Time to come out – or why this blonde actually came to Hayastan and how it was

Zofia Baldyga

(Poland)

How did I decide to come to Armenia for two months? I probably should try to answer to this question one more time. As I did every single day of my stay.  Firstly I was surprised that everyone asks.  I knew that I was one of the blondest AVC volunteers, probably with the bluest eyes. The first one from Poland in the history of the program. But anyways, this is what international volunteerism is supposed to be about, right? Packing and going somewhere far away, for example to a small landlocked country in Southern Caucasus and testing your skills in a different environment while trying to make a change.  In yourself and in the surroundings.  It took me a couple of days to understand that in Armenia I stand out so much that I shouldn’t try to blend in. No one would believe.  I just needed to stay as I was, open and straightforward, and people will accept me and my dream to come and volunteer in Armenia.

So, getting back to my question (oh, actually it was yours), I didn’t throw a dart into a map to choose a country to volunteer in.  And I really don’t have any Armenian origins. Everyone was asking so I felt a bit like I should dig in my family story, but no. Nothing Armenian in it.  The idea of coming to Armenia came to me in the summer of 2011 in Eastern Netherlands when I was volunteering in the center for asylum seekers. I met there many Armenian immigrants and I found a lot of friends among them.  I loved their hospitality. One of my best and most cherished memories from Markelo is the rainy afternoon I spent with two other volunteers having dinner with an Armenian family we had  that just that day and they opened their house to us. Their house, their memories, their stories, their culture. They made me unbelievably curious. I didn’t know anything about Armenia but I love the stories I brought from Holland. When I was back home, I started digging. I brought books about Armenia from the library, I started to listen to Armenian music, I was spending hours looking at pictures of Armenia. This country seemed to be amazingly beautiful. I felt like packing and going to the Caucasus. But not as a tourist. For some reason I wanted to try to live there. I wanted to be something more than a visitor. Being a volunteer was the best option. I had two free months. Thanks to Google search I found Armenian Volunteer Corps.  And here I came.

My volunteering placement was a perfect match. I was working in an NGO implementing a project on migration management regarding circular migrants from Armenia to the European Union. In Warsaw I work in an NGO supporting third country nationals, and now I was able to experience the other side of the phenomenon, dealing with migration management from the perspective of a sending country. I will share more notes about it with you on the blog in a separate note; stay tuned.  It will come very soon.

My homestay was a perfect match. I enjoyed every single moment with my host sister and host mom. We were so different and so similar at the same time. And I mean something much deeper than the fact that we all had a short haircuit which is kind of original in Armenia. There was much more.  I loved having breakfast with my host sister and joining her and her friends in their free time to see how young people do things in Yerevan.

Armenia was a perfect match. I cannot fully explain why. I’ve just fallen in love with this country and I don’t care how cheesy it sounds.

Not everything was so ideal. I had many ups and downs. Smaller and bigger cultural shocks. Sometimes I was really frustrated at work because it was very different from what I’m used to and from what I expected.  But once I decided to just accept some differences and take everything as it is, dealing with it became easier. Sometimes I was really tired of being the single non-Armenian in the area.  But it was enough to repeat ten times to myself that my experience of Armenia is just mine, it cannot be compared with what anyone else is experiencing and it doesn’t really matter if I have a surname ending with –yan or not. A non-Armenian can discover Armenia for himself/herself.  I did.

My Armenia is about people. I met so many great friends in Hayastan. So different, from different areas, of different ages and backgrounds.  All of us came to Armenia to look for something and we ended up building this “something” together. As the AVC website says, AVC is about making a change.  It is.  But we should mention that the most important change is an internal one.

So, I’ve just fallen in love with this country. I cannot fully explain why. But I can say what the next step is.  If you love someone and you are 3000 kilometers away all you need is to go back. I cannot tell you all the details now but everything is planned. I will spend next summer in Armenia. Using English, we spoke at work, I set up a plan and all I need is a smooth implementation. (Almost) nothing can stop me now.

I  brought back small gifts for my family and friends. From Armenia with love.  A bottle of pomegranate wine, dried fruits, pottery, Armenian music, jewelry. I didn’t buy anything for myself but I do have a souvenir. Something that will be with me always me as a symbol of the change I mentioned in this post. I got a tattoo.  One word in Armenian. Courage, խիզախություն. Something I will need to have to continue what I started in Armenia as an AVC volunteer in the summer of 2012.

What My Students Taught Me

Alexis Shahnasarian (United States)

If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be and why? I posed this question to my Conversational Club at the American Corner Gyumri. I was 21-years-old, freshly green to Armenia, and could barely say hello in the native tongue, let alone “stop” on the marshootkah.  My wide-eyed students filed into the classroom and silently sat around the long wooden rectangular table, carefully watching every movement I made, waiting for me to say something profound, thought provoking, or even just slightly intelligent.  I accomplished none of these.

“If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be and why?” I asked again.

I’d like to go out on a limb and venture to say that most Americans, if asked this question, could immediately think of at least one, if not more, changes they would wish for their lives. The newest home renovations, longer and more expensive vacations, surgical augmentations, more TV stations… the laundry list of non-complacent “needs” never seems to end. Unfortunately, in the world in which I live, people are engrossed in always wanting, better yet, needing more.

My students pondered the question, and then, one-by-one, answered: “Nothing.” Every student’s explanation was justified with a variation of the same answer— Why would I want to change my life? I have what is most important, my family. I remember feeling my face sear, never failing to turn a bright shade of red at the crux of each of my humiliating moments.

When personally pondering the question, a million different changes had run through my head. I would have taken my GRE prep class more seriously.  I should have helped my Mom and sister-in-law more with the family wedding. I wish I didn’t eat the entire bowl of pasta… and tray of brownies.  Declining the opportunity for change didn’t even cross my mind. I listened to the soliloquy of responses, growing more humbled after hearing each student’s response. Nothing. If my students have the opportunity to change a part of their life, they wouldn’t change a thing. Absolutely nothing. This constant refrain haunted me. Despite the major differences of my students’ maturity level and life experiences— they ranged from 15 - 40 years old— they consistently responded: Nothing.

I understand it was a simple icebreaker; really I do.  Their responses, however, reflected a higher order value system I had yet to even grasp, let alone attain.

To be honest, I have no idea what I taught that day but I am sure it was something insignificant.  What my students taught me, however, changed my perception of life.

The power of one

by Sanan Shirinian
(USA)


Often, the history of my ancient people is reduced down to tragic, dispassionate statistics: 1.5 million murdered during the genocide, 25,000 killed in the earthquake, over a million emigrants in the past twenty years.  However, each of these numbers has a face, a family, and a story which make them human.  Although I was brought up thousands of miles away from Armenia, the plight of my people is never far from my mind.  Their stories shape what I value in life and propel me to work for a better future.  Throughout the years, my several trips to Armenia as a volunteer, had given me insight on the country’s unique reality.  After a mere 20 years of independence, the fledgling state was quickly changing. It seemed to be a growing organism in desperate need of public participation.  My passion for social justice and my eagerness to take part in Armenia’s growth process somehow led me to my current internship at the Hrayr Maroukhian Foundation (HMF).

