The 15th annual AYF Youth Corps project in Armenia this year successfully managed, for a second time, to run a day camp for 150 underprivileged children in Gyumri. Our goal was to invest in the children of Armenia, because we believe children are our future.

Our first task was to help strengthen their love of country’something their textbooks do little justice to in the one page set aside for the first Republic of Armenia. We sought to instill pride among the campers about the forefathers of their republic–the Aram Manougians and Antranig Ouzounians. We taught them the value of land and the shame behind throwing their trash on their streets, which Armenians in Karabakh fought to the death to defend. Every day, we worked to explain the importance of nature and what the future of this country will be like if they continued to take it for granted.

We also taught them practical skills. We split them into different skill levels and taught them English–from basic greetings to conversational English. At arts and crafts, campers were given an opportunity to discover unknown talents and hone their artistic skills. Daily karate lessons, meanwhile, became a source of pride, and inspiration for many of the campers, whose confidence was boosted after mastering new techniques after days of practice.

The song competition, held at the end of each session, was another unforgettable experience for us. Seeing each group’s members work together to practice their song seemed to us a new beginning for Armenia. Cooperation often takes a back seat to individualism here, but not during the song competition, where reliance and trust in the rest of your team is vital to successfully singing a song and performing a dance.

Most amazing of all, however, was the experience of reading each and every essay turned in by our campers during the “My Fatherland” essay competition, in which each camper wrote about their connection to Armenia.

Camp Gyumri gave these kids a truly unique place to learn, play and grow a place where value was place on respect, equality, and tolerance and not on corruption, bribery and cheating. With television shows glorifying mafia bosses who lie, cheat, steal and kill for power and glory, it is very difficult to expect Armenia’s youth to follow a different path. But we set out to dispel those false values. All in all, it was about what we could give to the future of Armenia based on the opportunities we have had growing up in the “West.”

Finding common language with the children was difficult at first, given our differences in language and culture. But within the first few days, those barriers broke down, as do most artificial barriers.

For six of the nine youth corps members, it was their first trip to Armenia, yet each of them said, multiple times throughout the trip, that they were finally home. It’s hard not to feel at home when you are welcomed with open arms. The family we stayed with in Gyumri took care of us as if we were their own. When one of us was sick, the mother, Digin Lilig, would take tea and medicine upstairs at least 5 times a day to make sure we would get better quick. She would talk to our parents over the phone and tell them how excited she was to have us and how she loved us and would make coffee or tea every morning depending on what each individual preferred that day. The local ARF also made every effort to make sure we were happy and comfortable, while working in Gyumri.

True, Armenia is not a perfect paradise, where we can all live comfortably like kings. That there are problems all around is obvious for anyone to see. But it is our homeland, and most important of all, it’s a place where we can make a difference, and start our lives anew.

Knowing that we were a positive influence on the lives of those 150 children in Gyumri is priceless, especially when considering that 40 of the campers signed up for the local badanegan, where they will spend their weekends throughout the year with their new friends in a fun and safe environment.

Making all of this a reality, however, was no easy task. It took an entire year of fundraising by local AYF chapter in the Western USA, as well as the Youth Corps central committee, to make this program a success. Many people helped make Youth Corps 2009 a reality, from friends and family who attended every breakfast and carwash fundraiser to support the program, to members of the community who invested in our ambitious goals.

In hopes of expanding the program’s reach and effectiveness, we made a major push this year to publicize our work and activities through so our supporters can see, first hand, all the great work we did and can do even further–in Armenia. We maintained a blog on Asbarez.com, gave interviews with local and Diaspora TV, newspapers and radio stations. We also worked with local non-profit organizations such as Birthright Armenia and the Civilitas Foundation to help raise awareness of the many opportunities available for Diasporan Armenians to help in Armenia’s development.

In order to extend our impact, we must expand our program beyond just one city beyond 150 campers. And we have begun to do just that. Planning is under way to establish a second camp in another of Armenia’s less developed regions.

We have much work to do in Armenia and we will be sharing that work with you, our friends, family, and community in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. Please spread the word about Youth Corps as much as possible so we can work together with our compatriots back home to help create the Armenia we all want to see our futures in!

