FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 29, 2004
Contact: Linda Yepoyan
Tel/Fax: 610-642-6633
[email protected]
BIRTHRIGHT ARMENIA PROMOTES VOLUNTEERISM IN ARMENIA DURING EUROPEAN TOUR
The Armenian communities of London, Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, and Geneva
will soon be learning more about U.S. based Birthright Armenia, the
international non-profit organization created to assist young diasporans
worldwide in their efforts to travel to Armenia.
Birthright Armenia’s founder, Edele Hovnanian, and executive director
Linda Yepoyan are preparing for an outreach tour of Western European
cities with large Armenian populations in an effort to inform and
recruit young diasporans interested in traveling to Armenia for study
and work purposes. The attendees of these European outreach events may
be a bit surprised to hear about the comprehensive incentives that
Birthright Armenia provides. These include free air travel to the
homeland, as well as a whole host of in-country support services
including Armenian language instruction, homestay and volunteer job
placements, in-country orientation, forums with local experts, and
tie-in gatherings with other young diasporans carrying out community
service work in Armenia. As a package, Birthright Armenia’s services
are designed to help make the most of the volunteers’ experiences in
Armenia. As an organization, Birthright Armenia’s approach is very
unique and forward thinking.
When it comes to experiencing the Homeland, Hovnanian and Yepoyan have
enough firsthand experience between the two of them to write a volume or
two. Both women were students in Yerevan, Armenia prior to Armenia’s
independence, having gone there to study the language and to experience
life there the local way. “There weren’t too many programs in place that
offered opportunities for young diasporans to live in Armenia back then”
said Yepoyan. “Today, however, a young diasporan has many options from
which to choose, and calling attention to those choices will be the key
purpose of our outreach European tour this December.”
This past summer Birthright Armenia intentionally started out with a
manageable number of sponsored volunteers knowing the quality of
services provided would be the litmus test for future years of much
larger groups of youths. Therefore, for its first year, Birthright
Armenia supported 40 volunteers from North America and Great Britain,
who represented seven different diasporan organizations.
With a hugely successful inaugural year complete, Birthright Armenia is
now preparing to sponsor a group three times the size of its maiden
group in 2005. The goal for the upcoming summer is to have a balanced
mix of young diasporans from North America, Western Europe and beyond so
the group can really experience the multi-diversity our community
affords. In that way, young volunteers and students from different
backgrounds are even more challenged to stretch their definition of what
it is to be an Armenian and how it relates to their own time and place.
Birthright Armenia’s mission is to strengthen ties between the homeland
and diasporan youth by affording them an opportunity to be a part of
Armenia’s daily life and to contribute to Armenia’s development through
work, study and volunteer experiences, while developing a renewed sense
of Armenian identity. This is accomplished by supporting and
complementing the initiatives of existing diasporan organizations that
offer youth programs in Armenia, and encouraging them to expand their
offerings in depth and breath. Birthright Armenia assists with travel
fellowships, language instruction, in-country seminars, orientation and
excursions in exchange for community service in Armenia.