What draws Birthright volunteers to Armenia
by Lisa Manookian
Published: Sunday January 22, 2012
Clockwise from top are: Nicholas Avedisian-Cohen, Sanan Shirinian,
Greg Bilazarian, and Allegra Garabedian.
Yerevan – A new wave of benevolence is being driven by young Armenian
adults who have recently traveled to Armenia via Birthright Armenia,
the vehicle through which many arrive in their quest to serve our
homeland and her people.
Over 90 volunteers have participated in 2011, serving in both the
public and private sectors and taking advantage of all their cultural
inheritance has to offer. So moved are they by their experiences that
several have extended their initial internships beyond the minimum
two-month stay.
Why did they decide to take the time to volunteer in a foreign
country, why Armenia, and why now? What did they discover about our
homeland and her people? And what impact does that have on their
personal desires and ambitions?
Allegra Garabedian was planning a visit for some time. Growing up in
Portland, Maine, she didn’t speak Armenian, knew little of her culture
and felt much like an outsider. Having studied abroad, she knew she
loved traveling, experiencing foreign cultures, and learning new
languages. Yet, despite her heritage, Armenia was the most foreign of
all places she visited.
She arrived in May 2011 with no language skills, no knowledge of
Armenia’s political history, and no concrete expectations. Aside from
a handful of her grandmother’s Armenian delicacies, the culture was
new to her as to any tourist. So, traveling to Armenia was a
completely new experience for Allegra and she chose to do so because
she wanted to push herself in a way that wasn’t possible in the
academic world. She was the first person in her family to go back to
Armenia since her great-grandparents left during the Genocide.
Initially signed up for a six-month internship, Allegra decided to
stay an additional six months. Allegra was assigned to a small NGO in
Gyumri called Historic Armenian Houses. She transcribed interviews and
worked on several projects to promote tourism in Gyumri, taking photos
to turn into postcards, assisting with the start-up of a bed and
breakfast service with several local families, and helping write
brochures and organizing tours for tourists staying in Gyumri. She
also tutored French twice a week.
Currently, she is working three days a week at the Manana Youth
Center, an after-school program for children interested in studying
photography, filmmaking, animation, and journalism. She teaches
English there twice a week and edits grants, grant-reports, the
English language section of their newsletter, and anything else that
they need help with. She also spends a lot of time scanning and
archiving film for the photography department.
In addition to her work with Manana, Allegra spends one day a week
assisting Birthright Armenia with social media, and another day doing
transcriptions for Historic Armenian Houses. Still in the middle of
her internship, she plans to begin meetings for an English language
club for a new organization.
Allegra says that the one thing she has taken from this experience is
a sense of humility for how little she knew about how people live –
outside of the United States and outside of her home. “Seeing the
struggles of the people here, and realizing how completely impossible
it would be for me to even try to understand them, has given me that.”
For Sanan Shirinian, Armenia is not a foreign country. Having
volunteered twice before, she says “it is my homeland, therefore it is
my responsibility and my honor to volunteer and serve here.” She feels
the time she is serving is a much more rewarding experience than
spending time as a tourist and decided to postpone graduate school for
one year to allow herself some quality time to truly get to know
Armenia.
Sanan is in the fifth month of her internship, working with the Hrayr
Maroukhian Foundation, a policy institute that promotes
social-democratic solutions for various issues in Armenia. From the
onset, she was given the project of producing a six-part mini series
about women in Armenia. Her daily tasks ranged from researching topics
to covering 40-minute segments, arranging meetings with women who were
needed for the show and interviewing different women throughout the
city about the challenges they faced and their achievements in the
country. She has also organized a social-democracy training seminar
and a conference to present policy papers about social reforms in
Armenia.
Sanan believes in the importance of young diasporans seeing the
country as much more than a summer getaway and during her year-long
stay is seeking avenues which will allow her to make a difference. The
timing was perfect because she recently graduated with a B.A. and
didn’t have any other commitments. Though Sanan is still in the midst
of evaluating her journey, living life day-to-day and integrating with
society as much as possible, she is certain that her future will
involve Armenia.
The idea to stop working and put on hold a professional and personal
life back in the states, came to Nicholas Avedisian-Cohen, because of
Birthright Armenia. “I was going through a stretch of unemployment and
not excited about the job prospects on the horizon. Independent of
that, and of the fact of my Armenian heritage, I found the prospect of
coming to Armenia in particular to be interesting and meaningful. I
imagined that a lot of important work could be done to make a
difference here because the country and its institutions are so young
and because people live in real need. This was all part of my thinking
at the time of applying to Birthright Armenia and deciding on a longer
term stay.” Nicholas wanted to give himself enough time to experience
different facets of life in Armenia and make a connection to the
people and the place. He was also interested in meeting other young
diasporans because he was not raised in an Armenian community and did
not have a strong sense of diasporan culture.
