A Bittersweet Arrival
I have been here for exactly 44 hours, but it feels like I never left since my visit in the summer of 2005. I can not begin to explain to you the feeling of nostalgia and familiarity that overwhelmed me as soon as the captain announced that we would be landing in 30 minutes, the feeling which grew exponentially as we loaded our belongings into the Marshrutkas and briefly drove past the Hrabarag to arrive at our apartments on Tumanyan street in Yerevan. I literally could not contain myself. I don’t know whether it is the country’s inhabitants, the jargon, or the cuisine that is so enticing to me about Hayastan, but every aspect of this rich culture gives me a thrill just thinking about it.
As much as I was impressed by the physical and infrastructural developments that have occurred in Yerevan since my last visit, I experienced a shocking event, which filled me with certain doubts. At around 4:00 pm on Wednesday, a few interns and I, including Sarah, Lena, Stefanie, and Adrianne, were walking home from our Birthright Orientation meeting when we noticed commotion occurring on the street directly in front of our apartment. Without thinking anything of it, we continued to climb the stairs of our second story apartment to freshen up before our Armenian lesson at 5:30 pm. When we reached our rooms and opened the windows, the honking and screaming taking place outside led us to believe that the chaos on the street was not just Yerevan rush hour traffic. Curiosity overcame us and we all lined up on our balcony to see what was going on. A relatively older man was left unconscious in the midst of driving a beat-up Marshrutka. The unmoving vehicle in the middle of the road led to two major issues: the increase of traffic and noise pollution on Tumanyan, and the fact that a man needed immediate medical assistance. Immediate is a term that is complete and utterly contrary to what occurred during the next 60 minutes. From our second story balcony, we were astonished by the series of events that were to occur. Granted it was a stressful and unexpected event, but it could not have been handled any more awkward or inefficiently. Bystanders and policemen gathered around the unconscious man, staring and trying to figure out whether he was ever going to wake up. At one point, I went downstairs, with a wet towel and washcloth, courtesy of Stefanie and Lena, to try to help this man. I thought this man was most likely dehydrated, and the weather in Hayastan is scorching, so it is no wonder that people driving for long periods of time in the heat with probably very little water pass out. After attempting to feel the man’s pulse and heartbeat, I realized that he had passed away. Meanwhile, almost 30 minutes had gone by and the ambulance still had not arrived. This delay cost a human life. When they did finally come to the scene of the conflict, it occurred to them that “martuh meretzele” and their assistance was not needed. With that, they left. I was astonished. I was thinking, how can they just leave this man here? Is it just because their job as paramedics was not needed that they just left even though this situation is clearly unstable? Are they just going to leave this car in the middle of the street to lead to more traffic and chaos? Why are the police just standing here? I expressed my thoughts to some bystanders and police, but they either did not know how to handle the situation, or they did not care. Instead of taking the man’s condition as a sign to hurry and get more helpers to the scene, the driver’s death merely caused a decrease in reaction time for the public officials. Because the driver was not in dire need of medical care, there was no rush to find him a hospital or fix the situation. The policemen basically admitted this to Sarah and me as we expressed our alarm and concern regarding the amount of time it took to accomplish anything. It took over an hour for the situation to be cleared up. It was an awful and traumatic situation for everyone who happened to be a witness. My heart goes out to the driver involved and his family.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:14 am
I am so astonished by this news that I don’t have much to say. This is so tragic and unbelievable and I cannot believe you witnessed that sort of event right infront of your face. I don’t know what I would have done if a man died infront of me. I am so proud of you and glad to know you all arived safely. Keep me updated guys! Love you.
June 26th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Alene Jan,
Im so sorry that you had to witness this. I am very proud of you that you took the initiative to do something about the matter, along with all the others that helped out. I wish I could be there to regulate!! This definately called for the Triple Alliance!
Miss you. Love you. Please give my regards to everyone, especially my little cousie Stef!
Best,
Carla