CHANGE WE DON’T BELIEVE IN (BUT SHOULD)
by Patrick Bairamian
Published: Monday August 06, 2012
Kids at Yerevan’s TUMO center for creative technologies that opened
last year.
Growing up with two older brothers has its advantages, regardless of
being three boys who like to disappear in the mountains for days at a
time and give our parents the mini-heart attacks associated with the
worry if something happened to us. But, those times of being around
them have taught me, the youngest of the bunch, values that build
the core of most of my personality. Take for instance, change.
As Armenian-Americans, we perpetually talk about change. Every day
an article comes out, or a discussion is sparked about the change we
need in our: communities, cities, government, people, politicians,
organizations, businesses, schools, the new generation and the
‘homeland.’ With all this talk of change, comes the fervent flavors
of opinion. After every opinion calling for “change, change, change,”
one would assume the reader, or participant to be fired up. But fired
up at what?
It was early on that I realized I was supporting, and even
participating in the opinion stream, and nothing else. We all wanted
change, but that’s all we could do to achieve it; recognize change
needed to happen. OK that step was necessary, but now what? I answered
that question with something that I was raised with, my brothers. Both
of them subscribe to the philosophy that if you want something in life,
you must take it, no one is going to hand it out to you.
Beyond the complaints and excuses Coming from Armenia recently,
I’ve noticed a trend that Diaspora Armenians love to expose: all the
shortcomings of the ‘homeland.’ We point out the negatives, yet are
absent to suggest any constructive solutions that could benefit the
same country we are shooting down.
After a while, it just seems like we are playing ‘whack-a-mole’
with anything that is trying to pop up from the ground.
Teghut, for example, has riddled the news this last year with
reports from every Armenian news media on the ground in the region,
and from Diaspora news outlets. Other than the efforts from various
organizations including the ARF-Shant chapter of Glendale, CA, whose
continuous help to bring 21st century protest and environmental
advocacy methods to the people has gained traction; there has been
little discussion about what lies beyond the protests.
There has been an article almost every week highlighting the horrid
aftermath of the mining, if it were to reach that level. The news
also mentions how, for instance, the mine will create temporary jobs,
but at too high of a cost, because there won’t be a mountain to go
home to after the mining is done. OK, that’s fair; but now what?
>From the people living in America, I expect more constructive plans.
We talk about destroying old-growth forests. What does that mean to
anyone outside of the United States who has taken a geography class?
We talk about preserving nature and the people. What about a way to get
both, but allow the latter to evolve. We protest about environmental
rights! What environment is worth living in if people aren’t present?
Why do I keep picking on the Armenian-Americans? Because we descend
from the nation that took the idea of national parks and made it part
of the national identity. Why can’t we imagine, ‘The Teghut National
Forest,’ full of campsites, excursions sites, guided hikes, fishing
hotspots, backpacking trails, and community lodges where school
children can visit throughout the year to learn about environmental
issues. Jobs in tourism, construction, cartography, hotel economies,
management, reforestation teams, conservation officers, a botany
institute, environmental awareness programs, and international research
could take the place of the miners. It won’t be the estimated $20
billion promised by the mining company, but it’s a start to build a
sustainable and permanent future for the country.
People don’t give themselves enough credit. Diaspora Armenians must
shake off the idea that to help Armenia grow and preserve the heritage
and advocate for the ’cause,’ we must be ‘rich, rich, rich!’ As much
as money helps, it isn’t what creates ripples. A fan of Chaos Theory,
I believe that everything is connected. From a geography teacher of an
elementary school in Boston, to a software engineer graduate living
in Gyumri, everyone matters to eachother. Both professionals stated
above might not donate large sums of money to Armenian organizations,
but imagine they meet and create an interactive software for
Armenian-school children to learn about geography, weather patterns,
and natural phenomenon, while at the same time the software is in
English and Armenian to help children learn and refine both languages.
I ask you, is that not change?
I’d like to take the time with the rest of this article to highlight
some aspects of change that many Diaspora Armenian-Americans don’t
believe can help the country succeed. In an effort to rid ourselves
of the idea that only money buys change, we can start with thinking
outside of the rectangle shape of paper currency that we confine
ourselves to, and start investing our time and criticisms into ideas
that must grow and will develop. Enough of the excuse that we are
twenty years old; I’m even sick of saying it. We’re twenty years old
as a country, that means this is the time to make new ideas germinate
and flourish into foundational beams to build on.
This isn’t only the land of opportunity, it is the nation that breeds
scholars, logisticians, business owners, teachers, intellectuals, and
advocates. Put showing the world what we can do on the back burner;
that time will come. Let’s show ourselves what we’re made of; from
what ancient kingdoms we descend from. Let’s give testament to the
kings and queens that live inside every one of us that we are what
create the ideas (and follow through with plans) necessary for change.
