Artsakh and Italian Masters’ Clothing Line Collaboration Goes on Auction: Craftsmanship and Artistry of Artsakh Armenians Encouraged through Antonia Arslan Armenian-Italian Hamalir

The Christians In Need Foundation (CINF) is a non-profit organization serving Christian communities throughout the Middle and Near East since its founding in 2014 by Siobhan Nash-Marshall and Rita Mahdessian in Glendale, California. Its mission is to preserve ancient Christian traditions in their diversity so that they may continue to inform those communities to which they belong and coherently inform about those actions that will help these communities, especially in the Middle East and the Caucasus, to prosper economically, socially, and culturally.

By November 2014, CINF arranged for eight Syrian Christians to study in the United States, intending to aid in the preservation of the cultures of the communities to which the students belonged through education. Yet when the program was set to launch, all eight student visas were denied.

In 2015, CINF decided to reverse course and send teachers abroad to live and work with Christian communities in the Middle East and Caucasus. That summer, in answer to a request for help, CINF sent its first volunteer teacher, a recent college graduate, to Tashir, Armenia to teach English to 150 children at the Diramayr Hayastani Ketron summer camp. While living in Tashir, the volunteer came to know the community, its virtues, and its particular needs. She also developed important skills: leadership, communication, organization, and cooperation.

The 2015 experience became the model for CINF’s work. Through it, the Board realized that it was meant to serve both Christians of the Middle and Near East as well as Western youth. By sending young, ambitious volunteers, especially from America, to live in ancient Christian communities, CINF could aid the education of both. This international exchange became a defining characteristic of CINF’s work.

Then, in the summer of 2017, CINF sent two new volunteers, again American recent college graduates, to Stepanakert, Artsakh. For three months, they taught English and forged friendships with the local Armenian-Christians. Their results were remarkable and confirmed CINF’s path.

CINF-Artsakh