Interview with my Grandmother – Sirun Barsegyan

  Sirun Barsegyan’s heart’s filled with joy while sitting by the pool, in an evening with sparkling stars filling the sky.  She smiles at the sight of her granddaughters playing with their pets, her daughter-in-law setting up the table, and her son grilling the sizzling steak.  Sirun looks up into the sky that she admired since she was a young girl.  In March of 1934, she was born in Halep, Syria.  Since then, her family that suffered through the Armenian Genocide went through great struggles with her.   Sirun and her family went through slavery, had all valuables that they worked for their entire lives taken away from them, and lost and ended up having one another become retarded and eventually die because of the conditions communists put them under.  Now, that cruel behavior is left in the past.  The stars she looks up to have been there for her to see all of her life.  Sirun thought that the greatest change in her life would be space exploration.  She had been amazed by outer space as long as she could remember.

  Now, I am seventy-two years old.  I moved to America in 1989 with both my sons. 

  My father came out of the Armenian Genocide, and survived it.  Both my parents were tortured in the Armenian Genocide.  After escaping the Genocide, my father and his brothers were forced to Syria.  My mother was forced as well with her parents.  Her father died; with mother and brother they came to Syria.  In 1931, my parents got married.  I was the first sibling.  Afterwards, I had three brothers, then two sisters.   

  My father’s name was Hapet, and my mother’s, Mari.  My brothers are Haroutyun and Vardkes, and my other brother was Misak Barsegyan.  My sister’s name’s Sirarpi; Arous was my youngest sister. 

My family and I moved first to Altaise-Ikra in the year of 1946.  We went to learn in Siberia.  I graduated an Armenian school there.  When we came to Armenia in 1946, I went to Ojonweics School.  I was left halfway to finish the education; couldn’t attend school because they spoke Russian.  The place we went to was a village - no families, no markets, no stores, no place.  Eight kilometers away, in the other village, there was finally a school.  It only went up to fourth grade.

  With the family, they moved us to Siberia.  This was because, in 1949, there was a big word in Armenia; during the time of Stalin, Armenians were forced towards Siberia to work as slaves.  My parents and I were apart of that word.

  When we to went to Syria, Arous was just born; only forty days old.  We were starving, thirsty, with nothing to eat.  It was because we were in a situation where we had to work in a forest.  We had to pull over trees, and fix up logs.  We had to trim trees, burn leaves, and transport logs.  We cut the humongous trees with our own hands.

  There were sixteen rows of trees.  We cut leaves seven and a half meters long; we cleaned, and used tractors.  We transferred them to the center of the road from the forest.  On the edge of the road, with long machines, they brought them to the village.  There, the logs were arranged at the edge of the river.  We put them in twenty-five kilometer long rows!  It was forty degrees and we would work under snow.  In May, once the snow melted off the logs, the river would rise two meters high.  Electricity in the ice would go with logs and snow.   That city we called Grouuch Get – after the river - in the front, were logs.  They went with motors straight up, into wagons.  I worked with logs in a ship; I was sixteen.  We had to stick metal into the logs.  When the water came upstream, we set up a system of traveling.  We pulled the logs into the water so that they could flow with the current. 

  My family and I were slaves.  We had neither passports nor birth certificates because they took everything away from us. We also had no right to go anywhere.  All of the Armenians had no permission to go anywhere.  It was during the time that we were under Stalin, during communism.  The communists did this to all of us.  The communists took everything from us, and made us travel under their power and do as they say.  All of the Armenians were treated in that manner.  Thousands of Armenians were transferred to work under all of their conditions.  Slavery was a great misfortune, and Malinkvov said in 1955, we could go back to our Armenia.

  Coming back from Siberia, we went to our relatives’ house.  My husband and I were introduced.  Later, they asked for my hand; I loved him.  For a year and a half, I was left engaged; then, we got married in 1957. 

  My husband’s name was Nubar. In 1977, my husband passed away in Yerevan.  We had two sons; our daughter passed away. 

  For pleasure, I like to do things around the house.  I enjoy walking, watching television; I watch the news, classic movies, and games.  My favorite movies are American and Armenian.  I play cards on the computer.

  Today, we go up with spaceships.  Rocket engines that’re powered with fuel make it possible to travel to space.  Astronauts are the people in the rockets.  There are doctors and engineers that prepare for the flight in advance.   To get ready, they prepare: how to fly, the technology and mechanisms needed to manage, and how to control everything.  They have to see what to wear, eat, and what ways to travel.  They all have to learn how the concept of flight is handled.  The most important thing is that they are healthy, and well-educated.

  The first time the astronauts flew with their rockets was my life's most astounding moment.  The first human being made it to space in the year of 1961.  It was Yuri Gagarin who went to space.  He was from the Soviet Union.

  In humanity, flights gave us advantages.  In space, we installed satellites so that today we can use them for cellular phones and benefit from telephones.

  Today, it’s possible to send animals from Earth to space.  Dogs and monkeys are the types of animals sent to space.  The first animal that was launched into space was the dog, Laika.  It was from The Soviet Union.  I was astonished that towards space, we could send people - even a dog went.  Knowledge is growing, and I am very pleased about that.  I remember the year of 1957; I believe November.  I was twenty-four years old.  I remember well because it was a true sensation that occurred.  All people knew, and it caused a great stir of joy.  Everyone was in deep happiness that a dog had been sent to space. 

  I was young when I looked up during the summer nights, and gazed into the sky.  The beauty of the stars blasted me.  You would think that they were little fireflies.  I would wonder if it would actually be possible if knowledge became so broad that people could explore space.   In the twentieth century, the first spaceship went to outer space and returned.  The whole world responded by a great deal of contentment.  Later, one after the other, they sent spaceships to the moon to explore.  And then, through spaceships we received pictures.  People went to the moon with spaceships and brought samples like rocks and minerals. No people live there now.  Truly, in the twentieth century, the biggest change was outer space exploration.

  We first traveled to the moon in the month of July 1969.  It was one of the highlights of my life; I was so cheerful.  His name I always remember.  Neil Armstrong was the first person that went to the moon.  I remember he said, 'For me, this is a small step, but for humanity, it is a very big one.'  Of course, he didn’t accomplish the voyage by himself.

  I was with my family when this occurred.  Sitting, we heard the news.  It was such a grand joy for us that it happened.  When I would look into moon at night, I always thought of what there would and wouldn’t be there.  There was visible evidence before our eyes.  The pictures on that day gave such happiness to the whole world and us.  It is such a glory that we can see it all today.

  I am ecstatic that I remember my past life when I speak of space, and all that has been discovered of it.  I believe that knowledge will go so much further that we will get to be able to explore, learn about, and see all other planets as well.

                                          Interviewed by Armine Barsegyan