Below is the speech of the executive director of The Goguikain Foundation Mrs. Soheila Hayek, during the inaugural ceremony of Howard Karagheusian Commemorative Corporation’s CENTER FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS on March 4, 2015.
Dear Friends,
When back in 2009 Hasmig Nalbandian shared with us the idea of a community development initiative which would address early childhood developmental issues, a program to aid the very young, literally the very foundation of our community, Mr. Goguikian generously offered three scholarships to help with this project: for a Speech Therapist, a Special Education Specialist and a Psychomotor Specialists. He did so because the aim of the Goguikian Foundation from the beginning has been to help the community and this was going to be a great way to go about it.
Michel Goguikian founded the Goguikian Foundation in the name and memory of his late father, Ambassador Jean Goguikian, the first, and to date, the only career diplomat from the Armenian community to reach the post of ambassador in the Lebanese Foreign Ministry since its inception in 1945 . Throughout his bright career in the public sector, the good Ambassador always encouraged mastery of the Arabic language, integration of the Armenians in the fabric of the Lebanese society and engagement of its youth in the public sector, in the service of others.
The aim of the Foundation is to help the Armenian community here in Lebanon through programs that would improve the representation of the community in the public sector where it is currently, at best, inadequate.
As with the rest of the world, the Lebanese government’s resources are scarce and a fair representation by all the communities ensures a more democratic process and guarantees that communities receive their fair share of these resources
This year, celebrating our 5th anniversary, we are proud to announce that the Goguikian Foundation in partnership with the top six universities of Lebanon has so far provided 20 full scholarships to bright students of this community. We have further provided more than 180 hours of capacity building and leadership training to our scholars. And in turn they have provided more than 6,000 hours of community service to their community and their country with 2,600 hours dedicated to tutoring younger students at the Howard Karagheusian After-School program.
From the 8 scholars who have graduated so far, one worked for two years with WHO (the World Health Organization) dealing with the Syrian refugees and is currently working with the UN dealing with youth issues. Five are preparing to take the Civil Service Board entrance exams in fields related to their studies with the aim of joining the public sector at the Ministries of Public Health and Foreign Affairs and the Central Bank.
And two, Jennifer Abedian and Araz Kalashian, are working at this center including offering 40hrs of free consultations per month for the next four years as part of their community service.
Since he took the directorship of Howard Karagheusian Commemorative Corporation in Lebanon, Serop Ohanian has truly given new life to some very old roots and we are all delighted with the results. His clear mind, and support of new ideas, makes him an ideal director for a center that knows no bounds.
It is with his support and her own conviction, and commitment that Hasmig Nalbandian the center project manager, through hard work and sacrificing many a family time, finally has realized a dream she has had for this community for years, a center where all the specialties are gathered under the same roof, offering help and support to children and their parents.
Allow me to salute the foresight and hard work of, Serop and Hasmig, in creating this center and giving our children a fair chance at the start. It is a well-documented fact that children who have reading, writing or speaking difficulties at the early stages of their schooling, if left untreated, will simply fall behind at a very rapid rate as they miss opportunities to develop knowledge with every passing day and the accumulation of the missed knowledge will simply become insurmountable in a fairly short period of time.
Today, under the stewardship of these two leaders and with the collaboration of a mighty partner, the Gulbenkian Foundation, who have a long history in providing help and assistance to the community all over the world, especially here in Lebanon, and the Pontifical Mission with their great work in Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria and our friends and partner in other programs, the Babikian Foundation, the center’s success is assured.
I wish this center strength and growth from year to year and hope that the Goguikian Foundation’s contributions in developing human resources for this center will have a lasting effect on its success for the years to come.
Thank you.