Some days you just really need a coke. Laura was having one of those days so I popped into the corner store with her in-between ministry assignments. Yay for the buddy system! We were in a hurry but Laura took the time to introduce herself to the woman working behind the counter, Caroleen. She spoke broken English but introduced us to her husband Raffi. We stumbled through small talk and by the end were invited to come back so that he could take us to his bakery around the corner.
Two days later me and my team head down to the corner shop after finishing up Arabic class. Caroleen calls Raffi and a few minutes later a new man, a friend of Raffi’s, shows up to walk us down to the bakery. We are welcomed in with greetings in Arabic and Armenian and hit in the face with the smell of fresh baked manoosha (imagine a flat bread pizza). We were force fed a variety of “sandwiches” and did not complain one bit. This was the first of many trips to Raffi’s over the next few weeks. He even introduced us to the Texas Sandwich pictured below…
Almost every time we stopped in there was a customer who ended up being more than willing to translate. Through these customers we were able to learn a little more about Raffi and his family. His parents fled the genocide in Armenia and he was born in Lebanon. He is very proud of his Armenian culture as are most Armenians. The oning outside of his bakery and the corner shop are both a bold orange, red and blue pattern. He goes out of his was to teach us Armenian phrases and his face lights up when we tell him we will be visiting Armenia in just a few months.
Raffi and his wife were both born in a country that is not their own. They have worked hard at odd jobs to create a life for their two daughters. They are now the proud owners of two businesses that provide for their family. I may not understand everything being said but in watching the people coming and going in the bakery it is clear to me that Raffi has become a respected and loved part of his neighborhood. He is someone people trust. Customers will stop in and ask if they can store something under his counter while they run an errand and almost always wave as they walk by. We had to threaten to never come back if he didn’t allow us to start paying for our food. In all of our visits he never agreed to take our money but would sit and talk with us as long as we liked. We took to hiding cash under napkins in our last few visits and his face lit up when we brought him an attempted watercolor of his store front. He hung it on the wall and took a photo with us.
This is what I am doing here. Getting to know people like Raffi and Caroleen. Praying with new friends and seeing a glimmer of hope for the displaced people around the world.
