There are a lot of hidden assets in Armenia, and one of them is its youth, especially a group of university students who devote their free time to helping the less fortunate not only in their own country but also around the world.
They are Armenia's "other ambassadors" who have in recent years established their own "diplomatic relations" through an international youth network which has also attracted hundreds of young "envoys" to Armenia.
"There is more to diplomacy than just the opening of embassies. Volunteer youth exchange programs also play an effective role," says Nina Movsessian, the international relations coordinator of the Student Brigades of Armenia, a non-governmental organization (NGO) which has come a long way since its early inception 27 years ago during the communist era to serve in the various republics of the former Soviet Union.
"Today most of our 2,500 members are between the ages of 18 and 22 and our emphasis is on social work mainly in Armenia but other parts of the world as well," Ms. Movsessian said as she introduced a small group of Armenian university students who had just come back to Yerevan from volunteer summer camps in France, Britain, Germany, Holland, and the United States.
"We have sent out 250 volunteers and more than 140 volunteers from several European countries have come to Armenia this year to work in old age homes, orphanages, hospitals and summer camps for small children. It's a fabulous learning experience for all concerned," she said.
More than 70 percent of the Armenian volunteers are young women. Many are studying to be doctors, engineers, teachers, environmental scientists, architects and lawyers and are well versed in several languages including Russian, English, French, German and Italian, among others.
The Student Brigades of Armenia is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the International Voluntary Service of UNESCO, and is partially funded by UNICEF, the French Embassy in Yerevan and a volunteer youth group in Germany.
A report prepared by Ms. Movsessian outlining the activities of the group said that out of 60 letters sent out this year to international volunteer organizations asking for financial assistance, only a handful have responded positively, while the vast majority either ignored the appeal or suggested they "turn to the (Armenian) diaspora for help."
But the group was not discouraged because despite the shortage of funds it was still able to organize and provide volunteers to six summer work camps in 1997, including a rehabilitation center for children in Oshakan, a cardiac sanitarium in Arzny and a youth camp in Yerevan.
The volunteers, who were joined by young students from several European countries, not only cared for the needy, but also helped paint and repair some of the older structures including clinics and orphanages,.
When not busy with their summer youth programs, the Armenian volunteers, and especially those attending the medical faculty of Yerevan State University, spend endless hours each winter taking care of more than 400 elderly pensioners, doing their shopping, housework or simply visiting those who are bedridden "just to let them know that they are not forgotten and that they are not alone."
Their active participation in social work at home and abroad has given the young volunteers a unique opportunity to act as young "ambassadors" through their interaction with similar organizations and youth from around the world.
"These summer camps in Armenia are not expensive to operate because they are staffed by our volunteers. As much as we can use some financial assistance, what we really need is more involvement by young Armenians from the diaspora", she said.
Ms. Movsessian, herself a university student, acknowledges that a number of young Armenian students volunteer their time in helping the less fortunate in Armenia every year through diaspora-based organizations, but is nevertheless surprised that none of them work through her well-established group “It’s a few dozen here and there compared to the hundreds of local youth who join our programs here in Armenia. We have to do more to improve this and attract more young diaspora Armenians to get involved.
"Our message to fellow Armenian youth is the following: Just get an airline ticket to come here, and we will take care of all your other expenses in Armenia," she said.