The Hrayr Maroukhian Foundation is a social democratic policy institute in Armenia committed to the development and advancement of public policy issues that espouse the basic values of social democracy through education, training, research, and regional and international cooperation. Its focus and aim is to encourage public debate and promote equality, freedom and democracy in Armenia and the region. The Foundation produces academic research papers, linking them to political decision-making and policy, organizes conferences and round tables, publishes studies on social democracy and conducts trainings for young political leaders.

Just as action is inefficacious without education, I believe education is squandered without action. This is precisely why I am so fulfilled with my work at the foundation. It is a professional environment where we critically examine multiple issues, upon which we make a plan of action to tackle them. Going into work each day, I receive practical experience and get a direct perspective on the social and national development of Armenia.

One of the first initiatives I successfully completed at the foundation was producing a groundbreaking documentary series about the challenges and achievements of women in Armenia. In cooperation with Yerkir Media, we prepared six television segments telling stories of women’s experiences with business, politics, healthcare, domestic violence, migration and the Artsakh Liberation Movement. The project opened my eyes to so many different realities women face in our country, and as a recent graduate of the Women’s Studies department at UCLA, I was all the more appreciative of this opportunity. Aside from this extensive project, my day to day tasks range from preparing preliminary research for policy change, applying to innovative grant opportunities, arranging conferences for political leaders, and much more.

Working at the Hrayr Maroukhian Foundation has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I am challenged by the work put in front of me everyday and accomplishing even the most seemingly miniscule tasks feels like a great victory. Although many lamentable numbers can be attributed to Armenia's history, I believe the most important number is 1; the number of people needed to start making positive change for her future.  While I recognize that simple solutions to complex and multifaceted problems in our country do not exist, I am ready to invest the necessary time and effort to see Armenia move forward. Working at the Hrayr Maroukhian Foundation means taking a small yet important part in that process.

Preamble to My Armenian Reality

by Anahid Yahjian(USA)

I didn't come to Armenia to try and make a difference in people's lives. I am 22, fresh out of college, confused, drowning in my own convoluted sense of self. I have no business entering any space--let alone one as mutable as the South Caucasian one--and announcing to the people therein,  "Let me help you help you."

I'm not here to try and find myself, either. To benefit from the dram-to-dollar exchange rate as I wander the pubs of Yerevan, explaining in between cigarettes that I'm just on a quest to figure out who I am, man.

I am here to learn. To struggle with language. To hand over my compass. To stand corrected when I assume too much. To fail, and to fall hard.

It isn't easy. There are days when I am nothing short of a burden to the people who have welcomed me into their homes and workplaces. I flounder through basic tasks, upset the order of things. But I am forgiven endlessly. There is deep wisdom that precedes any mistake I could possibly make; a level of compassion that is infinitely both nurturing and patient. For this, I am forever grateful.

And so I remain, a vestige of certainty and power, submissive to the mutability of this place, where people dance in the aisles, wax lyrical about dark pain and always, always remind me, jana, that this is where I need to be.

Мой опыт волонтера в Армении.

Арсен Петросян (2011) Arsen Petrosyan
Россия - Russia

Этой осенью я начал участвовать в волонтерской стажировке в Армении. Для этого было несколько причин: во-первых, я хотел пожить в Армении и узнать ее поближе, но не в качестве туриста как я приезжал до этого, а принимая активное участие в жизни страны - это работая бок о бок с жителями страны. Во-вторых, у меня выдалось летом свободное время, и я решил, что стажировка - это уникальная возможность получить новый опыт и попробовать себя в новой сфере. 

Считаю, что мне повезло с местом стажировки, где довелось поучаствовать в организации конференции по интернет технологиям и конкурсе стартапов. Эта работа занимала у меня много времени, но дала мне возможность близко познакомиться с этой отраслью в Армении. Так же параллельно мне удалось заняться переводами документации с английского на русский и поучаствовать в организации интересных мероприятий от художественных выставок до социальной работы. 

До стажировки у меня было ощущение, что волонтер - это человек, работающий бесплатно, и занимающийся, в основном, социальной работой. Во время стажировки, в области близкой к моей профессиональной, мне пришлось решать интересные задачи, познакомиться с интересными профессионалами со всего мира. Я пришел к убеждению, что работая волонтером, ты намного больше получаешь, чем отдаешь. Приезжайте в Армению и наслаждайтесь!

Processo de criação!

by Mariana Kehyayan
Brazil

Antes de chegar na Armênia não tinha, praticamente, nenhuma noção do que iria encontrar por lá. Lembro da minha primeira reunião com o Tim, na qual foram-se expostas as atividades que teria que realizar, mas não me falaram o quão gratificante esta experiência seria em minha vida. Sou estilista de formação, mas nunca havia trabalhado neste ramo da moda.

Homeland Handicrafts promove a ajuda o artesanato nacional armênio, para a diáspora e dentro do país. Há vários tipo de objetos, souveniers, com diferentes matérias primas …
Com Homeland Handicrafts fui para Berd, uma cidade no topo da montanha, com um cenário incrível (localiza-se ao norte do país), para acompanhar de perto e conhecer as artesãs que confeccionam o Bear Berd (o urso).

Processo de criação:
Primeiro aprendi quais regiões produziam determinados produtos (por matéria prima) e separamos as amostras no escritório por sessões. A visualização é sempre importante para criação.
O crochê sempre foi um artigo de muita aceitação dentro do Homeland Handicrafts, por isso, o fluxo de criação desta matéria prima era sempre alto, e, somado a isso, eu deveria criar coleções para as regiões que precisassem (varia de acordo com a intensidade de pedido/produção). Para isso, pesquisei sobre os símbolos armênios, cores, formas, algo típico que remetesse à cultura local. Mas, sempre com um toque de modernidade. Tentei criar artigos direcionados para todos: homens, mulheres, meninos e meninas

Uma das linhas que eu criei foi ‘’Os Animais’. A idéia surgiu a partir do ‘’Esh’’ (burro), um animal ‘’símbolo’’ pois eles estão sempre presentes nas estradas do país. Depois, vieram: a ovelha (e os longínquos rebanhos que atravessam as estradas a toda hora), o pastor de ovelhas, as vacas … e, eles se apresentam em diferentes versões: imãs de geladeiras, chaveiros, objetos de decoração, uma vez que são objetos práticos e lindos como souvenir.

Além disso, outra coleção em que trabalhei foi a idéia do urso de crochê (de Berd). Quando cheguei, o conceito já existia, mas inovei e incrementei a linha com o porta moedas de tecido com a cabeça do urso, marcador de página (versão masculina e feminina), bolsinhas de tecido, necessaire. Mesclei os tecidos com estampas atuais com um toque ‘’rústico’’ do crochê do urso.
Somado a isso, criei o dado do ‘ ‘Ayp Pen Kin’’, ou seja, o alfabeto armênio em forma de chaveiro e imã de geladeira. Uma vez que o nosso alfabeto é muito importante para nós e as cores nacionais, também.

