Maria Jacobsen named the orphanage she founded in Lebanon “The Bird’s Nest,” and for decades she fed the Armenian children like a mother bird. After they grew up, many of them stayed in touch with Jacobsen and other guardians.

Maria’s 600-page diary played a major role in presenting to the world the truth about the years of the Genocide against Armenian  . In her memoirs, she writes that Muslim children, imitating the behavior of adults, expressed their attitude towards Christians and especially Armenians, which often manifested itself in the form of ridicule shown to the victims.

A missionary in Kharberd described the Turks and Kurds who went to Mezre as follows:

“I have never seen such fierce and savage people. Even their little son behaved like a grown man, shouting after us  Christian dogs’.”

The missionary described how Turkish boys and young men gathered together and enjoyed watching the suffering of the Armenians: “I have never seen such a horrible event. I saw two gendarmes dragging an old woman down a slope. 10-12 Turkish boys were amused by this sad sight. During the deportation of the Armenians from Sebastia, the Turkish children of Malatya mocked and said: “We will crush and kill you all.”