Blessed are those....
Mr. Garo Bakkalian , the second son of Bakkalian family, has born in Anjar. He completed his elementary education in the Armenian Evangelical School in Anjar.
Because of  financial needs, he was obliged to leave the school and work to  support his parents and his two younger brothers. He worked with a blacksmith.
At the very early of his age, he knew he was not born to become a blacksmith. He left the work and started to work with a car mechanic.
The complexity of the engine and the way it worked had charmed him enough to get him start  building an engine by himself. At  the age of 14, he had his own car. He was so happy for his achievement , and started the plan of a helicopter." Support me financially and I'll  take you for a ride on it",  he used to say to his friends. Although he could not build a helicopter, but it didn't take much time to build a hot air balloon. He took a ride with a hot air balloon to 60 meters for 5 hours.

The introduction of electronics, opened a new horizon   for Garo. He had no prior knowledge and education on electronics. He was so interested in electronic components that he bought books on electronics, and started to build simple electronic devices, such as burglar's alarm, toys with remote control etc.
At an age of 18 he decided to build a robot that he would use for potato chips. He build the robot and opened a small factory for potato chips in his backyard. Because of the financial problems he could not compete in the market and was obliged to shut the doors of his factory.
In the year 2001, he got a proposal to build a machine that will make the covers of the seats of cars. After a long months of hard work, he succeeded in getting the job done. All from scratch.
In that same year, he got a second proposal to build a machine that will pack the cigarette papers. 
Now he got a new proposal from a businessman from England, to build a machine that will fold the cigarette papers.
He is now working on that project. The above pictures show the scratch of the machine that he intends to build. He does not have a regular workshop. He  is using the workshop of his younger brother Misak.
He said " Only the screws and screwdrivers are from the market. Every component of the machine is made by me." When I asked him if he had seen such a machine or a design, said " I see the machine in front of my eyes when I start a project."
There are some who are born to be. And others are born who try to be.
I think, if Garo had a proper environment and education, he would become an inventor.
If he had born in a different country, or had the chance to study in the U.S.A or Europe, everything would be different for him.
In the Parable of Sower ( Matthew 3-30), some seeds were sown by the way side , some on rocky places, some in the thorns and some on good soil. Garo Bakkalian is a kind of seed that was sown on rocky places and road side. Because he had no roots, he withered away or was trodden by the passersby.
Blessed are those that are sown on a good soil...
We, as Alumni Association, are happy to have such a genius from our school, but also pity him and many of our students that are condemned to become like Garo because of the education system in our country. Wouldn't it be better to take care of  gifted youngsters? Isn't it the right time to think about the students like Garo? Isn't it time to stop the brain drain in these parts of the world?
Garo is only an example but not a sole one.

If you like to correspond with Mr. Garo  Bakkalian, please mail me.
 

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