In 1917, Aposhian witnessed Turkish gendarmes using whips to deport Armenian children during the genocide. In 1921, her family were among the last Christians to flee to Syria, traveling by 2 horse-drawn carts. She suffered a leg injury from falling off the cart that killed one person and left her unconscious for two days. Aposhian recovered in Aleppo. Her family settled in Damascus where she attended an Armenian Evangelical School. They later had to flee anti-Christian violence and moved to Beirut. Aposhian's mother died of malaria when she was 13.