Not Just a Program but a Birthright

Serop Abrahamian
Los Angeles, USA


It has been ten months since I last landed in “Zvartnots” Airport in Yerevan, Armenia. During my last trip I had to come to my homeland in order participate in Birthright Armenia and Armenian Volunteer Corps. Unfortunately, I only stayed two and a half months before my departure in mid-December.

Nonetheless, now I can confidently say that Birthright Armenia is the best program for any youth in the Diaspora to partake in.

Everything, from the friends you make, the host families, the excursions, the Armenian language classes and the forums, Birthright Armenia makes your participation a life-changing experience.

The connections and ultimately the bridges that you create, and I am not only talking about idealistic and philosophical bridges with yourself and the homeland, but rather, real connections with locals and to the Birthright staff and other volunteers are extremely important to the mission of the program.

The participant gets to meet like-minded people from all over the world. Armenians from 32 countries have already participated in Birthright Armenia and the number is growing from month to month.

I never thought that I would have so many close friends from all over the world that I still keep in touch with, even after months on end of not seeing each other.

The program always kept me on my toes and I never had a dull moment, especially during my volunteer job placements. I taught English conversation to students in the physics department at the Yerevan State University, translated at the Arabkir Hospital for the Plasticos Foundation, volunteered at Oran, which is an afterschool program for children that came from disadvantaged families and also volunteered at RePat Armenia where I conducted interviews of recent repatriates and also translated and transcribed articles as well.

During the weekends, Birthright Armenia sets up excursions for its participants, so that they may visit places that they would never go to with a tour guide and do things that they would not normally do. In my first couple of weeks after I arrived we took a ride on the train halfway to “Khor Virap” the other half we rode bicycles that Birthright Armenia had rented for us. Another excursion included hiking in the province of Lori in Northern Armenia near the village of Odzun. Never again will I ever have an experience such as that one, with some of the most beautiful scenery and amazing hiking trails alongside amazing people.  My favorite excursion was the three day excursion when we went to the Province of Syunik, which is located at the southern tip of Armenia, bordering the Arax River and the country of Iran. We spent a night in Kapan and a night in Meghry. It was absolutely incredible how much we bonded as a group during these excursions.

During our forums we got to meet and speak to very interesting people, some who were at the forefront of business and development in Armenia. When we met with Ralph Yrikian who is the General Manager of VivaCell MTS which is the top taxpayer and leading telecommunications company in Armenia, I learned a great amount on how the huge corporation functions in Armenia and how it is competing with other corporations on the world stage. We also met with executives from Locator.am and experienced the work that they do. Locator.am does many things but my favorite and I think the coolest one of all was them mapping out cities such as Yerevan along with buildings, landmarks and even trees to the inch (in this case, the centimeter). Sort of like Google Maps except in a much more detailed manner. They have also started to digitally design old monasteries and churches such as “Datevi Vank” as well.

The language classes are absolutely phenomenal, I have seen first-hand, people from all over the world who haze “zero” knowledge of the language come to Armenia, participate in Birthright Armenia and leave by speaking, reading, writing and even typing in Armenian.

A month ago I was reading an article on different Birthright programs around the world and the most famous one until today is Birthright Israel, it has had 400,000 participants so far.

Last year when I was participating in the program, Birthright Armenia had close to 850 alumni.

Stop thinking so much and just apply. An overwhelming majority of people that I have spoken to regarding this issue always have always had the same excuse, they can’t take a break from work or school.

This program is 365 days a year and pays for pretty much everything, you have almost no room for excuses.

We need our youth in the diaspora to participate in programs such as Birthright Armenia. We need to get the number of participants significantly higher.

I have met hundreds of participants and alumni and I have never heard of any bad experiences, the only negative thing I always hear is that the participant could not have stayed longer.

I am proud that I was a part of the first thousand participants. One day we’ll look back and that number will be miniscule in terms of the current number of participants, I have no doubt.

Go and have the time of your life, go and meet friends from all over the world, go and make connections with the locals, go see Armenia through a different set of eyes than that of a tourist.  Go and PARTICIPATE in Armenia.

IT IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT.

Apply at www.birthrightarmenia.org