It seems as though time can heal wounds, ease pain, and wash away terror and fear from memory. But there are losses that time can never erase. You simply learn to live with them-holding onto hope inside and finding a little strength each day to keep moving forward.

Despite her young age, Karina Ghazaryan has faced trials that could break even the strongest person. She lost her parents, and in 2018, her husband. Her husband, a serviceman, was killed in Artsakh during a demining operation. From that day on, Karina became the sole anchor and hope for her three minor children.

In 2023, leaving everything behind like so many others, Gayane Harutyunyan was forcibly displaced from Stepanakert to Armenia along with her mother-in-law and three daughters. The one driving the family was her middle daughter, 20-year-old Anoush.

«“We fled with only the clothes on our backs, taking nothing with us-just a few pieces of warm clothing (as much as would fit in the car trunk) and our baked bread. But the terror we experienced until we reached the Armenian border is impossible to describe. My granddaughter was at the wheel. Seeing her, the Azerbaijani border guards stopped the car.

For 25-year-old Valeri Stepanyan, it would have seemed unthinkable years ago that the football he so passionately played—which had become both his hobby and lifestyle—would one day be replaced by a pair of shears. Having played as a forward for the Artsakh national football team since the age of 16, circumstances have led him to become a barber today.

Valeri was born and raised in Stepanakert in a military family; he has a brother two years his junior. However, his journey as a professional footballer was abruptly cut short by war. “I intended to continue my football career after my military service,