Building a better society

Vana Urartu Agopian

(USA, 2012)My volunteer post was off the hook! I was placed at Ghoghanj Childrens Center… AMAZING! The center helps children from broken homes gain higher educational skills, social skills but more importantly, they assist children/adolescent expand a sense of self-worth which in return help them become positive and productive members of society.  The organization was started by two women, a mother and her daughter; they began the project out of their apartment on the outskirts of Yerevan. Overtime, the two ladies were able to collect enough funding to open a small center in the heart of Yerevan. The children come to the center after school and receive the attention they may not be able to receive in their homes. As for my own personal volunteer work… I joined the children on excursions, took them on field trips and really connected with several of the staff. However, the real work had started by a volunteer before me, she had started a program called Side By Side (a mentor ship program) a replica of Big Sister Big Brother in America, but tailored for Armenia. Side by Side assists in bonding young educated professionals with children from the Ghoghanj center. The goal of the project is to connect for example: a child who may be overly egotistical with a mentor of a more humble character, but share the same interests. Overtime the two begin to bond and balance while the child begins to grow with positive individuality. The program has shown wonderful results for the center. I helped them cultivate this particular program. I visited several businesses in Yerevan fund raising for the program; specifically, I met with owners of café's and restaurants, presented them with the goals of the mentor ship collecting gift certificates for the mentor/men-tee couples to use when spending time together. Side by Side mentor-ship program is a wonderful example of the difference a chain of volunteers can make when picking up where one left off. But I’ll leave you with this…The work being done at Ghoghanj Children’s center is absolutely angelic and through the chain of volunteers from Armenian Volunteer Corps. we can do our part and help them reclaiming a sense of social progress and build a wonderful healthy society for our planet. I hope you will get the opportunity to get to know these ladies and the kids.

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.