The main topics below are the first set of professions I chose to
highlight because most might ignore their profile descriptions based
on the fact that they are not the conventional steps taken to ‘help the
homeland.’ Because if it’s anything that you love doing, it’s going to
make a difference in your life and influence those in the same reality.
We, the ‘Armenians,’ are the celebrated rugs we cherish. Every Armenian
is of a different thread, texture and color. But in the process of
the weave, we all add to the unity and patterns created.
Every thread counts, no matter from the corner of the weave to the
center of a pattern, we all make a difference in our own ways.
Digital revolution E-commerce has become a stand alone economy within
itself. Such websites as Amazon, E-bay, and Overstock, which have
brought together vendors from all over the globe, and allowed them to
set up shop from where they are and sell their products to anyone,
anywhere in the world have dominated the Internet sphere. There is
room for growth, but not only small growth, but rapid expansion
and refinement; a digital revolution not unlike the industrial
revolution that put so many superpowers on the map during the turn
of the twentieth century.
There is a benefit to digital data, and that is its abundance,
and absolute ease of transport. Digital data is one aspect of
‘import/export’ that allows the user, or creator, to transfer as much
of it as they’d like, for cents on the dollar. Thereon lies the truth
of the export of data. Data such as: scientific research in medicine,
chemistry, physics, as well as the jobs in the service sector that
will be briefly previewed below.
Graphic design According to the United States Department of Labor
and Statistics, graphic design jobs averaged $48,140 in 2010. In
the United States alone, and according to the same data, there were
less than 200,000 people that indicated their occupation as being
graphic designers.
What does this translate to you as a graphic designer who wants to
live in Armenia, but be paid an American salary? Opportunity.
The website, , is by far the greatest example of the
potential for a graphic designer to make their fortune from their
computer, as long as they have the skill set necessary to meet client
demands and an Internet connection. As the websites states, “Elance
provides instant access to the world’s top pool of rated programming,
marketing, creative and administrative contractors…hiring on
Elance is easy, just post a job and receive competing proposals from
qualified contractors.” The contractor in this case is the graphic
designer, or the over 80 professions listed on the site. Designers
are encouraged to refine their online profile to be competitive and
attractive to clients, as well as showcase their experience, projects,
and recommendations.
The benefit of going down this career path, and living in Armenia is
the untaxed data being sold to clients. You’re paying Internet fees
and the costs of living (rent, groceries, electricity, etc). But,
since you’re still dealing with clients from the America’s, Europe,
Asia, the Middle-East and Russia, you’re getting paid the same as you
would in the United States. But in this case, there are no office
building owners to raise your lease, no worry about location, and
there is no risk of extortion or corruption.
There are countless examples of who would require these services.
Small businesses in need of logos, brochures, fliers, and information
pamphlets. The Department of Tourism needs more animated themes on
their websites to attract tourists. Schools, universities, existing
businesses need better graphics to refine their image in the eyes of
potential partnerships and business ventures. With an international
clientèle, your business can grow to include internships for locals,
where you can train locals to work for you, and multiply your success.
Software engineers/computer programming Software, like graphics and
the digital creative arts is likewise, digital data. You don’t need
a store on the street to sell it, it doesn’t need to come in a box,
nor does it need to be transported by ship or plane. Software and
computer programming do much more than create a product that can be
sold on the international market. In a country like Armenia where
such knowledge is abundant in the universities, it is one aspect of
data that can help solidify the foundations to our prosperity as a
country. The potential to hire able bodied employees is abundant,
even if your skills are more business management; you can be a puzzle
master and fit the pieces together; bringing together the talent and
marketing their skills to the global economy.
Software and computer systems are taken for granted in countries
where everyone always seems connected. It is this way in such
countries because such software is profitable. With clients looking
for conveniences in website functionality, enhanced audio programs,
design applications, navigation systems, and smart-phone applications,
the world of the Digital Revolution was born. Those interested in
such fields have the advantage to be connected to the world that
demands these things. In Armenia, where students are required to be
analytical, one could bring together groups, “digital think-tanks”
of sorts, and build wonderful software for Armenia, Russia, Europe,
Asia, and North and South America.
This is an example of internal growth, where the resources come from
the country, and your ability to bring together the will necessary to
create a successful business. As with graphic design, your costs are
minimal, as you must pay for some of the research you seek to refine
and make it profitable.
It may come as a surprise, but there is no ‘MapQuest’ or ‘Google maps’
in Armenia. Meager if not any resources exist that tell the world a
business exists in Goris, Ijevan, or Sevan. No ability to give the
opportunity of podcasts for the politically active or independently
creative. There is no such thing as ‘WebMD’ for Armenians. There
are no systems designed to record weather patterns or Geographical
Information Systems (GIS) used to substantially strengthen the
efficiency in agriculture and irrigation methods.
