Ilona Speaks

Ilona Parunakova is a descendent of survivors of the Ottoman genocide against the Armenian people during WWI. Her great-great-grandparents were slaughtered before the eyes of her great-grandmother, who fled on foot as a child to escape. Ilona Parunakova witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union and survived wartime in the Republic of Georgia immediately following, 1991-1993. Here’s what she has to say about her life I am a Third-culture kid, having grown up as half-Ukrainian (mother), half-Armenian (father), in the Republic of Georgia. While I enjoy being multilingual and multicultural, I endured ethnic discrimination for much of my life. I may not look like it to you, but I grew up as a minority. My entire adult life, I have worked with a famous nonprofit, The Salvation Army – here in the United States and projects and efforts touching a number of other countries. I have given my life to