Mas, o que me deixa super orgulhosa é saber que o que desenvolvi para Homeland Handicrafts está tendo cada vez mais êxito e vem surgindo novos produtos dentro das linhas que criei!
Obrigada pela oportunidade e um sucesso infinito para Homeland Handicrafts.

Para quem quer acessar o site desta ONG, é só clicar do link a seguir: http://homelandhandicrafts.org/

Armenien intensiv

Sarina Tchobanian

Germany


Lange drückte ich mich davor, doch nun versuche ich auch mal unter die Blogger zu gehen.



Was bisher geschah:
- Wunsch endlich Armenien kennenzulernen
- Erkenntnis, dass Urlaub allein nicht ausreichend ist um ein Land wirklich kennenzulernen
- Recherche
- Bewerbung bei den Armenian Volunteer Corps, AVC (eine NGO, die Freiwilligenplätze in Armenien vermittelt)
- Bewerbung bei Birthright Armenia (eine NGO, die Gastfamilien vermittelt, Flugkosten übernimmt, wöchentlich Ausflüge, Foren, und andere Veranstaltungen organisiert, sowie den Volontären 2x die Woche Armenischunterricht bietet)
- Alles funktionierte: Zielort - und Arbeit: Gyumri (zweitgrößte Stadt Armeniens), YIC (Youth Initiative Centre, eine NGO, die u.a auch einen German Club führt), Dauer: 8 Wochen

Ankunft am 18.7. in Yerevan:
Berlin – Moskau. Moskau-Yerevan. Der Flug ab Moskau war außergewöhnlich bis fürchterlich: Um mich herum duzende weinende Babys, telefonierende Passagiere, die auch während des Abflugs noch fleißig weitertelefonierten und bei der Landung nochmals ihr Telefon zückten um den Anghörigen die Ankunft zu bestätigen. Ob überhaupt irgendwelche Handys außer meinem während des Flugs ausgeschaltet waren, mag ich zu bezweifeln! Also eigentlich ging davon aus, gar nicht erst anzukommen, sondern irgendwo über der Türkei abstürzen. Doch ich lebe noch! Wow!

Im Yerevaner Flughafen war dann langes Warten angesagt: Warten in der Geldwechselschlange, der Visaschlange, der Passkontrollschlange, bis mich dann endlich nach 2 Stunden der Fahrer Vahram empfing und zu meiner Übergangs-Gastfamilie fuhr.

Die Gastmutter war etwas ruppig und unherzlich. Klappte mir schnell die Couch im Wohnzimmer auf, schritt fix zur Bürokratie und schrieb meinen Namen und Dauer meines Aufenthaltes auf und war dann plötzlich in einem anderen Raum während ich allein und verschüchtert mein „Bett“ bezog. Wenige Minuten später kam James aus den USA, ein anderer Volontär, der auch mit meiner Organisation hier ist. Wir waren beide überrascht voneinander, da wir keine weiteren Gäste erwarteten. Hmm…

Am nächsten Abend folgte ebenso unerwartet Jorge aus Argentinien, dann nachts um 3h Alex aus den USA und weitere 24h später Tamar aus den USA. Alle wurden ähnlich unerherzlich aufgenommen, schliefen alle im gleichen kleinen Wohnzimmer auf der kleinen Couch, Klappbetten, etc, und waren ebenso wie ich geschockt: Soll das eine Gastfamilie sein? Wird meine Gastfamilie in Gyumri auch so chaotisch sein und werde ich dort auch ein viel zu kleines Zimmer mit 4 Personen teilen müssen für die nächsten 8 Wochen?

Mit der Zeit stellte sich heraus, dass es sich dabei nur um ein Zwischenlager handelt, und diese Gastfamilie auch alle anderen Freiwilligen für die ersten Tage aufnahm und nicht gerade für ihre Herzlichkeit berühmt ist.

Die ersten Tage arbeiteten wir ein bisschen im Birthright Armenia / AVC Büro und spazierten durch das schöne und relative grüne Yerevan. Da ich aufgrund des sehr intensiven Sommersemesters in Berlin nicht wirklich Zeit hatte, große Erwartungen aufzubauen oder mir Infos über Land und Leute anzulesen, konnten auch keine Erwartungen enttäuscht werden. Yerevan ist meines Erachtens eine sehr lebendige, moderne und auch gemütliche Stadt, mit vielen Cafés, Bars, Backgammon spielenden Herren, kurzen Röcken, extravaganten Highheels und überfüllten und chaotisch fahrenden Mashrutkas (die hiesigen öffentlichen Minibusse).

Die Tage in Yerevan waren sehr toll. Überhaupt ist bisher alles einfach nur toll. Die anderen Volontäre sind super nett und sehr aufgeschlossen gegenüber den Neuen. Ebenfalls ist auch das Team der NGOs sehr herzlich und zeigt großes Interesse an uns. Bisher gab es keinen Moment, indem ich mich irgendwie allein, verloren oder fehl am Platz fühlte!

Gyumri
Als wir in der zweiten Woche in Gyumri ankamen, ging es ebenso großartig weiter:

Die Gastfamilie war so, wie man sich eine Gastfamilie wünscht und das Gegenteil der Yerevaner „Zwischenlagerleitung“: Sie umarmtem mich, stellten sich vor, zeigten mir die Wohnung, unterhielten sich mit mir, boten mir Nahrung an, zeigten mir mein EIGENES Zimmer mit einem richtigen Bett…

Seit einer Woche arbeite ich nun in YIC. Das ist eine NGO, die diverse internationale Clubs hat, und verschieden Veranstaltung für die Gyumrier Jugend organisiert. Auch hier ist das Team so unglaublich nett! Meine Arbeit besteht derzeit hauptsächlich aus Unterrichtsvorbereitung und Unterrichten. Zweimal die Woche gebe ich mit einem anderen Volontär – der zufällig auch aus Berlin ist – Deutsch-Unterricht in der deutschen Schule. Vielmehr handelt es sich um eine Deutsch Ferien-AG. Unsere Klientel sind ca. 5-7 14-jährige Mädchen. In den nächsten Monaten steht ein Theaterprojekt an, das Stück werden die Mädels selbst schreiben und umsetzen.

Im August steht im YIC der „German Month“ an, in dem wir beiden Berliner ein paar kleine Veranstaltungen zu deutscher Küche, Filme, Feste etc. machen werden.

Ah noch ein großartiger Fakt: meine Arbeitszeiten sind 11-17h! Himmlisch!, wie eigentlich alles derzeit positiv ist. Der einzige nervige Negativpunkt sind meine deutschen Hausarbeiten, die ich sicher noch lange vor mir herschieben werde, weil sich dazu hier partout keine ruhige Minute bietet. Doch wat solls, das Streberdasein kann auch mal pausieren!!!

Mit diesen Worten widme ich mich nun meinem leckeren Eis am Stil, dass bei ca 35°C ein wahrer Genuss ist.

