Monday, July 20, 2015

GLOW'ing

Sevan and I have split off from the group and made our way to Gyumri where we are spending the week working at GLOW:  Girls Leading Our World, a partnership between Nor Luyce, The American Peace Corps, and Youth Initiative Center based in Gyumri.  

My t-shirt, two sizes too small


The camp is for 25 girls in the local townships and Gyumri central.  Each day is themed off of a different global woman's life and has lessons and activities centered around that theme.  Lessons include Diversity and Tolerance, Emotional Awareness and Mental Health, Self-Esteem and Leadership Styles, Gender Roles, Determining Success and Obstacles, Human Values, Environmental Stewardship, Women in Society, and Conflict Resolution. 

The counselors are a mix of Peace Corps volunteers and young Armenian women, many of whom have spent one year on exchange in the United States.  They are an ambitious and enthusiastic group, full of Jambar (camp) Spirit.  Sevan and I are here to help in a variety of ways.  I am running a workshop on Day 3 about social/emotional health for the girls. I am also the resident documentarian as all three organizations would like record of the fruits of their labor.  Ahead of our time here, I've been working with the organizers on some of the lessons and activities.  My time in CAS at Berkeley High has proven very valuable, since community building and youth empowerment is something we strive for at home too. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Armenia from border to border, I am eager to sit still and roll up my sleeves and do some work in this country I so admire and respect.  Sevan is working in the kitchen preparing meals and doing odd jobs. 

The Lavash Chef


Our driver here is named Hovig.  Hovig is the PE teacher at the school and also drives folks around when needed.  He picked me and Sevan up in Yerevan and has been schlepping us around town while teaching me about education and culture in Gyumri. He is proud of his city and has opened my eyes up to its wealth of history and spirit.  Gyumri was not far from the epicenter of a devastating 6.8 magnitude earthquake in 1988 which killed 50,000 people and injured 150,000.  Much of the reconstruction took over ten years to complete and still much more is left undone. School #29, where we are currently working, was leveled in the quake and here's what's left of the original building. 

The foundation was all that was left of School 29; the mid-day quake meant the deaths of hundreds of kids here

So much of Gyumri looks like this.  Piles of rubble next to a brand new road.  A half gutted building next to a brand new one that was built but stands empty with a "for rent" sign.  According to Hovig, over half the population left for Russia or Georgia or Yerevan after the quake, unable to rebuild their lives here.   Nor Luyce and YIC are two of several organizations whose mission revolves around advancing and promoting the youth of Gyumri so that they can rebuild both the structures and the spirit of their city. Incidentally, we are staying at a guest house called "Villa Kars" which is also built around the idea of sustaining and fostering growth here.

Today, Monday, is day 1 of the camp at School 29, which now looks like this:

One of the nicest schools in Gyumri, according to Hovig

Today's lesson is based around the life of Zabel Asadour, Armenian writer, educator, and philanthropist who lived through the Genocide and started and promoted schools for Armenian girls.   The kids are doing ice breakers and getting into home groups to begin their introductions, their journaling, and establishing norms for the week. 


Speed Dating questions...if you could be any animal, for example

On a break from their home groups, played 20 questions with this super curious bunch





  The staff here is excellent.  They are motivated, trained, and the peace corps volunteers, who are not Armenian and have only been here for 11 months, totally make it through on their learned Armenian.  It's pretty remarkable to listen to a 3 generation American girl from Omaha, Nebraska speaking my mother tongue. They are rad. 



The staff is led by these two directors, Aislin and Maureen, both in their 25th month of Peace Corps Armenia (Aislin is electing to stay on one more year).  The camp has been revitalized through their leadership and that of Shogher Mikaelyan of Nor Luyce (who is the reason I am here).  

Aislin, Maureen, and Tamara (Hovig's wife who works at Nor Luyce)
Rules for the camp this week are simple:


1. Respect yourself and others
2. Be Enthusiastic
3. Be ready to learn more about yourself, others, and your community


SOMEone here is ready to follow the rules...

Sevan's Introduction


The walls of the school are covered in art

The caterpillar game

This is what listening to instructions looks like

Sevan with his new pal, Nevart, daughter of Hovig and Tamara. He made her a bracelet.

Gohar (with glasses on top of her head) had lots of questions for me today  :)


We are excited for the week ahead and to gain some new understanding of this part of Armenia and work with the people who are slowly, but most definitely, transforming it.

2 comments:

  1. What a wonderful place! Sevan is so fortunate to have this experience!

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  2. Sounds fantastic! I want a blog post from Sevan describing what it is like being a 10 year old boy in the middle of a program for teenage girls!

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