Trip to Sevan, Noratus and Hayravanq

Documentary Film Screening

On the 29th of July, the Armenian Assembly of America's Yerevan Office hosted a film screening.  AAA Summer Internship Program intern Ishkhanuhi Matevosyan also took part in the screening and the discussion. 

The film was a youth-made documentary made by AAA Youth Club members Armina Hovhannisyan, Haik Toroyan and David Asoyan. The documentary was filmed in Khachik, a remote village located right on the Armenia-Azerbaijan borderline. The documentary talks about the social perspective of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, the consequences of the conflict in the eyes of the inhabitants of the small village of Khachik. The short film was followed by a Q&A session, as well as a discussion about the current state of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the ongoing negotiations and the possible future settlement. The film was directed by a young film-maker Hakob Manukyan.

"Peace Exhibition" at AAA Yerevan Office

On the 8th of July the AAA Yerevan Office in the frameworks of the AAA Youth Club hosted a "Peace Art" Exhibition, which showcased artworks by local young artists.

The exhibition was initiated by a YC member Gohar Mkoyan in frameworks of “Youth Leaders for Peace” project. The project is a part of CMI (Crisis Management Initiative), “The European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno Karabakh” (EPNK) which was launched in November of last year.
EPNK is a partnership of European NGOs working to enact initiatives which will cumulatively contribute to the peaceful settlement over Nagorno Karabakh.

Live classical music was also played by local young musicians.

The AAA SIP interns Tatevik Babayan and Angela Babayan also attended the event. They enjoyed live classical music and the interesting youth artworks, which were also on the topics of peace and understanding.

Interns meet with HENQ

Yesterday, on the 22nd of June, the interns participated at a presentation by Henq, a youth organization. The presentation, entitled "The Virtual Citizen", was about civil awareness and how citizen activity can be expressed and developed in the virtual world. It raised a friendly debate among the youth and some adults present at the meeting, since the adults didn't really approve the idea of using the internet for engaging civilians in public awareness. The interns shared their ideas about the topic and got engaged in the debate.
After the presentation, HENQ presented their vision and mission.
Since the interns found the meeting with Henq very interesting and useful, we came to a mutual agreement to hold another meeting with HENQ in the near future.

In the caption below- interns Aram Kavoukjian and Diana Oganesyan with the HENQ team.

Yerevan City Tour: Museum Day

Yesterday, on the 20th of June, the interns visited some of the museums in Yerevan and toured Yerevan.
So, the first stop was the Erebouni museum....

(from left to right: Anush's cousin Ani, Anush Petrosyan, Gaya Baloyan, Vram Karakeshishyants, Aram Kavoukjian, Diana Oganesyan, Aram Bedrosian)

Next, they visited the ruins of the old Erebouni fortress on the hill above the museum, took pictures of archaeologists working at the site, jumped from one wall of the fortress to the other and did many more exciting stuff....

  (from left to right: Anush Petrosyan, Diana Oganesyan, Aram Kavoukjian, Aram Bedrosian, Gaya Baloyan)

After that, they went the Genocide museum and put flowers at the Genocide Memorial.

In the end they visited the Cascade museum and saw the works of Tarkowsky. They had a longer stay at the top of Cascade, enjoying the view and taking pictures of the city...

  

Aram Bedrosian, Diana Oganesyan, Aram Kavoukjian arrive

On Sunday, around 6 AM the airplane which carried Aram Bedrosian, landed at Zvartnots Airport, Yerevan. Five minutes before boarding Aram wrote in his Facebook page "Boarding in 5min". Yep, Aram was counting the days, the hours and the minutes till his arrival to Armenia... "7 days" "5 days" "ready set hayastan!" :)Now he is here.
Diana Oganesyan and Aram Kavoukjian arrived this morning. Now they are probably asleep in their rooms, or maybe awake... who knows. But they're here, at home.:)
Both, according to their FB statuses, are very excited.
Diana had previously written in her essay "I have been dreaming of a summer as an intern in Armenia for as long as I could remember. Many roadblocks have emerged each summer, such as no passport, and age limits. All obstacles have been lifted this year..."
And Aram..."During my last visit to Armenia, summer of 2008, we visited an Armenian day care for underprivileged children and the elderly named Orran. Here after spending a few hours with some of the kids we were making a collage with, hearing their stories and seeing these kids very happy was one of the best parts of my visit to Armenia. That day was one of the first days that I can truly say I volunteered my time to help out my Armenian brothers and sisters, and I enjoyed every part of it. After that experience at Orran I was trying to find another opportunity to go back to Armenia and work as a volunteer or an intern for my homeland."

Me and Katia are very excited to meet them this afternoon.
I will later send them co-author invitations so that they themselves can write about their arrivals, their anticipations and thoughts.