Finding Myself Through Volunteering

Ani Ishkhanian

USA

Working in Armenia for AVC was a very personal transition for me. I had the pleasure of volunteering in Yerevan for three months and I don’t regret a single moment (as cliché as that sounds, one cannot escape from using it because it is the ultimate truth). I was placed at Ghoghanj Children’s Center and was looking forward to my time there, even though I kept reminding myself to not have any expectations. I went in on my first day with a blank mental canvas. I was sitting in the office and was waiting for my supervisor, until a little girl tip toed inside the room and began to speak Russian, thinking I will reciprocate. That’s when this little girl, Olya, entered my Yerevan life and I got my rough introduction to this little wonder of a place called Ghoghanj.

Volunteering at this center was the most interesting month-to-month transition I have ever encountered. My first month was the most challenging and stressful. I had all the common worries anybody might have. You hope to make a difference in people’s lives, you hope to be good at what you’re doing, you hope to not bore the children, you hope the kids like you, and then some. It was like being thrown into the wolves with no preparation whatsoever, and I cannot think of a better way to learn. An experience like this makes one incredibly resilient.

Next thing I knew it was my second month living in Yerevan and working at Ghoghanj. A new challenge proposed itself everyday along with old challenges, which was great because it gave me a chance to retry methods and learn from my mistakes. Again, that resilience. At this point I also started working at another site, a contemporary art NGO called Utopiana. Both of these jobsites were completely different worlds. Everyday I would go from a calm, work at your own pace environment (Utopiana) to absolute chaos (Ghoghanj), I loved the polar opposite worlds. It gave me a chance to experience firsthand different businesses and how locals would deal with specific issues.

As my third and final month trickled in I began to get much more comfortable with my abilities. I realized that I would not see the people I became close with at work everyday, all the mixed emotions naturally led me to self reflect. The amount I learned working at these places could not be summed up with an article. The entire experience has been awakening, inspirational, emotional, stressful, and incredible. AVC gave me an opportunity to figure myself out while being completely selfless. That in and of itself is an incredible gift. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and I’m so happy and proud that I was able to do it.

More Notes from Gyumri

Aleksan Giragosian
USA

One of the volunteers here recently began his Armenian language classes. I asked him, "why are you taking Armenian classes, you speak Western Armenian just fine." He told me that the classes were conducted in Eastern Armenian and that he's taking the classes to expand his vocabulary. I laughed and said, "I'm trying to expand my Eastern Armenian vocabulary as well, that's why I'm taking a Russian language class."

All jokes aside, Russian is a hard language. I've studied English, Armenian, Turkish, and French, and Russian has sounds and rules that make it unlike any of the former languages. It has masculine and feminine. It has vowel harmony. It has pronunciations that I doubt I'll ever master. Never the less, if you are going to be in Armenia (or the region) it pays to know Russian. And why not? My classes only cost me about $4.50 per hour. That's at least 4 times cheaper than in the US.

Language isn't the only aspect of Armenian culture that's been influenced by Russia. Armenia's cuisine, its architecture, and its politics have all been permeated by a Russian, post-soviet culture. For example, the other day I walked to work where I passed billboards with Russian writing, I turned the corner and saw a Russian-style house made out of wood. At work, I spoke to my colleagues about corruption with the police department, the courts, and the universities. Apparently, you have to bribe your way into Armenia's best universities (bribery isn't uniquely post-soviet, but if you're in the post-soviet region, you're likely to come across some form of bribery). At my Depi Hayk forum I got to learn about how the mayor of Gyumri is super-rich and is buying up all the public spaces, like their central park, for what I would expect to be a bargain, to put it lightly. Finally, when I got home I got to enjoy the borsh dinner that my host mom made me. True story."

Volunteering Changed my Life

Greg Bilazarian
USA

AVC changed my life. This is my first and last blog post as an AVC volunteer so I’ve spent some time trying to channel my inner Hovhannes Tumanyan. But I think this time four words explain it, AVC changed my life.

Life is funny and unpredictable and expectations are often realistic. So after a four-year career as a television reporter in the United States, I quit to find salvation…in a developing country with a serious migration problem. Everyone told me to bring an open mind and no goals; I said OK and then wrote down all my goals.

AVC placed me with the Civilitas Foundation in their new online media project. It sounded like a perfect fit to everyone except me. I forgot to tell you I quit media because I hated it, passionately.

Day 1 at Civilitas was challenging, so was day 10, same with whatever day today is. But that’s why I love it. Civilitas is the best foundation in Armenia. Brief background, it was founded by Armenia’s former Foreign Minister, Vartan Oskanian. Salpi Ghazarian is the most dynamic leader I have ever worked for (I’m not kissing up and she’s too busy to read this anyway). Civilitas works in many sectors including microfinance, diasporan relations and now media. But here’s why it’s great…

It’s full of young, intelligent, multi-lingual professionals from Armenia. And if you have an entrepreneurial idea, you can implement it. So I’m helping develop an online media outlet while training reporters because a good story is a good story in any language. Most of the reporters are very inexperienced and we still need more infrastructure; but I have no doubt we will succeed.

Quick story about startups and challenges; I developed a Google Docs system to help organize the newsroom’s script writing. Change is not always easy and the first day we tried it things did not go smoothly. So we had a meeting and since my Armenian is not exactly great, I had a translator. In the beginning everyone was calm, so she translated. By the end, people were screaming, I occasionally heard my name, and then she stopped translating. Life lesson - when your translator stops translating, they’re talking about you – in a bad way. But most good stories have good endings right? We’re still using the script-writing program (with fewer struggles). One of the people most opposed to it told me the other day how much she now enjoys the program. Change is difficult but worthwhile.

You will read many posts about how impossible the job market is here. And many more posts detailing diasporan (btw, diasporan is not a real word according to Microsoft Word) struggles to find work. All those stories are probably true. But so is mine. Armenia is a country with its challenges, but you can help conquer them.

I came here speaking no Armenian. On the first day I was asked, “What is your favorite Armenian food?” I had no answer because I did not know the names of any of the foods. The vast majority of my friends in the United States are not Armenian.

And yet I came with huge expectations and a willingness to work. I have put in multiple 60-hour weeks (because Civilitas lets me and I want to) and have missed a few excursions to work on the weekends. Hard work pays off everywhere.

This is my first and last blog post as an AVC volunteer because I recently agreed to become a full time employee at the Civilitas Foundation. My title is producer; it might as well be “dream job”. Oh yea, I don’t hate media anymore. AVC changed my life.

Notes from Gyumri

Aleksan Giragosian
USA

July 16, 2011: It's funny being in Armenia again because it doesn't seem as foreign as it used to. Perhaps it's because the streets and fashion look more western. Perhaps it's because it's my fourth time in this country. Or perhaps where I live (Glendale) is becoming more and more like Armenia. Although many of the superficial things I noticed in 2007 have changed, many cultural things linger for better or worse. For better is the sense of community I see among locals living in the same building or in the same neighborhood. For better is the hospitality shown to foreigners or family. For worse is the treatment of women, children, and the environment. For worse is the collective pessimism that remains a stumbling block on the path to a free, independent, and prosperous Armenia.

