In the News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Linda Yepoyan
Phone: 610-642-6633
info@birthrightarmenia.org
November 26, 2004
Birthright Armenia Promotes Volunteerism in Armenia
During European Tour
Wynnewood, PA – The Armenian communities of
London, Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, and Geneva will soon be learning
more about U.S. based Birthright Armenia, the international non-profit
organization created to assist young diasporans worldwide in their
efforts to travel to Armenia.
Birthright Armenia’s founder, Edele Hovnanian,
and executive director Linda Yepoyan are preparing for an outreach
tour of Western European cities with large Armenian populations
in an effort to inform and recruit young diasporans interested
in traveling to Armenia for study and work purposes. The attendees
of these European outreach events may be a bit surprised to hear
about the comprehensive incentives that Birthright Armenia provides.
These include free air travel to the homeland, as well as a whole
host of in-country support services including Armenian language
instruction, homestay and volunteer job placements, in-country
orientation, forums with local experts, and tie-in gatherings
with other young diasporans carrying out community service work
in Armenia. As a package, Birthright Armenia’s services
are designed to help make the most of the volunteers’ experiences
in Armenia. As an organization, Birthright Armenia’s approach
is very unique and forward thinking.
When it comes to experiencing the Homeland, Hovnanian
and Yepoyan have enough firsthand experience between the two of
them to write a volume or two. Both women were students in Yerevan,
Armenia prior to Armenia’s independence, having gone there
to study the language and to experience life there the local way.
“There weren’t too many programs in place that offered
opportunities for young diasporans to live in Armenia back then”
said Yepoyan. “Today, however, a young diasporan has many
options from which to choose, and calling attention to those choices
will be the key purpose of our outreach European tour this December.”
This past summer Birthright Armenia intentionally
started out with a manageable number of sponsored volunteers knowing
the quality of services provided would be the litmus test for
future years of much larger groups of youths. Therefore, for its
first year, Birthright Armenia supported 40 volunteers from North
America and Great Britain, who represented seven different diasporan
organizations.
With a hugely successful inaugural year complete,
Birthright Armenia is now preparing to sponsor a group three times
the size of its maiden group in 2005. The goal for the upcoming
summer is to have a balanced mix of young diasporans from North
America, Western Europe and beyond so the group can really experience
the multi-diversity our community affords. In that way, young
volunteers and students from different backgrounds are even more
challenged to stretch their definition of what it is to be an
Armenian and how it relates to their own time and place.
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. This is accomplished by supporting and complementing
the initiatives of existing diasporan organizations that offer
youth programs in Armenia, and encouraging them to expand their
offerings in depth and breath. Birthright Armenia assists with
travel fellowships, language instruction, in-country seminars,
orientation and excursions in exchange for community service in
Armenia.
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