OUT OF DARKNESS

By Ramela Martin

Out of Darkness is the story of Ramela Der Pilibosian Martin who was born in Malatia, Western or Ottoman Armenia, just before the Genocide of 1915-1917. Her father had died before she was born. After the disappearance of her brother and the deportation of her grandfather by the Turks, Ramela Martin and her mother were forced to join the death marches, but not before her mother arranged to leave Ramela's older sister with a Turkish family. Escaping from the death marches, the women tried to return to their home but her mother died on the way, leaving Ramela alone. She was eventually rescued by the Near East Relief and placed in an orphanage. From the interior of Anatolia, Ramela Martin, together with other orphans, was moved to Aleppo, Beirut, Istanbul, and finally a refugee camp in Corinth, Greece. 

The Zoryan Institute (1989)