And then there are the bard trees; apparently I'm allergic to them. I haven't stopped sneezing, coughing, or blowing my nose since I got here. The incessant second-hand smoke and the dusty streets may also be playing a role. I don't mean to come off as a whiner, but I was literally ill for the entire duration of my trip in 2007, and I'm afraid of a similar repetition in 2011.

Actually, being here makes me wonder if I can actually live here. I tell my friends and family that I want to move to Armenia, but I seem to forget sometimes that I am an American. What I mean to say is that a move to Armenia would entail more than a change in location. It would entail sacrifices on almost every level (economic, political, cultural). I say "sacrifices" because, at the moment, I do not see any gains that can made through relocating to Armenia. The only thing that keeps me from abandoning the idea altogether is the psychological conditioning, one might even say brainwashing, I underwent in Armenia school and at home that has instilled in me a longing for my fatherland.

However, I remain hopeful that alongside those "sacrifices," I will discover gains. Big Gains.

Aleksan Giragosian is volunteering with the Armenian Young Lawyers Association in Gyumri.

"I didn’t expect to find an exact fit"

Dawn Huckelbridge
USA

I came to Armenia with few expectations. I knew I was eager to immerse myself in the culture and learn as much as I could, especially since I had not previously had a great deal of connection with my heritage. I knew I wanted to try my hand at learning the language, that I hoped to work with community based organizations, and that I wanted to conduct some of my own applied research to try and better understand the political and social environment. Beyond that, I didn’t really know what to expect and what, if anything, I could effectively offer.

After two weeks in the country, this experience has met and far exceeded any expectations I had. My professional and academic background is in gender and policy, particularly women’s empowerment and political leadership. I didn’t expect to find an exact fit for my interests and skills in terms of my work placements, but AVC managed to do just that. I’m currently splitting my time between the International Center for Human Development and the Women’s Resource Center Armenia.

Coincidentally, the week that I started work at ICHD, they were drafting a proposal for a project to promote women’s leadership within the national political parties. I immediately jumped into the project, using some of the research I had done prior to my arrival and also resources from my Master’s thesis. I was able to provide the written rationale for the project, which was submitted this week, and if it receives funding I’ll be able 9to take part in its implementation. The Women’s Resource Center has been equally gratifying. During my first week, the Center was holding a press conference to discuss their work to amend sexual violence legislation in Armenia. I asked if I could help with international press outreach, and was able to connect the organization with Trust Law, a division of the Reuters Foundation providing pro bono legal assistance and press for women’s rights initiatives. Trust Law is now writing a feature story on the Women’s Resource Center and their work and wants to offer legal resources. Additionally, I’m able to use some of my skills in strategic planning and development to work with the Center on monitoring and evaluation, planning, fundraising and outreach.

These projects have fit perfectly within my own professional niche and have afforded me the opportunity to build my technical skills and experience and also to actively take part in the work being done here. On top of this, I’ve continued my independent research on gender and political systems in Armenia, which has been fascinating and really enjoyable - everywhere I go I meet interesting people who can contribute and are eager to speak with me over coffee. I hope to continue this research when I return home to the States, and to do what I can to continue my relationship and work with the organizations and activist movements here.

Serving Armenia's Competitiveness

Sylvain (Vicken) Muradian
France

Volunteering at the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) with the tourism development team has been a great chance for me. I have had the opportunity to contribute on a wide variety of issues including:

- The preparation of a business plan for the project to turn one little known geological wonder into Armenia’s first show cave

- The benchmarking of Visitor Information Centers in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Caucasus regions

- The collaboration with a consulting company to improve the Armenia Southern Tourism Corridor development framework

- The feedback of NCFA to the government on the new tourism law under discussion

- The analysis of the impact on tourism of the potential launch of a large scale mining project

Volunteering at NCFA has allowed me to get some understanding of Armenia’s tourism sector challenges, of the dynamics of business development in Armenia, and of how ministries, NGOs and businesses interact in this context. The team considered me as a real resource, taking me to meetings and asking for my advice. They also involved me in their after-work activities, and I have become very good friends with some of them. It was a real pain to leave after 3 months of good work with them. I really felt I was part of the team.

On Volunteering

Marie Hagopian
USA

With volunteering, there is no cookie-cutter solution as to exactly how to go about doing things. You just have to put both feet forward and jump in with everything you have inside of you. I will probably never get to have this kind of experience ever again, but instead of looking at that as a sad thing, I look at it in a completely opposite way. It's more of a reason to give my all, every fiber of my being, into this volunteer program that only spans 2 1/2 months for me. For the very short time that I am here, I am stretching my mind in every creative way imaginable. If it weren't for new, exciting, unconventional ideas and proposals, (as well as the people behind them), how would history have come about? Maybe, today in 2011, we'd still be Pagans, worshiping the fire that we're sitting around, and electricity wouldn't exist.

How do you measure results? It's tricky and I don't think there is an answer for that in a volunteer service. Maybe I can measure results by the smiles on my students' faces. Or by their expressions of pride and excitement when they get a difficult question right. Or maybe by the number of international responses that I receive in my Inbox from companies who want to collaborate with my organizations. Moreover, who's to say what's an accurate measurement of success?

In life, you just have to use the tools you were given, the skills that you have, keep an open mind, and pray for the best. Volunteering is no different. Do it. It is a reward like no other. I have found early in life that the rewards that are intangible are the best ones. They're the ones that stay close to your heart forever.

Todo lo que siembras, cosechas (Harvest what you sow)

Betty Arslanian
Cordoba, Argentina

Soy de Córdoba, Argentina y vine a Armenia como voluntaria de AVC, aproximadamente durante dos meses. Uno de mis sitios de trabajo fue el Colegio Argentino de Erevan. Mi trabajo allí consistía en la enseñanza de idioma español a niños de 8 a 15 años.

El Colegio República Argentina hace más de una década era una escuela soviética, pero a partir de 1993 mediante una donación de la Fundación Boghos Arzoumanian de Buenos Aires, cambio sus perspectivas. Hoy los padres de innumerables niños y adolescentes escogieron a esta escuela como la indicada para la educación de sus hijos.

Trabajando aquí pude observar de cerca uno de los elementos más importantes que forman la trama de una sociedad: la educación. Cada día estuve en contacto con docentes, alumnos y trabajadores de la escuela, y de ese modo pude construir en mi cabeza una imagen de la educación armenia en la actualidad.

Como todos sabemos, la Unión Soviética ha marcado en gran medida el destino del pueblo armenio. Más allá de que durante el período de la Armenia soviética la alfabetización llegó al 100%, algunos de sus vicios, hoy, pueden verse en la sociedad y eso no es tan bueno. Por ejemplo, el idioma ruso es la segunda lengua del país; prácticamente toda la población sabe hablar, leer y escribir en ruso. En todas las escuelas, su enseñanza es obligatoria.

