BY KAREEN SASSOUNIAN

After a near two hour ride from Yerevan, we finally arrived to our destination; Gyumri. This would be our home away from home for the next four weeks. As the van neared the house, we saw Digin Lilig, our host mother, waiting impatiently for us. She was standing by the door with arms wide open, ready to give each one of us a big hug and kiss. Her warm and welcoming nature, along with her excitement put us at ease right away.

My fellow participants and I toured the house and soon realized that we would be sharing a bathroom with the host family, an adventure within itself. With the entire top floor to ourselves, which includes three spacious rooms and a huge living room, we quickly settled in with much comfort. Afterwards, we all went down to have soorj with Digin Lilig, her two daughters, and her son. She talked about how excited she was for the upcoming weeks and told us stories about the previous Youth Corps group.

As much as we loved sitting around and drinking soorj, we realized that we had a lot to get done. We went upstairs and organized the supplies and materials for the first day of camp. From pencils and notebooks, to beads and colored pencils, we had everything we needed. After that initial process, we had a long meeting to discuss the camp schedule, which includes games, English classes, arts and crafts, and lectures. I guess here would be a good time to say that halfway through our meeting the electricity went out. It didn’t come on until an hour after we had fallen asleep.

The next morning was the first day of camp. All of us were excited and somewhat nervous. We woke up early and arrived at the camp at 10:00 AM, thirty minutes before it actually started. Apparently, we weren’t early enough because as we walked up to the school, we saw a large group of kids standing in front of the door. All of the campers were waving and smiling, beaming with joy. The excitement on their faces pumped us up.

After a quick set up, we opened the doors at 10:30 AM. The kids came rushing in and all gathered into one classroom. We first talked about AYF, the Youth Corps program, and ourselves. The kids then took turns introducing themselves. With introductions being over, we split ourselves up into three colors (red, blue, and orange) and went into our respective classrooms, where the campers had breakfast. At the previous night’s meeting, we had decided to keep the first day fun and simple. We played some games, got to know the kids, and gave them a short preview of the fun that was coming their way.

A main component of the camp is teaching English. On that first day, we split them into three groups: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. After lunch and a game of volleyball, the first day of camp was over.

Our group had decided to meet up every night to discuss our day at camp. So after the first day, we had the first of many meetings. My fellow Youth Corps participants and I all shared the same opinion. We were definitely tired from the day and from the amount of energy the kids had, but nothing measured up to how happy and excited we were for camp Gyumri.

To be perfectly honest, getting up at 8:00 AM everyday isn’t my idea of a fun time. But after seeing the smiles on the camper’s faces and after witnessing their joy and excitement about the simplest things at camp, 8:00 AM wasn’t early enough. I knew that I would gladly wake up early to spend time with them. Whether from writing the A B C’s to drawing a picture, the campers were overjoyed and grateful for everything.

After that first day, I quickly realized that this would not only be rewarding for the campers but for myself as well. I now count down the minutes to camp Gyumri everyday. I know that it will be an experience we will never forget.

BY ALINA SOOKASIAN

Paralleling the zestful feasts that they present on twenty-foot tables and the flamboyant wardrobes that they fashion on the streets of Artsakh, the hearts and personalities of Karabakhtzees are immense. They are not putting on a façade when they greet guests with open arms and huge hearts; that is simply their true nature; their Armenian-ness as I would call it.

Our visit to Karabakh was simply proof of the bits and pieces of the colossal nature of the Armenian Culture that we see in America. Upon our arrival to the Stepanakert Youth Center, which by the way looks awesome, (Good job youth corps 2007!), the youth there approached us immediately, made us feel at home, and began conversing with us as they would their close their friends.

Hand in hand, walking through Artsakh, they showed us around and gave us as much information in their power about the history of their hometown. Meanwhile, grasping as much as I could to take back home with me, I realized I was not too far from home. In Artsakh, a car will not be caught dead driving by without providing ten seconds of an ear-aching screech for the entire community to hear. Patience is non existent; even if the meter says that there are 8 more seconds left to cross the street, you better run for your life to avoid getting hit by a car. With bakeries and hatzatoons on every corner, it is not humanly possible to fight off the temptation of snatching a khachapooree or a boncheek while walking by.

On a more serious note, we got along very well with the local youth. Before our twenty foot table feast, we played a game called “Mafia” with them. The funniest part was having to incorporate both our rules and their rules into one version and trying to understand the games’ lingo in both languages. During dinner we asked them if they had any recollections of the war there. One of the Ungers, Vahe, told us that he was six years old during the war. He recalled that on his walk home one day, by himself, the windows of his neighbors’ apartment exploded the second he walked past them and then he got punished by his mom for being out and unwillingly coming across this horrible experience. The girls just remembered the aftermath of the war, peoples’ attitude changes, lifestyle changes, etc. We made about 24 toasts that night, and sang our hearts away.

Prior to our visit to Stepanakert, we had the chance to experience the childhood activities and mannerisms of the youth in Shoushi. The kids that lived in the surrounding apartments of our hotel entertained us a good amount. We played soccer with them in the mornings, conversed with them in the afternoons and waved goodnight to them in the evenings, half way in tears because we did not want to separate. They were so vibrant and full of life; so eager to learn how to speak English. The thing that amazed me most was that they did not even know that a language known as “English” existed in the world. This was a HUGE shocker to all of us because we thought that even if people from different parts of the world do not know how to speak English, they would at least know of its existence. Robert, one of the little boys, after repeating “I love you” after me yelled out, “I love you? Ayseenkun meeyayn yes yev doo? (As in just ME and YOU?)”. Immediately after, he excitedly called his friends to join him in his English lessons, “ Dghek! Arek! Engleren em sovoroom! ‘I love you’ arten sovoretzee!”

