In the News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Linda Yepoyan
Phone: 610-642-6633
info@birthrightarmenia.org
October 4, 2007

BR ALUM TAKING A “NEXT STEP” IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Yerevan, Armenia – Armen Kherlopian, a biomedical engineering student from Columbia University, was on a roll. He secured both his graduate degree and a ticket to Yerevan in the same week of May. Additionally, to implement a pediatric healthcare program to improve the dental hygiene of camp-aged children in Armenia, he had just been awarded a $2,500 “Next Step” Alumni Fund grant from Birthright Armenia. With the base funding now in place, he and his associate Lisa Kebejian could leverage more support and move forward with serving more than 800 children, ranging from 8-15 years of age, at Our Lady of Armenia Summer Camp.

This was a project long in the making. The “promise” to put his technical expertise to use for Armenia’s benefit was made in 2005 when Kherlopian interned at Nork Marash Hospital in Yerevan. In his continuing involvement proposal, which is a Birthright Armenia requirement for receiving a travel fellowship, Kherlopian stated he would find a way to tie in his educational background, skills and talents with Armenia’s needs. Two years later, he found a perfect way to do just that. When he asked Sister Arousiag Sajonian, who runs the camp in the town of Tsaghkadzor each summer “What do you need?” her immediate reply was that the camp was in dire need of a dental x-ray machine to facilitate the work of visiting dentists and to improve the delivery of health services to the children.

The continuing involvement proposal and the Next Step Alumni Fund are just two ways that Birthright Armenia encourages their sponsored participants to think about how they can stay engaged upon completion of their community service in Armenia. The proposal helps them to put in writing ways in which they can personally make a difference, and the Fund is a generous resource that alumni can apply to in order to make their proposal a reality. Executive Director, Linda Yepoyan, states, “The projects that our alumni design are truly worthwhile. They are taking the lead on a project that is teaching them practical leadership skills that we believe are part of the foundation that will build them into great leaders within the community in the future.” To further encourage the engagement of it alumni, the organization has a committee of Birthright Armenia alumni review and make decisions on all applications for “next step” grants. Kherlopian’s project was a strong contender as the committee clearly saw the value in enhancing the dental facilities, improving health services, offering health and hygiene classes, providing on-site training and conducting the public health study – the five key components of the project.

Once in Armenia, Armen and Lisa experienced a lot of hard work, quite a few surprises, exciting new partnerships, and many memorable moments in making the dental clinic work efficiently. “There is something magical about working with children,” Kherlopian states. “Perhaps it is their innocence or curiosity that facilitates making a connection. During our time at the camp we felt as if we became part of a greater family. And our role was to make sure that the children received the best possible dental and medical care,” he adds.

Both took their roles very seriously, as some of the particularly disadvantaged children had never received real dental or medical care. They did a major upgrade to the camp’s dental clinic by installing the dental x-ray machine, which allows for easier identification of cavities and better planned and less painful tooth extractions. “It was a delight to see Armen’s excitement as he mounted the much-needed x-ray machine in our dental clinic in Tsaghkadzor,” Sr. Arousiag comments. “He and Lisa had labored all year to fundraise, acquire the equipment, and arrange for its transportation to Armenia to get to this clinic equipped and functioning.” In addition, they set up a mini-darkroom, procured protective vests and other equipment, produced multi-lingual coloring books on dental hygiene, trained camp staff, worked with public health specialists on surveying the rural/urban camper population and so much more.

“After all is said and done, we feel privileged to have had an opportunity to make a positive impact for Armenia,” says Kherlopian. “It was particularly rewarding to know that even months after our departure, the work we had done in the clinic was being continued by the camp staff we trained,” he continues.

Kherlopian, reaching out to his peers, says, “Armenia is wide open now, but many things need to happen for its continued growth. Thus, both a burden and a blessing fall on this generation of youth. The path to Armenia’s development may be long, but perhaps if we all take a step, we’ll eventually get there”.

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. For more information or to make an online donation, please visit www.birthrightarmenia.org.

# # #