Discover Armenia Successfully Completes Its 8th Season

From August 6 to August 25, 2011, 31 young Armenians were brought together to participate in AGBU's 2011 Discover Armenia Youth Trip. Now in its eighth year, Discover Armenia brings together 15 - 18-year-old diasporan Armenian youths to spend an unforgettable few weeks in their homeland. This year, the program saw young Armenians come together from six countries: Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Syria, and the United States. The program was coordinated by the AGBU Diaspora Youth Programs Coordinator in Armenia, Hermine Duzian.

Participants visited various monuments and locations around Armenia, including Cafesjian Museum, Garni, Geghard, Goris, Khor Virap, Matenadaran Museum of Ancient Armenian Manuscripts, Mount Aragats, Noravank, Sevan, St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, Etchmiadzin, and Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial. Participants were also introduced to many prominent political and social figures, attended cultural events, and participated in volunteer humanitarian and community activities.

The students paid a three-day visit to Karabakh, where they went around to different historical and cultural monuments, as well as visiting the villages in the Hadrut region that have been reconstructed and repopulated by AGBU. Other activities included a visit to the Yerevan Cognac Factory, participation in the grape blessing day festivities in Saghmosavank, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 5th pan-Armenian games, and the opening of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies. Discover Armenia participants also visited the Armenian Virtual College and the AGBU Armenian Representation, where they got acquainted with the programs carried out by AGBU in Armenia and Karabakh. They also attended a concert performed by students of AGBU and the Holy See Nork Children's Center. On August 24, together with the participants of another AGBU youth program, UGAB Jeunes from France, the Discover Armenia group was received by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

In addition to traveling around the country, Discover Armenia has a strong community component, promoting volunteerism and service to others. This year, participants joined forces with the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia, and the two groups held a joint construction project in Kaqavadzor, a village in the Aragatsotn region. The humanitarian aspect of the trip also included visits to the orphanage and the AGBU and Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Senior Dining Centers, where the youth spent a whole day talking to residents, organizing fun games for the children of the orphanage, and serving meals to the elderly. Participants also made donations of books to the Children's Library of Stepanakert. The library's foreign language pavilion was established by the 2009 participants of Discover Armenia and, since then, participants of the program have been visiting the library and donating new books in foreign languages.

AGBU is already getting ready to follow up the success of this year's Discover Armenia program with preparations for the summer of 2012, hoping to once again gather bright, eager Armenian youths from around the world to explore their homeland. When asked what the major difference was between visiting Armenia as part of a family trip and visiting as a participant of an AGBU youth program, many of the students stated that during previous trips with family they were able to discover the beauty of Yerevan through its streets, shops, and restaurants; as part of the Discover Armenian program, they were able to see the real Armenia, and create lifelong ties with people their age from around the world.