder and headmaster of NPM language school in Yerevan. NPM offers a positive educational environment which encourages both adult and young learners to continue and expand upon their education by learning world languages.
In 2007, Naire married Armen Gevorgyan, the love of her life. Armen was a Deputy Colonel, an International Peacekeeper, and a recipient of 26 medals of honor. Unfortunately on October 19, 2020, Armen gave his life defending his country in Jrakan Artsakh during the 2020 war.
Armen’s ultimate sacrifice left Naire a widow and single mother to their 5-year-old son Avet. But it also gave Naire a new purpose to her life. In January of 2021, Naire started Oasis Center of Creativity, an artistic center where children of fallen and wounded heroes can come together to heal while engaging in a range of art-centered and cultural activities.
Together with Zabelle Berberian, Nayre is an active founder of the New Birds Nest Chartitable NGO.
Raffy Ardhaldjian / Ռաֆֆի Արտալճեան
Raffy is a technology/finance professional who founded the Ani & Narod Memorial Foundation (1994) in the memory of his wife and child to leverage technology, community-driven solutions and collaboration to help solve tough societal challenges. When he’s not busy with work, he is usually driven to make the world a better place by seeking the highest good , attempting to build a more inclusive, just, and a healthy future in Armenia & Armenian society globally.
Raffy is blessed with a son Diran and incredibly supportive friends and family.