Los libros de español de los niños también eran rusos. Sin embargo, esto es entendible ya que difícilmente se puede conseguir material educativo en español producido en Armenia. Lo cómico de esto es que nunca en mi vida pensé que aprendería las letras rusas para leer con los alumnos…

A lo largo de estos meses he reafirmado una creencia que desde pequeña me han dicho: la raza armenia es una de las más inteligentes. Las diferencias del sistema educativo armenio y el argentino son abismales. Trabajar en el colegio me ayudó a marcar las características de ambas, plantear un paralelismo, y pensar en un equilibrio compuesto por elementos de los dos. Digo que nuestra raza es inteligente porque creo que, a diferencia de otros países, los contenidos son más densos y a los alumnos se les exige mayores conocimientos. Específicamente en la Escuela Argentina, un niño de 8 años, además de tener las materias normales (matemática, ciencias naturales, sociales, etc.), aprende el idioma armenio, ruso, inglés y español. Lo curioso es que el armenio tiene sus propias letras, el ruso también y el inglés junto al español comparten otras letras distintas. No entiendo cómo un niño tan pequeño puede guardar en su cabeza tres alfabetos diferentes y aprender gramática, ortografía y pronunciación de cuatro lenguas distintas. En Argentina una escuela normal enseña el español y el inglés, ¡Dos idiomas similares y con las mismas letras!

¡Los niños son maravillosos! Enseñarles el español, un nuevo y extraño idioma para ellos, ha sido mi motivación. Cada uno de ellos me enseñó algo diferente; yo siempre pienso que de los niños también se aprende y a veces muchísimo. Ellos han sido cariñosos conmigo siempre y creo que nunca olvidaré sus sonrisas, tampoco las veces que he tenido que levantar la voz para que hagan silencio, ni las veces que me preguntaban “Señorita Beatriz ¿qué significa tal palabra?”.

Hay cosas que creo que a pesar que el tiempo pase quedan guardadas en lo más profundo del corazón. Es maravilloso cuando un niño te pregunta “¿Cuándo regresarás con nosotros? ¿Vendrás para el verano?, en verano el Ararat se ve muy lindo desde la ventana de nuestra aula” Creo que esos son los momentos en los que a uno que le llenan de lagrimas los ojos y piensa “¿Por qué el destino hizo que estemos separados? ¡Al fin y al cabo ellos y yo tenemos la misma sangre!

Para un voluntario el mejor premio es cuando ve que su trabajo da sus frutos. Yo no soy maestra profesional, no he estudiado docencia, ni pedagogía; sólo estuve dispuesta a dar mi tiempo, mis ganas, mi voluntad para ser útil en lo que fuera necesario para mi Madre Patria. “Todo lo que siembras, cosechas”, hoy siento satisfacción por haber aportado algo de mí en los niños, estoy feliz por haber provocado en ellos sonrisas al aprender una canción, una poesía, o haber jugado a un juego en español, y estoy más feliz aun por recibir un “¡Gracias, nos encanto la clase!”. Creo que estas son las cosas que, al fin y al cabo, le quedan a un voluntario de su experiencia.

A Special Journey with Special Adults

Ashley Howard
USA

The final image of David and I, flashes across my mind as a stop motion video. His voice shatter’s around me, the echo of falling laughter. I may never feel the warmth of his young wrinkled hands, or his chapped lips caressing my cheek as he would say goodbye. He whisper’s to me, almost silent, his shadow fallows me as I walk towards the plane. I am on my way “Home” relatively speaking. He surrounds me with all eleven of the adults that I spent the last three months working with at Warm Hearth. I am unsure of the fate of these beautiful residents. Their fate hangs in the closets of politicians. The symphony Natalie; the founder created through the office of each diplomat and political figure may ring through the streets of Yeravan, but it may not even awaken one man. The differences these individuals encompass is more of a gift and less of a disability. There is a light that shine’s from deep within them; it brought a smile to my heart every time I was in their presence. There is a saying that you must smile from your mind, mouth, heart and even your liver to achieve balance. They brought that balance into my life and for all their kindness I am forever grateful. The fate of our adjoined journey is wide open, the path is widening into a road as I start living my life outside of Armenia and my once youthful days. The time has come to start making those choices that lead to a destination. With warm hearth always in my heart; they are the smile to my liver. I will hopefully always work towards the life of this wonderful home!

I sit here in Peet’s tea and coffee in good old Boston reflecting on my three months in Yerevan, fondly re-watching the movie I created through the memory of my wonderful host family and the places I worked. The kindness bestowed upon me was selfless, full of love and I am forever grateful. I was constantly reminded of my beloved grandmother who is wrapped in the embrace of mother’s soil. The need to feed people with love is an identifier of Armenian people, especially the vintage. My host family was constantly trying to feed me, the folk I met on the bus or through work were doing the same. Whether I was invited into the home of a kind stranger or asked to eat with the women I worked with, it was always the same, kindness and hospitality.

One thing I can say for sure, is that Armenia will forever hold a special place in my heart. I may not visit there for years, but the memories and lessons I learned while there are etched in my mind, embedded on the film I used to create my story. If you choose to embark on this journey, you will forever be touched, changed and reborn!

Philanthropy, not Charity

Rubina Shaldjian
USA

I have been in Armenia for nearly three months. During my time here, I have been volunteering at the Civilitas Foundation. Many people think that Civilitas is a political organization. After all, it was founded by Vartan Oskanian, who was the Armenian Foreign Minister for 10 years. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Though Civilitas does try to impact policy in Armenia, it has no official political affiliation. The Civilitas Foundation supports a variety of projects ranging from strengthening civil society in Armenia to providing micro loans to fighting human rights violations. However, the question that always comes up is: what’s next?

To explain Civilitas, I would say that their goal is philanthropy and not charity. It’s something I observed over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, Armenia receives a lot of outside aid. Often, people here don’t think about the money well running dry. The great thing about Civilitas’ projects is that they are sustainable. They are not offering any handouts. Rather, they provide the tools for success.

As an example, Civilitas recently completed a project that renovated a number of libraries in rural Armenia. The goal was to take these cold, bare shell buildings and transform them to community centers. By changing the windows, adding insulation, adding heat, new bookshelves and books, these libraries are transformed to a place where people can gather, learn and share ideas. By adding a computer and an Internet connection, you open up an entire world to these folks. You remove their isolation!

The thing I like the most about these library-related projects is that it’s really up to the locals to use the books and educational tools we give them to better themselves. And this is exactly what has happened. In the short time since they were renovated, the libraries themselves have already organized a number of events, including cultural nights dedicated to Armenian writers, educational events for both adults and children, and book drives to help the libraries grow. It has been really amazing for me to watch the videos of the events held in these community libraries. They are packed full of people! I think with modern technology, many people living in developed countries have forgotten how important a community library can be.

Civilitas has also been soliciting other sponsors to help purchase books and materials. They have gotten corporate sponsors and also have a project called Angel Tree. Angel Tree is a book collection effort to keep filling the libraries. They are also collecting puzzles and educational games for the children’s sections of rural libraries throughout the country.

