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Three Armenian doctors who temporarily substituted for Dr. Tom Catena and his humanitarian work in the Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan, returned to Yerevan on Saturday.

Armine Barkhudaryan, Hayk Hovhannisyan, and Gevorg Voskanyan left for Sudan earlier in May to substitute for the sole surgeon Mr. Catena in the local Mother of Mercy hospital in Sudan that serves the entire region, in order for the doctor to be able to attend the Aurora Prize weekend of events and the Award Ceremony in Yerevan.

Major Hayk Hovhannisyan talked to reporters at the airport, sharing their experience in Sudan. He said that during stay the group of Armenian doctors performed surgeries, delivered births as well as treated people with medicine with total number of around 200 patients served.

Armine Barkhudaryan on her part said she didn’t counted the delivered births,
“The moment was emotionally when locals separated from Armine and they probably miss her much,” Gevorg Voskanyan said, adding he would probably visit there again in the future.

“The life, the surroundings there cleanse one’s soul. We realize what true dedication and commitment are about. Sometimes we feel proud for tiny things and accept them as benevolence. Instead, one should go there and see the life of Tom Catena, to get the idea of true commitment,” Voskanyan said.

To remind, Dr. Tom Catena, a U.S. Catholic missionary who has saved thousands of lives as the sole doctor permanently based in Sudan’s war-ravaged Nuba Mountains was awarded  with the $1 Million Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. 

The Aurora Prize, granted by the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, was announced at a ceremony on May 28 in Yerevan, Armenia. He was selected as the 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate from more than 550 nominations submitted from 66 countries.