There is always a thin line between assimilation and integration, and no one knows this better than a handful of activists who are the first line of defense against the erosion of Armenian life and heritage in the ethnically diverse world of London. They are fighting the "battle" through community service, education, culture and energizing not just the young generation but also helping the elderly—the umbilical cord between the past and the future. Like most large cities, London is a melting pot where Armenians from different countries and backgrounds have settled over the past century. Their early years were centered around their churches and their "old country" organizations. But times have changed. "We need to adapt to our environment. We have to create the energy and bring people together," said Missak Ohanian, a community activist and General Secretary of the Center for Armenian Information and Advice, a London-based non-profit organization. The CAIA was established in 1986 to "enhance the quality of life for disadvantaged members of the Armenian community in London, especially those in poverty, isolation and distress." This meant the elderly, but in the past 15 years, CAIA has branched out to include practical help to those living in poverty, who are alone, in need of healthcare or are refugees. It has also launched an active youth program, a library, and an advice and information network. In the past two years alone, the CAIA's information and advice services have helped more than 1,500 individuals on such issues as housing and welfare benefits, debt concerns and health and education needs. "The key to our success has been our new approach to community service. We, as British-Armenians, are very much part of this country, and as citizens, we have our obligations. But at the same time, we have to tap into the resources that this country provides," Ohanian said. "Charity and advocacy work need money, and we are lucky to have the support of a long list of British organizations that constantly help us meet our financial obligations," he said. In fact, Ohanian said, 90 percent of the CAIA's operating budget comes from non-Armenian sources and the rest from a handful of Armenian entities including the Armenian General Benevolent Union's London Trust. "As an organization, we have 350-400 dues paying members, but that's not enough to keep us going. We need the active financial support of British organizations," he said. As an active NGO, the CAIA has taken a totally new approach to Armenian community work, reaching out to every sector of the community, especially those "outside the financial safety net which protects the middle and upper class of Armenians." "I don't want to sound critical, but we have to admit that most of the traditional Armenian organizations confine their activities around a small group of people. What we are doing is targeting the most disadvantaged in the community—and believe me, there are many like that," Ohanian said. Operating out of "Hayashen", a privately-owned building in the Acton region of London, the CAIA has a full and part-time staff of six people plus a number of volunteers who deal with issues involving refugees and asylum seekers, and particularly women in these groups. Among the services the CAIA offers to Armenians in these categories involve finding the necessary lawyers and interpreters to facilitate their transition into the British society. Parallel to these self-assumed duties, which are performed at no cost to the recipients, the CAIA also hosts regular events for elderly Armenians living alone or in retirement homes across the city. "We have our own small bus, and we collect and bring the elderly twice a week. You should see their smiles when they get off the bus. Imagine living alone with no one to talk to all week," Ohanian said. "These elderly Armenians are our heritage, our history, our past and strength. I don't know of any other Armenian organization which provides this service and creates this kind of social atmosphere for these old people. We feel it's our duty and we are very proud of what we do," he said. But the CAIA's work does not stop there. "Our staff and volunteers are always available to accompany new immigrants, the elderly or the asylum seekers to government offices, hospitals or medical doctors. We are the social workers, the interpreters, the legal advisers, the community workers, and the network these people need to make them feel safe and secure. "We have recently also added a day-care center for working mothers and opened an Armenian library which is available not only to the younger generation of Armenians, but the general public as well," Ohanian said. With an Armenian community of 15,000-18,000, the CAIA is located where the majority of Armenians live—in West London. It has an active mailing list of more than 3,500 names, publishes a bi-lingual magazine, maintains a well-designed website and keeps in close contact with other more traditional organizations. In short, the CAIA, with its hands-on approach to community service, plays a key role in maintaining cohesion in an otherwise dispersed community. It is true that the CAIA plays a unique role, but the same is true with a handful of other organizations and volunteer groups who also serve the community in different ways. One such entity is the Kevork Tahta Armenian Sunday School which has been serving the Armenian community of greater London for the past 25 years. With more than 200 students, the school operates on premises rented from an East London government school—an arrangement which means the staff and teachers have to bring in their own teaching materials every Sunday, then pack everything and leave after classes end. "It has never been the ideal solution but we have no choice. We could not have survived without donors like the AGBU London Trust and the Gulbenkian Foundation," said one of the 23 teachers who devote a good portion of their Sundays to educating the youth. Despite its make-shift premises, the school provides instruction—both in the eastern and western Armenian dialects—at a high standard which prepares its graduating class to take the "O" level GCE exam in Armenian—one of the foreign languages which high school graduates can take to qualify for university admission. With classes starting at kindergarten level, close to 85 percent of those enrolled at that early age stay at the school for the entire 13 years of instruction which the school offers—thus creating a lasting bond between not only the Armenian youth of the community, but also their families who spend most of their Sundays either volunteering or socializing at the school cafeteria. "We are under the auspices of the Armenian Apostolic Church, but our management is independent and so is our funding. It has been a labor of love and determination for the past 25 years, and we hope one day the community will feel the time has come to chip in and give us a permanent home," one of the school's long-time teachers said. "We can do a lot more if we have the funds, but then again, we have always compensated for the lack of money with an abundance of determination and hard work. It is not easy to set up more than a dozen classrooms every Sunday, then pack up, clean and leave the building. But we have been doing exactly that for the past 25 years—and we have never had any problems with enrollment," another teacher said. Energy and determination have always been the foundation of any community work, and both those elements are not lacking in the Armenian community of London. There are of course the "traditional" organizations, many of which have their origins in what is often called the "old country"—the place of birth of a large proportion of the Armenians living in London. But it is also not a secret that in a highly integrated society, the old ways don't always attract the attention—or crowds—they used to a decade or two ago. To better suit the changing mood of the community, the Armenian Institute was launched two years ago under the broad objective of "making Armenian culture and history a living experience." "We do not have a political agenda. We got started because we felt a void in the community. And we could not have started without the initial boost from the AGBU London Trust," said Institute chairman and founding member Ms. Susan Paul Pattie, a cultural anthropologist, lecturer and senior research fellow at the University College in London. Ms. Pattie, wife of renowned violinist Levon Chilingirian, is a highly published author of dozens of articles on Armenian cultural and Diaspora issues. In the short years since its establishment, the Armenian Institute has played a major role in revitalizing community life through its cultural and educational events, lectures, seminars, conferences, workshops, publications and analytical reports on contemporary issues in the Diaspora. Not a month passes without a major activity. In 2001 alone, the Armenian Institute hosted and organized a lecture entitled Caught up in the Crossfire by Jerusalem lawyer Dr. Harry Hagopian who spoke on the question of Armenian Ecumenism and Politics in the Holy Land, a lecture by University of Chicago Professor Ronald Gregory Suny, two events—including a workshop for young children—on Armenian composer Komitas, screening of Tigran Xmalian's Armenian film Pierlequin or Lighter than Air, a liturgical musical workshop for adults, a lecture on Armenian history through maps and a long string of other cultural and educational events. For 2003, the Armenian Institute is well ahead in its preparation for an international colloquium on integration and diversity, a two-day series of lectures which will try and answer questions involving the economic implications of migration and the problems of settling in a new country and adjusting to a new social and cultural environment. "We have great respect for our traditional organizations, but we need to also attract those who don't identify with them. It is not a secret that a large portion of Armenians in the United Kingdom and for that matter, Europe in general, are not politicized in the way their parents were back in the Middle East. "We cannot ignore this fact, and therefore, we need to get those drifting away from the tradition back to the new mainstream through motivating activities which are more current and interesting than the old fashioned dinner dance," Ms. Pattie said.
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