Overall, my experience at Civilitas has been incredible. The staff is made up of both Diasporans and locals, and many have studied at least a year abroad, so the perspectives are different and interesting. The people are bright and friendly. There’s a lot of laughter in the office, and we eat lunch together 3 days a week. I am also impressed by the amount of passion and creativity. It’s incredibly fast-paced, and in one day, the topics can range from A to Z. So it’s rarely boring, and the days just fly by. Best of all, at the end of the day, you feel like you’ve contributed something.

From Australia to Armenia

Charis Tyrrel
Australia

Leaving Australia

It is June 2010 and over morning coffee in our home in Canberra, Australia my husband Anthony asks if I would like to relocate to Yerevan, Armenia? He had been offered a 6 month contract with UNDP and I rapidly think through the myriad of departure preparations but just as rapidly agree that this is an opportunity not to be missed and four weeks later we both arrive suitcases in hand in Yerevan and embrace the warm welcoming summer weather.

Looking for volunteer position in Yerevan

I have worked all my life and knew that I wanted to be gainfully occupied and to contribute in some productive way during my time in Armenia.

Firstly I knew that if I was going to volunteer my time and energy to an organisation or project there were several important criteria that needed to be met before I would be prepared to commit to anything. The organisation needed to be authentic, transparent, not for profit and with values and ideals that align with my own personal beliefs.

Secondly I am of not Armenian and only speak English so I needed to take this language barrier into consideration when looking for a suitable volunteer position. However I felt that my skills from working for 35 years in a range of jobs including horticulture, textile art/craft production, art/craft sales, art/craft teaching, gallery operation, art/craft conservation repair, museum conservation, office administration and project management could be put to practical use in Armenia. I have a degree in Visual Arts and a MA in Materials Conservation.

Thirdly I was open to any interesting volunteer projects that would effectively utilise my skills. But I was particularly interested in working/assisting women to extend/develop their textile production with a view to selling their items to increase their family income.

So with all these things relatively clear in my mind, I sat alone in the flat in Yerevan and began my search of the internet which I intersperse with visits to the local café for shots of thick, strong Armenia coffee to keep my mind focused!!

Armenian Red Cross Society

I had previously done volunteer work for the Australian Red Cross so I organise a meeting with staff at the Armenian Red Cross Society (ARCS). I was unsure exactly how I could contribute to this organisation but was open to any project and felt that my English language skills may be valuable. I was asked to assist with the Armenian Red Cross Society Project “Don’t Judge by the Cover”.

The basic aim of the six month project was to help reduce prejudices amongst the Armenian population towards foreigners by conducting a series of innovative and interactive “Human Library” (HL) discussion groups for university students and refugees with the results collected from these meetings to be used as recommendations to prepare the Republic of Armenia to deal with national cohesion policies.

Further detailed information on the project can be found on the ARCS Population Movement Department web site:

http://www.redcross.am/?laid=1&com=module&module=menu&id=165

My tasks were clearly set out. I was to provide English editing assistance in the development of project materials and report writing and to attend and participate in workshop sessions and provide feedback to the project team.

Initially I was a little apprehensive about the project as I had not previously done this type of work. However I found the HL project extremely interesting and was very surprised to find that many of the prejudices expressed in Armenia are similar to those expressed towards refugees in Australia. AlthoughAustralia has refugees from other countries this is the first time that I have been directly involved with refugees and had an opportunity to hear their stories and learn how they adjust to life in a new country. Involvement in this HL project has most definitely made me more aware of the difficulties that refugees face and has made me more understanding and sympathetic of their situation.

Armenian Volunteer Corp

I was aware that my volunteer role with the ARCS would only be part time so I continued to search the web for other positions and came across AVC who miraculous had a position advertised in exactly the area I had wanted to work in!! The project was “Working with rural women to develop, produce and sell craft items thereby increasing their family income”. The position was with the newly formed “not for profit organisation” Homeland Handicrafts (HH) and I immediately submitted my details and met with AVC and commenced work shortly afterwards with HH. I believe that the planets had aligned in my favour with this volunteer position!!!

Homeland Handicrafts

Homeland Handicrafts is a purely voluntary grass-roots organisation whose goal is to create jobs through a new generation of Armenian handicrafts, using traditional materials and techniques with the specific focus on women in rural locations.

Further detailed information on the project can be found on the Homelands Handicrafts web site:

http://www.homelandhandicrafts.org

The HH team was extremely creative and operated in an organic and egalitarian style.

My tasks were to help provide feed back on product designs, provide practical advice on product improvement, develop craft product prototypes, provide detailed instructions to accompany the prototypes, and source materials for prototypes and samples.

Returning to Australia

I will share my volunteer experiences with others when I return to Australia and am currently investigating the possibility of talking with several Armenian communities in the major Australian cities with the idea of promoting the AVC and Birthright Armenia programs.

Other – on a personal level.

I formed a close friendship with a young women who spoke an impressive four languages putting me to shame with my ability to communicate only in English! She was keen to improve her spoken English skills and we had fun chatting over coffee and visiting the art galleries and museums together. Through our discussions I learnt a lot about Armenia culture and history. It was also joy to see how much her understanding and ability to express herself in English improved over our months together, bearing out my belief that it is the little things that count in life.

I had contact with an Armenian family whose grandmother was unable to walk after a major medical operation. The family was desperately looking for a wheel chair and through a serendipitous set of circumstances I visited the Punick Disabled Centre in Yerevan who had just received a shipment of brand new wheelchairs from a USA donor. The family contacted the Punick Disabled Centre and was able to acquire a wheelchair without incurring any cost. I know how much this meant to the family and it was very humbling experience for me to have been able to make this connection for them. It was very much about being in the right place at the right time.

Conclusion

The volunteer role with the ARCS was not at all what I had initially envisaged but I embraced the challenge, shared peoples life stories, learnt a huge amount about the Armenian society and culture, and had the privilege of working with intelligent young women on this valuable humanitarian project.

I have to say that the role with HH provided some of the most stimulating, interesting and creatively challenging work that I have ever been involved in. I and am very grateful for this opportunity!

Through both my volunteer roles I met and worked with some very interesting people, learnt an enormous amount and was fortunate to travel extensively in the Armenian countryside and experience the people and culture in a very unique way. My only hope is that Armenia gained as much from my volunteering services as I gained from this experience!!!

By the way: I always received prompt and excellent support from AVC on any questions or requests I had during my volunteering. I have great admiration and respect for the enthusiasm of the AVC staff. I recommend this volunteer organisation without hesitation, even for a non Armenian such as myself!!

Volunteering in Armenia-- A reflection

Sima Cunningham

USA

What makes someone want to volunteer? This was a question I asked myself a lot during my time in Armenia. Not so much because I had just taken four months off of school to come to Armenia to volunteer, but more because I spent a good deal of my time there trying to encourage others that volunteering is a desirable thing to occupy your time with.

