From Lebanon to the World, and Back

An Interview with Harut Sassounian (Part 1)
   By Khatchig Mouradian
   
   "The Armenian Weekly", Volume 73, No. 7, February 17, 2007

 When I read the press release issued by the United Armenian Fund (UAF) saying that $4.5 million would be allocated to the Armenian schools in Lebanon, my mind went blank for a while. I had left Lebanon shortly after what became known as the “34-day War” in the summer of 2006, and I was deeply concerned about the economic hardships the Lebanese in general and the Lebanese-Armenians in particular were facing.

This intervention by the UAF could not have come at a better time.

 Six months later, the political and economic situation in Lebanon remains unstable, to say the least. A community that was once the jewel on the crown of the Armenian Diaspora is now facing serious hardships.

 In this interview, conducted by phone from Watertown, Mass., I talk with Harut Sassounian—journalist, activist and president of the UAF—about some of his memories of Lebanon and impressions from his most recent visit, when he delivered the first half of the $4.5 million in financial assistance to the Armenian schools there.

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 Armenian Weekly—In your column “Lebanon: the Revival of a Vital Armenian Community,” you write: “I am confident that Lebanon will rise like a phoenix from the ashes and take care of not only its own needs, but also reach out to those in other Armenian communities throughout the Diaspora and Armenia.” From where do you derive this confidence?

Harut Sassounian—For a long time, Lebanon was the center of the Armenian Diaspora, the heart and soul of the Diaspora, providing many teachers, artists, intellectuals, clergymen, etc., to different Armenian communities in the world. Lebanon is currently in dire straits. It is my honest belief that once the political and economic problems in Lebanon are resolved, the Lebanese-Armenian community will bounce back and resume its role as the provider of the needs of the Diaspora’s various Armenian communities.

A.W.—You spent your entire youth in Lebanon before leaving for the U.S. in 1969. Did your emotional attachment to Lebanon have any bearing on your decision to provide financial assistance to Armenian schools there?

 H.S.—As an Armenian, I care about all Armenian communities. However, I’ve lived in Lebanon, I went to school there, and those years have great emotional significance to me. Therefore, the developments in Lebanon particularly attract my attention. For a long time, I have been hearing stories about Armenian schools shutting down or joining other schools, etc. So when the opportunity came to do something, I was all for it.

 A.W.—Share with us your memories of Lebanon.

 H.S.—Teenage years are the best times, because we don’t have to worry about financial burdens, community affairs or other matters. We are just growing up and learning. I will recount one memory that is very relevant to the subject matter of this interview. One year, when my parents could not afford to pay the tuition for my high school in Lebanon, I was sent home—even though I was the top student in my class. That left a scar on me, and I learned early on how money could derail a young person’s educational pursuits. Fortunately, I was asked to return to school a few days later and was told that an anonymous donor paid my tuition. I insisted on knowing the identity of that person in order to thank him or her, but my request was refused.

Years later, I found out that my tuition was paid by my English teacher, Miss Olivier Balian, who cared so much about my education that she took a cut from her measly salary to pay for my tuition. During my recent visit to Lebanon, I visited her, accompanied by several classmates of mine, and thanked her. She was very touched by the fact that I remembered her gesture some 40 years later. She thought that it was very fitting for a student who was unable to pay his tuition to return years later and provide financial help to Armenian students unable to pay theirs. Visiting her was one of the highlights of my Lebanon trip.

 A.W.—The United Armenian Fund provided $4.5 million in financial aid to Armenian schools in Lebanon. How was this money allocated?

 H.S.—The sum of $4.5 million was calculated based on the specific needs of each of the 28 schools in Lebanon. We tried to cover the needs of schools in three different areas: 1) Tuition. We contacted the schools and asked about the amount of tuition for each class as well as the number of students who were unable to pay their tuition fully or partially. Based on that information, we allocated about $3.25 million for tuition. Five thousand out of the 7,000 students in Armenian schools benefited from this amount. 2) We obtained from the schools the amount of the salaries of the teachers and other staff, and the number of months they hadn’t been paid. The amount needed to cover these salaries—for more that 500 teachers and staff—was around $750,000. 3) We provided an additional $500,000 to the schools for general expenses. The money was allocated based on the number of students. Each school received $10,000-50,000.

 A.W.—What steps were taken to ensure that these funds serve the intended purpose?

 H.S.—Once we had all of the details, we issued a press release announcing that we were providing financial assistance, so that the Lebanese-Armenian community would be aware that there was a sum of money with which student tuition would be paid and teachers would receive their back pay. Then I flew to Lebanon for the first time in 37 years, met with the leadership and staff of all schools, explained what were doing, and handed the checks personally to the principal and board of each of the 28 schools (24 in the Beirut area, 1 in Tripoli and 3 in Anjar). I also asked for a full report. We paid the tuition for the first half of the year, and the second half will be paid in the spring of 2007, just to make sure the funds are being used appropriately before providing the second half. I did not want to take any measures beyond that because that would have indicated a lack of trust in the Lebanese-Armenian community. I did not, for example, interview teachers and ask them whether they got their salaries. I did not visit students’ homes and ask whether their tuition was paid. Just because a community is in a crisis because of war and economic problems, they should not be treated as if we are doing them a favor. These are hard working and proud people. They have done a lot for Armenians worldwide for decades and we ought to treat them with trust and respect. If anybody shows any signs of have done something wrong, we can deal with it accordingly later on.

 A.W.—After leaving Lebanon, you obtained two Masters degrees (in international affairs from Columbia University and from Pepperdine University), worked for Procter and Gamble, and served 10 years as a non-governmental delegate on human rights at the United Nations in Geneva. How did the shift to journalism and helming the California Courier happen?

 H.S.—The company I was working for in LA laid off many workers, including me. I was looking for a job. One day, I ran into George Mason, who had founded the California Courier in 1958. We had never met before. We talked for a few minutes and there was nothing we agreed on, whether it was Armenian issues, American issues, football, etc. The next morning, he sent word that he was very impressed by me and wanted to offer me the job of editor of the California Courier. I was stunned. I did not have any background in journalism. But we talked and I took the position. In those days, the Courier was mostly a social paper with no hard-hitting material on the Armenian cause.

He asked me to write an editorial the first day of the job. I barely knew how to write a regular article, let alone an editorial. That week, Turkish ambassador Sukru Elekdag denied the Armenian Genocide. I sat down and, after agonizing, wrote an editorial titled “Sukru Elekdag should be expelled from the U.S. as persona non grata.” That was my first editorial. When I wrote it, I had no idea what I was doing. I just wrote from my heart on the cause that was dear to me, having spent years and years in Armenian activism. It was just a matter of putting it on paper.

 The Courier readers were not used to hard-hitting editorials. A lot of people were unhappy with the sudden appearance of this strange person. They asked what happened to the social paper that they had read for years.

 But I continued in the same vein.

 Little by little, people came around. And then, other Armenian papers in the U.S., as well as in Canada, Europe, Armenia, Iran and Lebanon started reprinting my columns. The Armenian Weekly, for example, has been printing my columns for 15 years. Some of them are also posted on the Huffington Post and many have been translated to Turkish.