Webinars
A Tale of Two Wars
On August 14, 2020 AHABA sponsored a two hour webinar, A Tale of Two Wars, in order to update the Bay Area Armenian community on the COVID-19 situation in Armenia and address the initial conflict escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijan border. The invited speakers were Zareh Sinanyan, High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs; Sara Anjargolian, Chief of Staff Office for Diaspora Affairs; and Armen Baibourtian, PhD, Consul General of Armenia in Los Angeles. AHABA’s Dr. Lori Panossian moderated the event posing questions developed by the AHABA Board members and AHABA President, Dr. Elena Sagayan moderated the audience Q&A session. The webinar drew more than 100 participants whose questions were answered about both situations.
Generous donations from participants made during the event were sent directly to the Tavush Medical Clinic to provide healthcare to Armenian villagers at the border who were impacted by the attack on their region, as well as to the Karagheusian Foundation which provided immediate assistance to Armenians in Beirut, Lebanon who were affected by the chemical explosion ten days earlier that caused hundreds of deaths, 6,500 injuries, $15 billion in property damage, and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless. The donations helped provide medical supplies, housing assistance and local support.