OUR STORIES
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Levon 16 years young from Vartenis

In autumn 2005, the DAA Handicraft studio organised an exhibition at the hospital to show the children’s creative talents. That year though there was one name that received a special mention, that being Levon Mamian who contributed to almost 80% of the exhibition with his works. These included hand made sets of chess, sculptures from clay and graphic designs.

Levon suffered from renal disease, however that did not stop him becoming one of the most active participants of the Handicraft Studio.

The following is from an interview done with him that Autumn.

When I came to the Studio for the first time I saw they were making figures by shaping clay. That seemed easy to me, so I sat down and tried it myself.

Did you manage well?
Of course not!

So, what was the first thing you succeeded in making?
Making my grandfather’s head.

What do you like about the studio?
The way people are in the Handicraft room, and the way they interact with each other is different from inside the hospital and its surroundings.

So, do you come here to socialise?
Yes, I come here to socialise and to make things myself.

Do you like the quality of work you produce?
I really only like a few of them. I trust my teacher Mr Harutune. He is honest and always tells me what is good and what would be done better in other ways. Of course, I do not always agree with him and sometimes we think differently, especially as he’ll sometimes tell me something is good when I don’t like it at all. Yet at other times he’ll tell me it’s not so good, and I have no intention of changing anything to it!

During the interview Levon was sculpting a face. Her turned around to face us and explained how he had stuck the moustache on the clay sculpture. There was a smile on his face as a result of his handiwork.

Levon would love to be involved and learn as many things as possible and to LIVE life to its fullest. A couple of weeks after the interview, Hasmik vividly recalls receiving a phone call from a nurse asking her to come over and see Levon as he wanted to talk to her. On her arrival she saw Levon in dire health and in a very bad state of shaking in bed uncontrollably.

He apologised to Hasmik saying he was “a little unwell” today and that he would be unable to make his computer lesson, and he was nervous about losing his place in the course, and was hoping that he could reschedule it to tomorrow. Hasmik let him know that as soon as he felt better he could attend the next class. He smiled again feeling good, as he was worried about falling behind.

As Hasmik returned to her office 15 minutes later, the phone rang. The nurse informed her that Levon had died a few minutes ago.

Levon believed in living, in making the most out of life and never accepting that his illness would limit or take it away from him. He is missed by all of us at the DAA that got to know him, not only as a patient, but as our little friend who always had a smile ready.

If you would like to help by sponsoring the Handicraft room or any other project, please contact us.