To learn more information about the CYMA mission
to Armenia, please visit the Web site of the Canadian Diocese
at http://www.armenianchurch.ca/cyma.html
Christian Youth Mission to Armenia
(CYMA): Western Diocese
The Christian Youth Mission to Armenia (CYMA)
will provide participants with the opportunity to intern
within the religious, political, social and cultural sectors
in Armenia. Furthermore, it will incorporate Christianity
and the Armenian Church with daily rigors of secular internships.
The CYMA committee, composed of 11 members
from various Armenian organizations throughout the Western
Diocese, has set the goals high for the preliminary year
of the mission. They plan to take at least 50 interns, ages
18 to 35, to Armenia during the upcoming summer. The program
will allow for participants to meet before their internship
and provide support for them as they venture in their journey
to our Homeland. The tentative dates for the four-week trip
will be July 8-August 12, 2004, with an approximate cost
of $2500 to be paid by each participant. Different programs
will be set up for the participants for the duration of
their four-week stay in Armenia.
The purpose of CYMA is to take Armenian youth
back to their roots in order to familiarize and educate
them with their own religion, culture, government and people.
It is our hope that CYMA participants continue their involvement
with the program in the future and that CYMA will be an
ongoing program that will serve the youth of the Western
Diocese of North America for years to come.
For general information about this new program,
please call Vahe Ashjian, Vice Chair at (213)627-2319. Or
visit their Web site at
http://www.acyo-wd.org/californian/
californian_articles.php?ArticleID=33
Diaspora Armenia-Connection
UK (DAC)
DAC UK is a non-profit, non-political organization
with the sole aim of helping the children of Armenia. The
organization’s goals are:
This year’s campaign will run from August
5 – 29, 2004. Volunteers will be divided into three
groups, each working in a different village in either Armenia
or Karabagh. Each group reflects one of DAC’s main
activities: summer school for the children, renovation work
on the local school and a medical program. Participants
choose which activity they would like to do, with weekends
spent visiting Armenia with the other groups.
Cost of the program: all expenses
are covered. Participants need only pay for their return
flight ticket and any spending money required while in country.
Knowledge of working with young children is essential if
you want to help run the summer camp. Experience (doctors,
medical students, advanced first aid) is also necessary
for the medical program. No experience is necessary if you
want to help with the renovation.
If you are interested in applying for this
volunteer experience, please contact Shakeh Mejloumian by
email at: shakeh@f2s.com.
UK residents should contact Talar Ozkaya at: t4lar@yahoo.com.
Application deadline is May 15, 2004.
For more information agout DAC, please visit
http://www.da-connexion.com
Habitat for Humanity
Armenia
The Global Village program is a series of
short-term trips designed to provide an educational and
spiritual experience within a cross-cultural environment.
Program objectives usually are met through new relationships
that team members form with each other and with their host
affiliates. By living and working with the host community,
participants have an opportunity to personally witness and
contribute to HFHI's effort to eliminate substandard housing
throughout the world.
Accepting the opportunity to live and work
with an international affiliate is often a life-changing
experience. Through your willingness to work in partnership
with people in other cultures, you learn about poverty housing,
development challenges, international economics, world cultures
and HFHI's ministry and mission.
This program features one- to three-week house
building trips around the world, with Armenia as one of
its destinations. Habitat provides no-interest, no-profit
loans to families it "partners" with so they can
have a home. The partner family must put in hours of sweat
equity on their home or the homes of other partner families
and pay back the loan. Partner families are selected by
need and ability to repay their loans. Habitat supervises
the construction of the home and arranges for materials
and volunteers.
Armenian Habitat currently works in Yerevan,
the capital of Armenia, and four surrounding regions: Aragazotn,
Armavir, Kotaik and Ararat. In the coming months, HFH Armenia
plans to expand into new communities by building in Lori
and Vayots Dzor. To date they have completed 54 homes in
which 304 people live within their three years of existence
in Armenia.
The cost of participating in a team is approximately
$2600 (barring increases in airfare). A team consists of
about 15 volunteers and the mission lasts two weeks total.
To learn more or to obtain application materials, please
visit the HFH Web site at: http://www.hfharmenia.org/
or email armenianhabitat@netsys.am.