Having recently returned from six months in Armenia, Nicholas was
exposed to much of the culture and character of the people there and
got a sense of the critical issues facing the country. Along the way,
he met many people whose resilience and personal strength he came to
admire as well as friendships that cross cultural and language
barriers. “One thing I was happy to discover is how easy it was to put
myself out there and make these connections in Armenia. The people I
worked with, lived with, and encountered daily, all had a generosity
of spirit and an eagerness to work with and get to know me. On the
whole, people were extremely accessible. This was heartening as a
diasporan who had never been here before and hadn’t a sense of the
relationship between the diaspora and the citizens of Armenia. But
there were also things it was difficult and important to see as a
diasporan. For all the good work being done in Armenia by locals and
diasporans, there is a huge social disparity and confusion as to where
society is heading. I found Armenia to be a society with many identity
issues. I am not simply referring to the very real East/West,
developed/developing world complex, but more generally to the idea
that Armenians express themselves as feeling constrained by their
circumstances frequently. They are, of course, but Armenia also has
every path open to it as a nation. It is so young and changing so
quickly. And it has been exposed to everything over the course of
history. Living here, I came to feel this sense of momentousness,
despite complacency, disenfranchisement, and sense of hopelessness
that I sometimes encountered.”
Nicholas came away with a much greater sense of himself as a diasporan
and as a social creature, with a land and a people. As for his
personal ambitions and trajectory, he has been very inspired to do
more civic and social justice work. “I’ve gotten some good experience
as an educator, as well, and been encouraged that I can still learn
languages, myself. I don’t know what is next for me now that service
is over, but I am happy that I’ve come away certain that my
connections with Armenia personally, professionally, and civically are
real and lasting, and will bring me back.”
Greg Bilazarian was at a point in his life where he was fairly certain
of the next step but wanted an international experience first. Life
felt slow and boring and he needed something new. The truth is, “I
chose Armenia because of Birthright Armenia. I wanted an experience
with any developing country but Birthright Armenia’s financial and
on-the-ground assistance swayed me to Armenia. I also had been fairly
out of touch with my Armenian heritage since I went to college 10
years ago and I was excited to get another chance. It’s weird, for
some people the perfect time to come is when they are 20 or 21 and
still in their undergraduate years. For me, the perfect time was at
27, when I was in a life/career transition and it has been perfect so
far.”
Greg did not grow up “very Armenian.” His mother is not Armenian and
during his first few months in the homeland, he basically enjoyed the
country with no allegiances. But that has all changed. Though he
initially signed up for a two-month internship, the Civilitas
Foundation knew they couldn’t let him go and extended him a contract.
Having been there for eight months, he will be there until at least
the end of June 2012.
At Civilitas, he produces/manages the television arm of Civilitas
called Civilnet.TV. In this position, he works with a large number of
young Armenians, many of whom have lived and worked outside of
Armenia, including America. “I’ve discovered there are extremely
talented young people who simply do not have the opportunities, in
many cases, to stay into their mid-late 20’s and be part of the
country’s growth. Many of them are seeking options outside the US with
many saying they will come back but no guarantees they actually will.
As for me, I plan to stay here for a while before likely coming back
to the United States to gain skills and maybe some more schooling.
Long-term, I will return to Armenia and set up businesses likely in
the tech sector designed to move the country forward. It’s so random
that I say this now considering I came to the country somewhat on a
whim, on an expected two month retreat. Instead, I now live in Armenia
and it’s firmly in my long term plans. And Birthright Armenia made it
possible.”
Never has connecting with the homeland resonated so strong and never
has the reach been as wide. Since its inception in 2004, over 600
young adults from 26 countries have plunged into Birthright Armenia’s
bold initiative that allows young diasporan youth to experience the
Armenian homeland as active participants, who are truly immersed in
day to day life. Birthright Armenia’s formula for success has proven
itself in countless stories of transformation and inspiration,
self-discovery and selfless service to Armenia and her people, as a
solid majority of Birthright Armenia’s alumni have returned to Armenia
for various projects, or undertaken other Armenian initiatives in
various countries.
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. For more information,
or to make an online donation, please visit
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2012-01-22-what-draws-birthright-volunteers-to-armenia-
www.birthrightarmenia.org.