-Berj Parseghian

On Friday the 7th, the group went to the home of the Shirak Gen.Gen. chair, Unger Artak. As we sat down to the smorgasbord of delicacies placed before us, Unger Artak’s mother told us her experience from the day of the earthquake in ’88. The vividness of her story turned the events that happened more than 20 years ago into a reality and reinforced the fact that this region still needs our assistance in whatever way we can.

The next day, we took a two-hour ride to a camp site called Lasdeever; a truly enchanting place that met us with many surprises. As if it was pre-planned, the second we got out of the van, it started raining. So, in the rain, we all began what would become an hour and a half hike down the mountain. The hike consisted of extremely muddy terrain, slippery rocks and a constant supply of rain to keep us company. We were also limited in our mobility because we each had our hands full with either sleeping bags or other camping materials. Also, our tour guide was a lumberjack-esque man dressed head-to-toe in camouflage, carrying a multitude of seemingly unnecessary weaponry, including a very loud, sawed-off shotgun he enjoyed shooting at inopportune moments.

There were many times when we were ankle-deep in mud and once we got our feet out of the mud we’d proceed to fall on our behinds in that same mud. We all helped each other when passing by difficult areas. Once we got there, we were expecting a cabin with beds and indoor insulation; however, we were unexpectedly greeted by a tent that was to fit 12 people. Needless to say, we were relatively surprised, but we made the best of it.

Since it was still raining, we couldn’t make our kebab, so we sat down together, very closely, and had bread and yeghshig sandwiches and sang. Once there was a break in the weather, we seized our opportunity to make our kebab. Soon enough, the rain started up again. But the end result was delicious. After that, we all went to sleep, there was very little space, but no one really minded because it increased the already low level of heat in the tent.

This experience did wonders for our bonding as a group. The next morning we woke up and went on a hike to look at the different caves in the area. This hike had no trails and was mostly just climbing steep sides of mountains, grabbing onto rocks and trees, and anything else that would support us. We saw a cave from the Stone Age, filled with magnificent carvings and priceless history.

Once we saw all the different caves and waterfalls, we went back to the campground, and went to the waterfall where a few of the boys took a swim in the roaring waters. Next we packed up and started our trek back. We were once again met by rain. On our way back we were more confident with our mountaineering skills, but the uphill climb made it difficult. When we finally made it to the top we were all grateful for the comfort of the bus and vowed to never take heat and personal space for granted again.

Nora Injeyan

This weekend was a well needed one. Kevork and I arrived in Yerevan on Friday while the rest arrived Saturday; we got an extra night of fun.

The Pan-Armenia games’ opening was the main reason for us taking this road trip and it was well worth it.

The night started off with all the athletes lined up in front of the stage and about 25,000 viewers held back by barriers. The usual things happened, speakers spoke and people cheered, but what surprised me was when international pop sensation Andy came on stage and gave a 5 minute speech BUT DID NOT SING.

As the first performer came on stage, the police officers removed the barriers and the crowd wildly ran to the stage. I stood still watching this in shock, until I finally realized that a performer was coming on stage. We finally decided to go by the stage and dance a little, all the teams from different countries were in little circles doing their own dances, and we obviously joined the western America team. When the festivities were over with, we went to an after party with all of the teams at a place called ‘Aftershock’. Just picture a small places packed to the door with diasporan Armenians just dancing with the music of Bob Sinclair and Pitbull.

The next morning we had one of the strangest breakfasts of our lives; we ate Armenian-Chinese food. The restaurant itself was set up like any other Chinese restaurant, and the food was amazing. While eating a group of Chinese people walk in, our group simultaneously stops talking and just stares as these 4 Chinese men walk through the restaurant and take their seats. We anxiously wanted to ask where they were from and what they were doing here, but everyone was too embarrassed. Since we’re on the subject of food, let’s speak of our dinner experience.

We had finally found a Lebanese restaurant that actually served chikufte, manti, and jajekh. Everyone was pleased with that restaurant, we will definitely return to that establishment. At this point it is about 8:30 P.M. and we are getting ready to go home (Gyumri). The van arrives at 10 and everyone plans on sleeping in the car for the 2 hour trip.

We get settled in our seats and rest our heads when the driver plays a song and turns the volume up to the fullest! Our first reaction is to wake up and start clapping and dancing. No one was really mad, we just had big smiles on our faces as the driver was dancing and driving at the same time. There is not much else I could write about this weekend but there are many more stories to be told when we get back to America. Just approach any of us and ask us what happened that weekend.

Levon Abrahamian