Even if there were, the people living in the country who could
benefit from the information have limited access to it. There is
existing software in America, Europe, even Russia, and one way or
another it can be acquired by Armenians, but then there could be
a technical miscommunication in the language that won’t allow such
existing products to function to their full potential. That’s where
the next category of professionals comes in.
Translation People might take for granted the fact that anywhere in
their travels, they have had the advantage of finding someone who
speaks English.
Either in a bakery in Marsailles, France, down to a manufacturing city
such as Guangzhou, China – English is spoken wherever people have
found that it leads to better business. Yet, such is not to claim
that English is the only business language necessary to allow ones
business to increase, but for the sake of this article, it will be.
As a native English speaker, who also understands Armenian, you
put yourself at a very valuable position in the country. You make
yourself the mouthpiece in which Universities, Government departments,
Corporations, and small-businesses can speak through. You are the
person who makes available University research to the Western world,
and build a bridge for government programs such as tourism. You can be
the liaison between a joint program between Caltrans, California’s
hi-tech transportation department, and Armenia’s transportation
department.
Your skills in translation can help bring to light 3000 year old
histories that a team of anthropologists in Armenia have compiled,
or to translate the latest middle-class finance solutions used in
advanced societies. Your skills can be used for the two professions
mentioned before, to promote the services of a graphic designer,
and help market the product of a software engineer. You can be the
arbiter of creativity as you weave the poetry of Baruyr Sevag and
Siamantos into products that the whole world can know about, and
can inspire a Diaspora Armenian to search their ancestry between the
lines of those poets’ translated texts.
Communications and marketing Digital connectivity is one concept that
the world is still new to.
Just observe the popularity of email, and the ability to communicate
faster with the globe at the push of a button. Websites like ‘Myspace’
and ‘Facebook’, which allow a deeper connection to be built between
people. Now ‘Facebook’ has turned into the fastest and most intimate
form of communication available. Websites like ‘HuffingtonPost’ have
local and global news stories within minutes of events happening,
while it constantly updates. There is one thing that is perpetual in
the world: information is always in demand.
A great advantage to being in Armenia and exploring the career section
of the communication branch is that you are in a country that is at the
center of Asia. You are closer to Europe, industrial East-Asia, Africa,
and the Middle East. With the latter of these locations, consider the
path of a journalist or photographer. Not as a conflict journalist,
but one who is keeping up with Syria, Egypt, Israel, and post- war
Iraq. This path is only if you’re ambitious to be a correspondent of
news to the Western world that is hungry for news from these regions
because of the key roles they play in foreign policy.
These things have secondary advantages. Perhaps you start to rise as
the main source of media in Armenia for Diaspora Armenians wanting
to know what goes on daily in Armenia (but written in English). Your
team grows and you ask the Graphic designer for a website and logo. You
recruit camera operators, and ask the software engineer to help refine
a high-definition video editing software.
Your reporters start to learn English as they help write stories,
and report the news so that it can be posted on ‘YouTube’, or besent
to Armenian new outlets, Al Jeezera, and the RT network. In effect,
your news story has helped three occupations keep their jobs, while
strengthening your own. Why not work with businesses that are already
established, with Western marketing practices that allow the business
and your own expertise to grow simultaneously.
Your ability to reach out to the world and communicate with the
international community, the Diaspora and Armenia also adds its own
marketing factor. Sometimes it’s not about having the right major, or a
specific skill set other than being interested in promoting a product
or service, and being able to bring what we learned in high-school
economics to Armenia. Coming with the idea that you can bring to light
the skills of the young, intellectual professional graduates is already
something that pays dividends for you as a developing professional,
and them for their own portfolio and experience.
You can work with the country to market businesses, tourist sites, and
special programs that Diaspora Armenians or European tourists might
otherwise not be aware of. The winter resort town in Tsakhkadzor,
the 359 bird species of Armenia, and Archaeological sites from the
surrounding epicenter of civilization. Rock-climbing the monoliths
in the Syunik province, wine tasting in Areni and Ararat, Sevan lake
summer cycling, and Tatev Monastery tours in the south.
Everything is connected, and I hope by now you realize that no matter
what you do in Armenia, it’s going to make a difference. Not only
because I say it should, or know it will; but because we are the
threads that make the weave in this reality possible.
As for myself, so that you know I’ve put my money where my mouth
is (and it tastes surprisingly good), I’m working with a software
designer to create a phone application to be released in December. The
vibrant graduate is from the engineering school of Yerevan Polytechnic
Institute; and boy is he diligent when it comes to work.