Boarding School for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Socially Vulnerable,
Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2002
I’ve covered too many subject matters and issues in over two decades of being based in the South Caucasus to upload everything to my new website so a few photographs taken at Yerevan’s Boarding School for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Socially Vulnerable taken in 2002 as a quick blog post. It was part of a much larger multi-year personal project to raise awareness of poverty and social vulnerability in Armenia.
In general, or at least throughout the 2000s, it was rare to come across someone blind unless they were begging on the streets. However, the kids at the boarding school were amazing and very talented so I went back many times and got to them very well.
Armine, Boarding School for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Socially Vulnerable,
Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2002
Sadly, I can’t find any of the articles I wrote on the boarding school, but just to say that while it was mainly intended for children who were blind or visually impaired, fully sighted kids from impoverished families where one or both of the parents were blind were also enrolled. Moreover, despite much controversy surrounding the Soviet-era boarding schools operating in Armenia, this one was run properly as was another catering for death or hearing impaired kids.
Boarding School for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Socially Vulnerable,
Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2002
Since shooting much of this material, it’s been interesting to discover that many of the children went on to higher education. One blind girl, Armine (pictured in the second photograph on this post), went to study a Masters in the United Kingdom, while on blind boy, Artak Beglaryan, is better known to many as the former Human Rights Ombudsperson in Nagorno Karabakh. Beglaryan was blinded by a landmine explosion in Karabakh as a kid and is now a senior official there.
Artak Beglaryan, Boarding School for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Socially Vulnerable, Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2002
Anyway, some more photographs in the galleries below:
Boarding School for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Socially Vulnerable,
Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2002
Boarding School for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Socially Vulnerable,
Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2002
