Coming back to Armenia was a slightly different experience for me compared to a lot of the other volunteers I’ve met here. I wasn’t coming for the first time; in fact I had lived here before. I never really liked telling my life story because I never liked the “I’m sorry ” look I see on peoples faces; but it’s the only way a person can truly understand my experience in Gyumri.

After the war started in Karabagh my family moved from Baku, Azerbaijan to Leninakan (present day Gyumri); four days later on December 7, 1988 we lost our house in the earthquake. Moving from one city to another we were all restless and had no where else to go. We were able to make refugee in Zvartnots for the next three and a half years before we left for the states in 1992. Although I was only 7 years old when we left I still remember our life in Armenia. It wasn’t an easy life. Coming from the luxury we had in Baku it wasn’t easy to make a new transition in Armenia. It felt like going back in time with water and electricity being rarely available.

Fifteen years later I decided to go back. I didn’t come back because I wanted to see my relatives; most of my relatives live outside of Armenia now. I didn’t come back to visit the place I grew up; the building is in ruins now. In fact I wasn’t sure why I was coming back. But now that I am here, I am glad that I came back.

Gyumri is now my second home. Within the first week I was in love with the city. Perhaps I should rephrase that… it wasn’t so much the city, but the people in the city that made me fall in love with Gyumri. I’ve come to notice that Armenians are genuinely nice people, but the people in Gyumri aren’t only nice they are funny. And in a city where there are still visible effects of the earthquake a little laughter goes a long way.

My host family was truly my family in Gyumri. I never once felt like I was guest. My host dad, Arthur, told me how people kept asking about his American guest and he had to keep explaining to them that I was no longer a guest but a relative that has come to visit. And although my host mom, Lusine, did not speak a word of English or Russian we still managed to understand each other with the little Armenian I had learned and a lot of pointing and hand gestures. And then there are my host siblings Julia and Murad. Two-year old Julia never once let me do my Armenian homework. The moment she saw my pen and paper she came running up to me, making me put her on my lap so that she can start her own scribble lessons. Four-year-old Muradik made sure I learned Armenian and made every effort to teach me as much animal vocabulary as he could. At one point I kept pointing at pictures of animals and asking him what they were called in Armenian, he would look at me and say, “why don’t you know the names of animals?” not yet understanding of course that I didn’t speak Armenian. One of my funniest memories with my host siblings was when I taught them how to play hide-and-seek. Hearing Muradik count mek, yereku, yerek, chors, and then all of a sudden say tas, and Julia always hiding in the same spot with the largest grin on her face when I found her always made me laugh.

I taught English to a group of kids ranging from ages 6-15 at the Our Lady of Armenia Center. My experience in Gyumri was going great, but I still wasn’t sure about my purpose being there. Two weeks after teaching one of my beginner students, Karapet, started reading the words that I had written in English on the board. I had the biggest smile on my face and couldn’t stop saying, “Very good, very good.” When I felt like I was making no progress with the kids they proved me wrong and really showed me that they wanted to learn English.

Last but definitely not least the people of Gyumri made my experience truly rewarding. The people in Ani block that were always curious to know about the Armenian-American volunteers living and working there, the people on the marshrutkas who could always sense that I was lost and wanted to help me find my way to my destination, and of course the other volunteers in Gyumri who made being away from home bearable and exciting.

Now I know why I came back to Armenia … because I have to keep going back.

Inna Djaniants (USA)
LCO volunteer and BR/DH participant