Life in Bourch-Hammoud

Eva Ekmekjian is 80 going on 81, born into a middle class family, and kicked of off her land. She was deported and came to live in Bourch-Hammoud where her family prospered anyway. Life was good in Lebanon at those times. “Parents never worried about their children being abducted or things like that, that was unheard of back then, you would let them go and they would play in the street until dinner, when you would call them in,” she says almost laughing at my question about if I was safe. Everyone knew each other and eventually all were friends. The Armenians adapted to the Lebanese people, become parallel to them in every culture and language. They learned a language and established a city. When my grandma moved there there were fewer than 2000 people. The Lebanese government had given them swampland and they had turned it into an industrious and happy town, which now is home to almost 150,000 people. Now, though, life is not the same. Lebanon has become a war torn country but she only has the memories of a better time. She continues to work on her knitting as I interview her. I ask her why and she simply replies “ when you grown up all your life doing something, you just get bored doing nothing.” 

I was born in Turkey, in Iscendelun. A French man took us from Turkey, by ship, and we went to Beirut. The Turks did not want us in Armenia, they kicked us out, they had already taken us out, and they were going to do things to us unless we left, so we left.

At first we (as in the Armenian deportees) did not know anyone, now we came from outside the country, the original residents were Arabs who we did not know, later we became friends with the Arabs, everyone learned Arabic, before no one knew Arabic, we all adapted. The Armenians learned Arabic. The Armenian and Arabs were very good with each other, we would go to the villages where the market was, all the Arabs lived in the villages, and we were very good with the Arabs. The neighbors were very close since our houses were so close together, all made of wood; it was like a camp more than a town.

Everyone had their own responsibility and job, the butcher had his work, the shoemaker had his work, everyone had small store; it was not a large country it was small, Lebanon was a small country. I was ten years old, and we went to Bourch Hammoud, I went to Noubarian School, Armenian School, until 6^th grade, my Elementary School, and then I left school and learned to sew and knit, I became a seamstress.

At first everyone was poor because they were deported there, but once everyone got set up, work was good so everyone was well off, everyone had there own jobs, everyone had there own home. Everyone was well off, work was good at that time and the economy was good, everyone worked. Everyone knew that where we were was where we were. Everyone there owned their own small store, I never went to work at my fathers because I was not allowed to go. I was supposed to stay at home, so I would read and knit a lot, which is what I do now. I have still not become accustomed to having absolutely nothing to do. When you raise eight children you are always cooking and clean and working

Some Armenians went back to Armenia from Lebanon they went back to Armenia in 1947, the boats came and they took the Armenians to Armenia, but we stayed because life was better for us in Bourch Hammoud. This was much after the Genocide.

We were comfortable in Lebanon, the schools, the churches; we got married and had kids. We had a very good life. There were carpenters, tailors, before they did not go to school as much, there was a shoemaker, newspaper, bakery, they would make bread, there was a shoemaker, he would sew the shoes, tailors would sew the clothes, whatever everyone knew when they came, that’s what business they went into. My father was a baker, my dad worked as a baker in a bakery.

Women did not work, they would take care of their children and the their husband, they would make food, and wash the clothes, they would look after the children.

At my time not many people went to school because there weren’t many schools, it usually went up to elementary, but we finished one grade…before we could not go to school a lot because we had to work and support our families, and they did not have the money to go to high school or college, do you understand? One was a shoemaker another was I don’t know what, they don’t have enough money to send them for a higher education. There were only private schools; there was no public school system like your school. Important, rich people from other countries would come and want to educate the children so they opened schools. I went until...6^th grade

There were very good printers who would print out the newspaper, smart people would type it up, they would write it. There was one called the Astag I think.

There were no wars at that time, no civil war, no war with Israel, nothing. No, at that time they were not fighting each other. So many years later after I had all eight my children and they grew up did the war start. I went in 1917. After the war started all of us went to Greece, and then your dad and his younger brother went to Florida and then they and me and your grandpa came here.