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Paul Vartan Sookiasian
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Paul is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Yerevan. He has worked in Armenia as the English language editor at CivilNet and as a project associate for USAID programmes. He i
Kiki cooking at Sajj Terouh Setté. Photo: Hranush Mashakaryan/OC Media
Armenia

Creating a piece of Lebanon in northern Armenia

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After a move that neither of them could have anticipated, two friends from Lebanon ended up bringing a little piece of home to northern Armenia.  ‘It was a crazy idea’, admits Christiane ‘Kiki’ Saadeh.  In 2020, Kiki Saadeh and Natalie Khalife were living in Lebanon and had just lost their jobs in hospitality, a result of a financial crisis compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and Beirut port explosion. Despite their deep devotion to Lebanon, or perhaps because of it, the two friends felt the