As for McDonald’s, I cannot help but think of Ronald McDonald House and all the good it has done and continues to do for countless ailing children and their families, including four unfortunate children who had lost limbs in Armenia’s devastating 1988 earthquake, and so were brought to Chicago for treatment. Ronald McDonald House took such good care of them and the relatives that accompanied them for the months they spent in Chicago. Again, here is a good example of what America and its people are all about.

America has helped and continues to help Armenia. Diasporan Armenians have helped Armenia since the Genocide and the First Republic, and volunteers from the Diaspora went to help Armenia during those difficult days with some giving their lives for their people and country. We Diasporans continue to help our homeland in a variety of ways. The ARS, the AGBU, many other organizations, and countless individuals continue unceasingly to help.

With all of these examples, it is time that those locals in Armenia who can very easily help should join the efforts of their brothers and sisters in the Diaspora to help Armenia. After all, it is their country and their people too!

Knarik O. Meneshian

I also believe in community building and rural development as being the most important things that can be done in the regions, no matter where in Armenia. Some people–certainly not all–living in small towns and villages I believe may feel incapacitated due to limited resources as well as lack of understanding as to how to bring about change in their communities. I have heard first-hand accounts from people who expressed their frustrations, comparing their lives now with their Soviet lives. But people need to know the means first before they receive the tools to enact the means. Indeed, financial assistance is also needed to bring about that change in the villages where resources are limited or may not exist. Yet properly administrating the funding that comes in is a difficult task, especially when some of the funding is redirected to people’s pockets.

In terms of the Armenian Diaspora, they like to build churches, especially in places where they already exist. The Diaspora does not understand the importance of community building–there are of course exceptions but most of their investment is in Yerevan. Being a Diasporan living in Armenia, I know that a lot more must be done. But at least I am doing my part by writing about what I’m observing.

There are some exceptions to this, and I would particularly like to mention Knarik and Murad Meneshian who lived in Gyumri while serving with the Armenian Volunteer Corps (AVC). They really achieved a lot, and not least in terms of writing about their experiences there. Anyway, in a sense, throwing money at a problem is the easy option. Being on the ground where it is administered or even where it is not, is something significantly more in my opinion.

Anyway, community empowerment — I’m all for it whoever is responsible…

To throw “financial assistance’ at the problem is nothing more than applying a band-aid to a significantly larger concern. These people need practical knowledge, skills, and self-esteem to better their lives, not money. Yes, money can aid their transition, but after living under a communist regime for 70+ years, the Armenian people need to learn skill-sets and the ability to believe in themselves.

You cannot train doctors solely with money, you cannot empower a woman to learn about her rights with money, nor can you give homeless children self-worth with money.

As for the Armenian diasporan assistance, I am sure the people in my city, the city of Gyumri, greatly appreciate the new 1.2 million dollar church built during my service. It allows the people still living in metal storage containers after 14 years something to look at out of their broken window.

However, our work can not always be measured in numbers. One reason for our presence is to demonstrate to the Armenian community that not all Americans are devoted to McDonalds and Materialism. The first real contact some Armenians have with an American is because a PCV has been stationed in their village or small town.

We have coffee and tea with them and share in their culture. Two of Peace Corps goals are the cross cultural share of information that was alluded to before. Those are lofty goals that we work hard to achieve. There is something valuable achieved when an American can speak (in Armenian) to a village woman about something as serious as womens rights or as playful as the weather.

My two years had a tremendous impact on my life and I know that I left that country more enriched than when I arrived there. Our job is more important than just bringing in grant money. Please dont belittle our efforts.

Come one, come all. Find a Peace Corps Volunteer in a rural area of Armenia and see the country as you would have never experienced it other wise regardless of your ethnic heritage.

After all, what is trash culture in the US perhaps is the equivalent of the rabiz you talk about here. Anyway, that someone is in Berd is a lot, especially as some young Americans have gone there to try to make a difference whereas I don’t see any young Diasporans interested in doing the same.

That says a lot in itself.

Now, speaking of American culture, there are surely things that Armenians can learn. Take, individualism, for example. It might be the legacy of 70 years Soviet rule when individualism was severely punished, but even now it seems that we are tought to swim with the current, agree with each other, dress alike and regard everything slightly different as a threat.

The only thing that will help that area as well as other rural areas is huge amounts of financial assistance, chiefly from the government and from the Armenian diaspora. Unfortunately you can’t depend on either one of them. You also can’t depend on programs sponsored by the US State Department.

In any case, I hope I can one day visit Berd.