In the News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Linda Yepoyan
Phone: 610-642-6633
info@birthrightarmenia.org
February 15, 2008

BIRTHRIGHT ARMENIA PARTICIPANTS FIND MUCH WARMTH IN THE HOMELAND

Yerevan, Armenia—Despite frigid temperatures, sidewalks covered in ice, and multiple layers of outerwear that can make recognition of a familiar face out in public quite challenging, there is a handful of diasporan volunteers who are quite hot on the Homeland. The physical conditions associated with harsh Armenian winters seem a mere blemish in the larger scheme of what living in Armenia has to offer them.

It is true. January, February and March are traditionally not the most popular months of the year to be living in Armenia. However, the current winter group of Birthright Armenia participants hailing from Aleppo, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Scarborough, Ontario and Edmonds, WA is getting charged emotionally and spiritually, and is reaping the unique benefits of the off-peak immersion experience.

Areg Maghakian, Mher Azezian, Nyree Abrahamian, Viktoria Simonyan, James Keshgegian and Ryan Weber feel pretty fortunate. Most of them were scheduled to return to their countries of residence months ago, but each has decided to stay on in Armenia for varying, personal reasons. There are different aspects of living in Armenia as a volunteer that resonate loud and clear with them. Some like the obvious benefits their valuable community service or professional internship will bring to the resume building process. Others thrive on their much improved language skills. Yet others find the newfound friendships and other soul-searching relationships they build while volunteering in Armenia to be the most noteworthy reason they continue to stay. And for others still, they cannot bear the idea of not being with their homestay families who have truly made them feel at “home”. In a way, they have discovered a new home. As one volunteer noted, “what was once a place that I associated only with my grandfather’s stories is now very much an integral part of my own life”.

Areg Maghakian and Ryan Weber were June 2007 arrivals with the Armenia Volunteer Corps (AVC). Ryan, a native of Milwaukee, came with the initial intent of carrying out community service for three months and returning to the US. He stayed on an extra six months because “I loved my work, fellow volunteers, coworkers, host family, Birthright/AVC staff and the city and country I was living in. The only question I was faced with when I was considering extending was "why return?" As for Maghakian, if he finds a job that pays for his living expenses, his plans are to stay long-term and make Armenia his home.

Newtown Square, Pennsylvania is a long way from Yerevan, but Jimmy Keshgegian was determined to return to Armenia this winter after spending three weeks there with the ACYOA Armenia Service Program this past summer. Aside from an interesting job placement in the music industry working for Sharm, there were many other facets of Armenian life that were enticing him back. He explains, “Something about my summer stay was not complete. I wasn’t finished yet. I could tell there was more to it.”

Nyree Abrahamian of Ontario, packed her bags for a six-month volunteer opportunity at the Armenian Tourist Development Agency, ending in Feburary. Chances are slim that she will be returning in February, however. She sought and was offered employment at her internship site as a marketing specialist, and looks forward to staying longer-term. Says Nyree, “I've decided to stay and work in Armenia. I may not know exactly what is ahead of me, but I know that I am on the right track. I'm in the right place at the right time, and I've never felt so connected to something that I care so deeply about."

To get a much richer and truer sense of what life in Armenia is like, Birthright Armenia, together with one of its sponsored organizations, the Armenian Volunteer Corps, actively promotes and sponsors volunteerism during the non-summer months. As one volunteer recently stated, “If it weren’t for Birthright Armenia and AVC, visiting Armenia would be comparable to seeing Paris in August - not the most true picture of what that city and its people are all about .”

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 our web site at www.birthrightarmenia.org.

# # #