The word Armenia has always conjured images of Ararat, ancient churches, and elderly women selling bread on the side of a road. Four years ago, I visited Armenia as a tourist and the trip only reinforced this picturesque, postcard-like notion of what Armenia was. During my current stay in Armenia as a Birthright/AVC volunteer, this idealized image has been all but shattered. My use of the word shatter may seem negative to some, but I don’t ascribe to it any such negative connotation. Suffice it to say that my idea of what Armenia is has changed, not for better or for worse, but towards a more realistic concept. Even as I write this, I refer to Armenia as a concept, because for me, as a diasporan, that is what Armenia has been, but coming here has made me realize that Armenia is much more than just that.

Being in Armenia as a volunteer, I am expected to integrate into daily life and live as a local. I live with a host family and take minibuses to work, just as any other inhabitant of Yerevan. Each day and each activity, whether it be walking down the street, shopping at Vernissage, or even taking a cab, offers the opportunity to encounter someone interesting and learn from them. Every story I have heard is an addition to the library of growing knowledge I have accrued about this place. Of course, I don’t claim to live completely as a local and understand all the hardships of daily life, as I still have the privilege of being here as a volunteer, not struggling to make ends meet, but instead offering my help without pay.

My volunteer position while in Yerevan is with Counterpart International’s Civic Advocacy Support Program (CASP). CASP is a USAID funded project which provides grants to NGOs working within the scope of civic advocacy. One of my main projects while working with CASP was to visit seven of Counterpart’s grantee NGOs in southern Armenia to interview their staff and write success stories about their projects. To accomplish this task I went to Goris for a week and worked out of the offices of the Goris Teacher’s Union. I was excited to be able to get acquainted with a new city, because, although Yerevan is a wonderful place to be, it is not all that Armenia has to offer. Goris would offer me a chance at further immersion into the culture, living with a host family, without any diasporan Armenians or Americans around to speak English with or spend time with.

Each day I had two to three meetings set up with different NGOs in Goris, Kapan, Sisian, Vayk, and Yeghegnadzor. I was a bit apprehensive at first, considering the language barrier which would present itself, especially when discussing topics which required the use of technical terms I was not familiar with. My apprehensions all but disappeared during my first interview with the Rights Information Center (RIC), where I was greeted by a group of four inspiring university students, some volunteers and others paid, who made up the staff there. With each subsequent meeting, I became more and more familiar with the NGO sector in Armenia, what kind of work they carry out, and the types of problems they encounter. My Armenian vocabulary also began to grow, in fact, I learned more new words in that one week than I had in my entire first month in Armenia.

Upon my return to Yerevan, I spent a week transcribing and translating my interviews and another week writing 12 success stories about the NGOs I visited. Although I accomplished a large task within the scope of my internship position, I feel that the most important thing I took away from my experiences in Goris were the interactions I had with people. The word շփվել (shpvel) comes to mind as I write this, which means “to communicate” and comes from the root word շփել (shpel) which means “to rub”. Each and every interaction I have here is like a brief moment where I come into contact with someone who inevitably leaves an impression on me, molding my understanding of this country.

My experience here has allowed my love for this country, though it has always been boundless, to evolve to more genuine a love, one which is grounded in a growing understanding of a country which actually exists, one whose only problem is not genocide recognition, as some would like to think. As diasporans, it is easy to focus on one issue, forgetting that Armenia is an actual, physical place, where people live and breath and at present encounter numerous problems related to daily life and basic necessities. It is over simplistic and naïve to think that we can send money to Armenia and all its problems will disappear, in many cases money breeds problems instead of alleviating them. Although it is commendable to send donations to Armenia in an effort to better the situation, I believe the first step in being able to help, is simply coming here and realizing that Armenia is not simply a conceptual representation of our homeland, but an actual physical place to be appreciated and understood. Only after gaining this understanding can we begin to comprehend what it is this place needs to flourish and grow.

Maro Siranosian (USA)
AVC volunteer and Birthright Armenia participant