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.

BY SANAN SHIRINIAN

Saturday June 26, 7:30am.

Most people are asleep. Where am I? Loading a 30 pound table, a pile of old Asbarez newspapers, and a neatly folded Armenian flag into my Kia.

By 8:30 I arrive at the Albertsons parking lot between Central and Chevy Chase, ready to spend the day washing people’s cars for ANY amount they are willing to donate.

As cheesy at it may sound, there is nowhere else I would have rather been Saturday. I’m proud to say the other Youth Corps participants and I worked very hard that day to raise a modest sum of money to fund the day camp in Gyumri, which we are about to travel half-way around the world to operate for over a month.

With 8 girls and 1 guy, we washed, soaped, dried, and  windexed our hearts out until our arms gave out. Bottom line is, we work hard, so that we can work even harder this summer. But when you love what you’re working for, you’re willing to do overtime.

I’ll be leaving in three days–a full week before the rest of the group. Although it’ll be my 5th time going to Armenia, I have to admit I’m extremely nervous; when I think about it long enough, I start to get nauseous. I’ll be gone for 67 days, by far the longest I’ve ever been away from home.

Don’t get me wrong, Armenia is without question my favorite place on earth and I’m counting down the hours until I leave, but being away from my family for over two months makes the whole thing a bittersweet experience. Of course I know eventually I will return to L.A., but it gets me thinking about the future. What if one day I want to move to Hayasdan permanently, how will I deal with leaving everything and everyone behind? Okay okay, I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but I can’t help but think.

Back to what this blog was originally about. The rest of the volunteers and I have to continue working around the clock to raise enough to funds for this amazing program. We shamelessly raise our voices and ask our community to dig deep into their hearts and wallets and become an active part of this endeavor.

We will be washing cars again this weekend, this time in Orange County. Please come out, support, and get your car cleaned! The car wash will be held from 9am to 1pm at the local Armenian Center at 5305 W. McFadden Santa Ana, CA.

Click HERE to donate to Youth Corps

BY NORA KAYSERIAN

My first week in Gyurmi has been eye opening to say the least and I have felt every emotion one can possibly feel.

I decided to come to Gyumri a month before the Youth Corps group (which is set to arrive in Armenia on July 12) to volunteer with Birthright Armenia and I’m so glad I decided to do so. It has given me a chance to spend quality time with the locals, build relationships and integrate myself into the community.

This is the first of many blog entries I will be making (along with my group mates) to chronicle our summer here working to run a summer day camp for the children of Armenia’s second largest city. You can read more about our mission in Gyumri here.

I currently work at Gyumri’s Social Child Care Center, which provides psychological, educational, health and legal services to Gyumri’s most impoverished children and their families. During my first counseling session I had a conversation with a young girl who told me how she had to repeat the 6th grade because she had missed over 200 hours of school. When I asked her why she had missed school for so long she said she didn’t have proper winter shoes to walk to school in. The next day I met another child with a learning disability who went a year without going to school because her mother didn’t know there where services her child could benefit from. The center takes cases like this and works to empower families and their children in the hopes that one day they’ll be self-sufficient and won’t need such services.

Unfortunately, due to lack of funding the center has very limited resources for these children. There are no toys, no playground, and hardly any books or art supplies. On Friday I brought in some puzzles and art supplies for the kids and I couldn’t help but notice the excitement on their faces. I wish I could say I felt happy when I left work that day but I felt quite the opposite.

It’s no surprise that poverty exists in Armenia, I’ve read about it, seen pictures and heard stories, but witnessing it first hand was the most painful feeling of my life.

The pain doesn’t go away either. It runs through my body along with sadness, anger and frustration. Then I remember the wise words of a fellow unger: “Hooys, Havadk, Ser” (Hope,  Belief, Love). I repeat these three simple words over and over again and I channel the pain into action. Like the people of Gyumri I will keep fighting and join them in helping to promote change.