When I first arrived in Armenia I was told I was going to be volunteering at two locations: Manana Youth Education Center and Naregatsi Art Institute. I didn’t know much about what I would be doing beyond teaching an English class to an unknown number of students of an unknown age. The first couple of weeks, I honestly felt like I didn’t know what I was doing there. Here I was, a 20-year-old student who has never taught a formal class before, never written an official grant proposal and certainly never learned how to understand a budget. I’d volunteered a lot during my life: built houses, done food drives, flower-pot fundraisers and more, but I’d always had a pretty firm idea of what I was doing, and more often than not, someone to tell me exactly what to do.

This kind of volunteering was different. I soon realized that I was going to have full control over the creation of an hour long English class twice a week with anywhere between 8-20 kids from ages 9-16 with English abilities ranging from “hello” to Jane Eyre. I learned quickly that the grants that I was applying for were serious and heavily depended on my ability to complete them correctly. More than anything, I learned that when working in a new place, you have to be flexible and sometimes spend a lot of time listening and trying to understand before trying to change anything.

This kind of volunteering is not the kind of hammer-and-nail, soup-and-bread kind of volunteering that I was used to. It required a serious commitment of my mind and my energy. When I first realized this, I really intimidated me and I kept wishing that someone would just give me a manual and tell me exactly what to do with my students and how to best help my co-workers. These anxieties would come and go throughout my time in Armenia, but by the end when I was reflecting on my time, I felt that I’d left something good at each of my volunteer sites and also received so much from each as well, even if I hadn’t noticed along the way.

After my first class at Manana, I no longer feared teaching a class. I didn’t know how to cope with students of such diverse ages and capabilities, and I didn’t really know where to start. I decided to start with what I was good at: music. Something I quickly learned about Armenia, which seems to be true in much of the rest of world, is that the Beatles were the most important thing that happened—ever. I can’t tell you how many of my friends in Armenia answered the question “How did you learn English?” with “The Beatles”. My friend Elen, who had taught English at Manana before and was an avid Beatles fan, suggested I start there. My first lesson I had about 10 students. I cut up the lines from “With a little help from my friends” and handed each a line from the song. Then I had them each read their line out loud. Then I sang the whole song for them and had them line up in order of when they heard their line sung. Then we sang the whole song together. When we finished I looked around and they all had huge grins on their faces. After that, I did a similar exercise with the Shel Silverstein poem “The Long-Haired Boy” except I made them dramatically act out their lines.

With both Manana and Naregatsi I was asked to think of ways to help the organization, whether by finding grants online, or rethinking structures or fundraising efforts or organizing events that could help bring more people to the organization. This part was much harder for me. Interacting with children was easy, but writing official statements about an organization you barely knew, trying to understand how their budget works, and trying to understand all the dynamics of an organization was really difficult for me. Something that I learned about grants in the process of writing them is that you need a lot of planning. You have to try to guess how to present your organization perfectly to a foundation or government program to fit their specific goals, and even if your idea is brilliant, it may not be taken seriously if that idea is not already supported by a bunch of other organizations. It was a true challenge and sometimes I felt like I and my colleagues put a lot of work into a total shot-in-the-dark. Still, I learned so much from it, and despite the fact that the organization maybe didn’t receive the grant, I think they learned a lot from the process. For example, the process of writing a grant and fundraising made us have lengthy and in-depth conversations about how to develop the organizations, how to talk about what we do, what materials we were missing in order to present a complete, legitimate budget, where we could do better, how we could expand the organization, what grand project we would plan if we received this grant, etc. In this capacity I felt that I was very useful. As someone who’d grown up in the U.S., in non-profit arts organizations, in a far away place where free-market capitalism and its simultaneous philanthropic sector has existed for centuries, I had a very fresh perspective on how to operate in a non-profit arts world.

When I felt that I needed more time using the skills I felt most comfortable with (music and interacting with youth) I went to AVC and I asked if there was any way that I could do more of that. I was soon introduced to Warm Hearth, a home for adults with disabilities. I went to Warm Hearth for about 6 weeks and would play music and sing and dance with the residents there. They were so kind and welcoming to me and definitely the most appreciative when I managed to learn a new Armenian song. They were eager to stand up and perform for me as soon as I was too tired to perform for them. Soon after starting at Warm Hearth, I was introduced to a school for young autistic children. My first time there I sat and played about 2 hours of music (mostly my own, the Beatles, and any other folk tune I could come up with, sometimes just improvising). I looked around the room at the adults, sure that they were bored and unsure whether the kids were enjoying it at all. Sometimes the children would approach me and I decided to just sort of let them have at my guitar. After all, it was probably a pretty foreign object to most of them. I would say “Uzum ek navakel?” and one of them would come up. Sometimes they would just place their hand on mine while I was strumming, some would detune my guitar, some would bang on the wood, and one even took a liking to the taste of the strings. Still, I let them explore it as an object and it thrilled them. I watched their eyes grow in fascination as they realized that they could control the sound coming out of the guitar. From what I could tell, it really empowered them to be able to control sound.

During my last week in Armenia, I started to really feel like I didn’t want to leave. I organized an event for singer-songwriters at Naregatsi with seven songwriters from Armenia and the diaspora. The evening packed the place with lots of young faces who had seldom been to Naregatsi, a place that celebrates and preserves Armenian traditional art as well as encouraging new forms of art and music in the new generations. My students at Manana organized a party for me and we sang and danced together. They gave me a photo album with each of their pictures and a little note in Armenian so I could practice Armenian at home. I e-mailed them all on Armenian Christmas and got lots of excited, beautiful emails back which I responded to with glee. I can’t get enough of their energy and optimism.

I’m realizing now that I completely forgot to answer the question that I began this whole reflection with: what makes people want to volunteer? This was an important question for me because one of my main goals in Armenia was to convince my students that volunteering could be a thrilling experience. On December 5, fifteen of my students joined me at the cascade for International Volunteer Day. I gave them all trash bags and gloves and we spent the next 5 hours running around Yerevan picking up trash. I was really nervous that I was going to have to stop a lot and organize some fun game so they wouldn’t get tired, or bored, or upset or disappointed… but I didn’t. They had so much fun. They were running from courtyard to courtyard, climbing up trees to pick out trash, laughing and skipping all day (I know it sounds cheesy but its true!) When I finally made them take a break they were restless and wanted to get back out there. At the end of the day, they were all so happy and cheerful. One student even asked me if he could take some trash-bags with him on his way home to pick up trash. One asked if we could do this every day. I was so thrilled. It was clear to me that they had easily picked up the volunteering bug. It’s not really a bug or a foreign, “Western” concept. It’s the simple idea of doing something good for people and the world we live it. Though it was truly difficult to leave Armenia, and I honestly can’t wait to get back, I left with a smile on my face knowing that I’d helped a few people in Armenia realize what a joy it is to do something for someone else, whether it be picking up their trash, singing them a song, or just flashing them a smile.

This post originally appeared on Sima's own blog, http://simacunningham.blogspot.com/, and is reproduced here with her permission and encouragement.