From Arizona to Yerevan

Gabrielle Kaprielian
Arizona, United States

As an American trying to start a career in international relations, I had been attempting for some time to live and work abroad in a developing country. After a few other options fell through I finally found Armenian Volunteer Corps. What could be better than to get great work and life experience and to do in a place that I have a connection to? I was looking for something more long-term and AVC gave me the opportunity to stay for an entire year.

I was placed with an organization called Counterpart International, which works towards developing Armenia’s civil society and improving democratic governance through grants and other support for local Armenian non-profits. I feel so lucky to have been given a volunteer position at Counterpart. I have wonderful co-workers, have learned so much about working in development, and feel that I have made a real contribution. While there remains much work to be done here, I am proud to work for an organization that is making a difference.

Living in Armenia offers great opportunities for learning and personal development. You just have to look for them and take full advantage of what is here. I have been able to meet incredible people and take part in very interesting events that I would never have the chance to do in the US. I feel that I learn something new and important every day I spend here. Perceptions that I arrived with have been changed, and this knowledge will help me in my future career and in life. It’s one thing to read about how a society works, and a completely different thing to come and actually experience it. And I know that there remains much more for me to experience while I’m here. For that I couldn’t imagine leaving any sooner.

While there is much to be pessimistic about in Armenia, there is also a lot of room for optimism. Each time I have a negative experience on a bus or read a depressing story on human rights, it always gets counterbalanced with something that gives me hope for our future. Sometimes it comes in the form of a project that my organization funded that helped get a law passed to protect the rights of mental health patients. Other times it’s meeting local people who are working hard to ensure a better future for Armenia. I’ve met amazing young people here who have the same desires for a better Armenia that I do.

When people back home ask me what it is that I love about living here, it’s hard for me to come up with a simple list of what keeps me here. Living in Armenia is difficult to describe, but amazing to do. I have recently been given the opportunity to stay on for an extra five months, working with Counterpart, and I’m very excited for all that I will discover in my next chapter here in Armenia.

Coming and Going

Sophia Shahverdian
Maryland, USA

I am at the tail-end of my first visit to Armenia. I had tried to come many times before with friends, but each time, plans fell through and I never made the trip. I decided that if I was going to come to Armenia, I couldn’t depend on anyone else to make it happen and I just had to figure out a way that I could go on my own. After some research and talking with past volunteers, I discovered Armenian Volunteer Corps. I knew that Armenia would always be here for me to visit as a tourist, but this was a chance for me to live and work among Armenians, and try my best to understand the history, life today and possibilities for the future. So after one month of planning, I boarded a plane from Washington, DC headed to Yerevan to begin my five-week adventure.

I didn’t come to Armenia with too many expectations. I knew my time was rather short to make a real impact, but I was excited to do something other than tour churches and eat khorovatz (both of which I highly recommend). My volunteer placement is with the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia, a public-private partnership which strives to enhance Armenia’s global competitiveness through sustainable projects in tourism, healthcare and education. I wasn’t really sure what that meant or what I would be doing with them, but here I was, ready and willing to help in any way that I could. The assignments I have been given are mostly research-based, like how to develop specialty clinics in oncology and cardiovascular care. This is slightly out of the realm of my process-oriented, logistical coordination and management job back home as a Project Analyst at Johns Hopkins Medicine International in Baltimore, Maryland. However, I figured this was an opportunity to do something different by working on the more conceptual and developmental end of projects. After a few bumps in the road (renovations at the office, no internet to do “internet research”), I began to understand the overwhelming amount of work my colleagues did and how the research I was doing would fit into possible future projects the Competitiveness Foundation has in mind. I looked things up online, read articles, talked with locals and did my research. Turns out that what I did in the short time I was here was useful, and one of the documents that I drafted was used as the basis for a policy accepted by the Board of Directors.

There is a wave of change building in Armenia. There is so much possibility in a developing economy. Creativity, opportunity and ideas abound. The network of ‘movers and shakers’ includes some really amazing people that are trying to put things into motion in Armenia. I am lucky to have met and worked with some of those people, and AVC gave me that opportunity. I have built connections in Armenia that I am sure will help me in my own personal and professional development.

There is a wave building. Hold tight. I think it’s going to be a tsunami.