Leaving these boys and girls from Shoushi after only having been with them for a total of maybe a few hours was the hardest thing some of us have had to do. I cannot even imagine how difficult it is going to be having to leave kids that we are now counselors of for two weeks. Stay tuned…

We’ve arrived at Heathrow, our midway point along our 7000 mile journey to Armenia. Our group has been here for some time now–five hours to be exact–touring our terminal in what is said to be the world’s largest and busiest airport.

Our LAX group includes: Rita Yemenidjian, Patil Gharibian, Kareen Sassounian, Marae Sarkuni, Alina Soukasian, Christina Karayan. We met up at Heathrow with Daniel Ohanian, a YC participant from Canada. In less than a day we’ll be in Yerevan where we will meet up with Sanan Shirinian and Nora Kayserian of our group.

The Youth Corps participants at LAX with Program Director Sose Thomassian on the left.

These are very exciting times for everyone in the team, some still have yet to come to terms with the reality that they will be at the foothills of Ararat tomorrow morning. Here’s a video blog straight from Heathrow from Daniel Ohanian, who shares his own experiences and feelings thus far.

These are really exciting times. Hope you continue to follow us on our blog!

BY ALINA SOOKASIAN

In the midst of all the Navasartian Games’ excitement, while nearly the entire Armenian community of Southern California and beyond was cheering for their athletes and enjoying the Diaspora’s largest Armenian Festival, my fellow Youth Corps members and I were on a mission to raise as much money as we could to make our camp for the kids in Gyumri possible.

I was expecting this task to be the furthest thing from pleasant. I myself have been a Homenetmen athlete for a decade and have spent the past years at the Games doing nothing but watching basketball, eating soujoukh sandwiches, and having fun with my friends.  To think that this year, I had to work instead of play, was daunting to say the least.

Over the course of the four-day festival, However, I came to realize that I would not have been anywhere else in the world (other than Camp Gyumri of course!) than at Birmingham High School for hours on end, scrambling around, trying to sell keychains, banners, books, bracelets, and license plate frames to festival goers.

Truth be told, each and every encounter I had–from the Armenian grandparents applauding my group’s efforts, to the young couple asking to hear more about Youth Corps–were worth missing every Navasartian Game and more.  I can remember one encounter vividly; We approached an old man and tried to explain to him our mission in Gyumri so as to ask for a donation. But as soon as he heard that we would be on our way to Armenia in a week to volunteer, before even hearing the rest of our sentence, he took out a ten-dollar bill and placed it in my hand, followed by him placing his own hand on mine to close in the money.  I had no idea who this man was, no relationship with him. I had never seen this man in my life; but at that moment, I felt as though I could be his granddaughter and he was proud of me for sacrificing my summer vacation and yearning to go to Armenia to work with local youth at a camp. “Hajoghootyoon aghjeegus” are the words that he left me with.

We ran into a few scenarios as well which were a bit silly. Someone refused to buy anything from us, and completely disregarding our mission of helping kids in Armenia, took advantage of the situation and tried selling us his product which was much more expensive than our $5 pins or $6 dollar bracelets.  In contrast, one lady told us to run back to the AYF table and grab four more bracelets because she wanted to buy more, “Anything for Youth Corps and Hayastan!” she said.

The funniest moments of my first night were of some of the excuses we got from people who did not want to buy anything from us:  “Come back tomorrow and I will buy from you,” one man sitting at the tables in front of the stage told us.  I really hope he didn’t believe that we would be able to find him again today.  “The blue beads are not lined up on this hamreech,” another man claimed.  One woman told us that she would not support us because she was upporting her son who is doing a similar thing in Hayastan. She refused even when we encouraged her to support both for the sake of our motherland.  “I don’t have a car,” said another man when we showed him our license plate frames.

The most inspiring episode of the weekend, however, came when we met a person known by everyone as Jhoojhoo.  We met Jhoojhoo by sheer chance, when two Youth Corps participants tried to sell license plate frames to her. Rather than turn our members away or give them the $10 donation they were asking for, Jhoojhoo turned to her 3 friends and told them to reach deep into their pockets to “help the kids going to Armenia for a good cause.” And help they did, along with the 50 or so other people she introduced to our cause that weekend.

This kind hearted, energetic woman turned out to be a legend in Homenetmen. She was the Ararat chapter’s most loved and admired volunteer. Known for her unparalleled generosity, activism, and humor, Jhoojhoo had helped so many people and causes in her day, that it would be hard to come across a soul she had not touched in a positive way. For two evenings in a row, Jhoojhoo dropped everything to help us, touring the crowd with our groups, making introductions and encouraging her friends to donate all the money they had in their pockets for our mission. It’s memories like these and people like Jhoojhoo that I will never forget.

All in all, the weekend was very successful. We introduced hundreds of people to Youth Corps and raised a good amount of money for our program–all while having fun and bonding with each other. Best of all we got to meet a bunch of people who supported our mission and gave us encouraging words to take with us on our trip.

This experience made me realize how important and respected the Youth Corps program is and conversely, how vital our community is in helping make the program a reality. People I had never even met before were telling me how proud and happy they were that I was in Youth Corps.

As if I wasn’t excited enough to go on this trip before, after this weekend, I am ten times more excited.

Even though only ten of us are traveling to Armenia, I am looking forward to coming back as a huge family, unfortunately having to leave behind our Gyumri family.