My True Armenian Experience-By:Alex Sarkisian

“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself”. As I think about the meaning of this quote, my mind rushes back to Armenia and is hit with waves of memories. Memories of the good times, the fun times, and of the friendships I have made that will last for the rest of my life. Being in Yerevan was an amazing experience. I was shocked by how modern it was, how beautiful the buildings were, the way people dressed, and the cars they drove. Being there for the first three weeks of our trip I began to think, “Wow, this is nothing like the way my family described it to me”. Then, we went to the village Berd, and that’s where I had my true Armenian experience. In Berd, the first thing we did was separate everyone so they could stay with a local family. After everything was sorted out, I found out I was with my best friend Peter sharing a house with a local village family of eight people. As soon as we got to their home, they offered to show us the bathroom. We then followed our host family around their house, past their garden, and through their beehive colonies, to where we finally reached the bathroom, a wooden outhouse that was less than 6 feet tall. Every time I went in to use it, I would hit my head, and for once in my life, I would feel tall. The next morning we asked to shower and they told us they would take us to a hotel to shower because they felt embarrassed of their situation at their home and didn’t think it would be good enough for us. Though Peter and I insisted it was no problem they would hear none of it. That night I couldn’t sleep, and it wasn’t because of the basketball game we had lost to the locals, it wasn’t because of how much food my village family had forced me to eat. It was because I was so filled with emotions, mostly anger and sadness. I just couldn’t understand how in Yerevan there were so many beautiful big houses/buildings, including the one we stayed at, with running hot water and electricity 24/7, and many other fancy unessential appliances, including our shower with a radio and telephone inside of it. Yet, just 4 hours outside of the capital, there are families living and raising kids in difficult situations, with no running water, showering outside with buckets, using outhouses, and having to grow/make everything they want to eat because they can’t afford to spend money on groceries.

The strongest thought that went through my head that night was, “Why is it like this”. Our host family were the nicest people I had met on the entire trip, the people in Yerevan would always give me dirty stares as I walked down the street, they looked at me as if I wasn’t good enough or almost not Armenian. Yet our host family took us in as one of their own children. They fed us so much food even knowing that it would mean they couldn’t eat as much as usual; they didn’t care and put us and our needs in front of theirs. They cared for us as if we were actually their family too. After one of the games of basketball I had hurt my back and had to go to the hospital; later when Peter and I returned home, the family had rushed up to me and made sure I was ok. They wouldn’t let me walk, they carried me around everywhere I went for the rest of the day and took care of me for the remainder of our stay there. After we had returned home to America, I could tell instantly that a vacant hole I had before I left had been filled, and it wasn’t due to the history and beauty we witnessed in Yerevan and other parts of Armenia. It was because the village and the host family. The care they provided, how selfless they were and their true kindness showed me that this is what it means to be Armenian. Give to others even when you don’t have much to give away, care for everyone as if they were part of your family, and always keep hope, because a brighter day is on the way. This reflection is a personal promise, as everyone who reads this is a witness, I will return to Berd one day and I will make sure I can do whatever I can to help the village and the wonderful, gracious people who occupy it.

Thank you to CYMA, thank you to the Deacons, and thank you to all the other members of CYMA for the trip of a lifetime, I will always remember it. But mostly, thank you to the people of Berd and my host family, I truly care and miss everyone single one of you and I promise, I will be back to lend a helping hand in any way I can. You were my true Armenian experience.