Greetings from Armenia

Skip Brewster

Peace Corps Volunteer – Armenia

October 11, 2011

Dear LGUMC friends,

Five months ago I retired from my 41-year insurance career, said goodbye to family, friends clients, and neighbors. I had been accepted by the Peace Corps to serve as a community and business development volunteer in Armenia. Before applying in 2009, I thought what would the Corps do with an old(er) but still sound businessman like me? The Peace Corps Recruiter seemed to appreciate my rural Connecticut roots, belonging to 4-H and having, chickens, pigs and a steer. I bought my first car with eggs I sold peddling them in the neighborhood.

Before I left Los Gatos, Pastor Neish asked that I speak at LGUMC about my decision to jettison my cushy life. However, I was uncomfortable doing this because I had yet to do anything meaningful, other than run the application gauntlet. I had filled out endless forms, completed essays, was interviewed twice, and collected three medical clearance reports. Donna had to sign a notarized spousal affidavit that I was not running away to escape obligations. [If anyone wishes to have insight on this challenging application process, please email me - my email address is at the end.]

That was in May, today after completing an intense in-country training program in a small rural Armenian village, I am living at 6,800 feet in a remote mountain town in Eastern Armenia not far from the closed Azerbaijan border. Maybe it is now timely that I share a few observations with my LGUMC friends.

After training, I stood proudly with 39 other volunteers and took the oath to serve, all filled with patriotism and idealism. Emotions that day were especially strong considering we were surrounded by 50-year anniversary photos of Peace Corps visionaries President Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and Sargent Shriver. Their experiment of a citizen army of volunteers helping humanity around the globe thrives today. But importantly no one should consider joining the Peace Corps lightly.

Because of the Great Recession, recruiters quickly tell interviewees that this is a competitive process, with several strong applicants applying for each of the 8,000 annual spots. Learning a foreign language, especially one with a unique 39-sound alphabet, has been a challenge. As a 64-year old, the Corps has been very supportive of my mumbling and I now have the ability to stay out of trouble. My language learning will continue for as long as I am in-country.

Some observations on the big picture: Armenia now twenty-year old as an independent country, is trying to bring back to full vitality a long suppressed 2,200 year old unique culture. Armenia has a 2

long history of distinguished authors, poets, musicians, and unique social dances. Last year in Southern Armenia the oldest preserved leather shoe known to man was discovered (5,500 years old) as well as earlier this year a discovery was made of the oldest known wine making apparatus (a 6,000 year old wine press and fermentation jars). In the third century Armenia became the first Christian state in history of the world, something they later paid a heavy price to preserve as Armenia was occupied several times by neighbors of different persuasions. Today the Armenian Apostolic Church freely admits that the more recent 70-year soviet rule has left a legacy of religious apathy and a society where women, children, the poor or sick are marginalized. The Apostolic church is gradually becoming more socially pro-active but the progress is slow. In my town of 4,600, the 20-seat church is only filled on religious holidays, weddings and funerals.

This general apathy about participating carries over to a general absence of any civic capacity or involvement in local governance. This is driven by a wide-spread distrust of all things government. Corruption, a lack of transparency and business monopolies permeate all discussions on why being involved in anything progressive is a waste of time. A respected member of my town told me twice, upon hearing my progressive suggestions that the people are not ready for democracy or any type of civic involvement, so don’t try. But this is a generational bias. The 17 to 25 year olds who do not remember the soviet days are showing strong signs of activism in this 98% literate nation. Young adults are becoming energized as web access increases and social media sites quickly drive ideas. They can’t help but be influenced by the youthful spirit which has been driving the not far away “Arab Spring” awakenings.

To be fair, this young nation’s collective energy has been focused on two major issues which the U.S. has never faced. The country has a very tenuous cease fire with Azerbaijan in the 18-year old war over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh break-away ethnic Armenian enclave resulting in long closed borders with both Azerbaijan and Turkey. Thirty-Thousand died in an intense 1993 war with every Armenian village now having a memorial to its several war dead. My host town lost 26 men. Sniper caused wounds or deaths are routinely reported each month and the dispute is discussed in every newscast. Armenia claimed this week that there were 1450 violations of the ceasefire during September by Azerbaijan’s army; I would guess it goes both ways. At the recent 20th Year Independence Day celebration school children in my town marched up and down the street in camouflage shirts to patriotic music.

Secondly, the nation is fully unified in the struggle for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide before 2015 comes when the 100th year anniversary passes. It is well documented with first-hand accounts of the systematic removal and killing of millions of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds from Eastern Turkey and the state organized confiscation of personal and Armenian Church property. Besides demanding world-wide condemnation of what Ottoman Turkey did, Armenia is obsessed in seeking retributions and the return of Armenian territorial land unilaterally confiscated by Turkey from the young republic shortly after WWI. Both the Karabakh and the genocide issue drain national energy from other important quality of life needs. 3

On the economic side, one million Armenians have left in the last ten years, driven to find jobs and opportunity elsewhere. Most have gone to Russia, former Soviet Bloc countries or the EU, but many also have migrated to the U.S., especially California where it is estimated one million people of Armenian descent now live. There are over seven million diaspora Armenians living throughout the world claiming loyalty to the mother country with many sending money regularly to relatives. This brain drain is a real problem because it is the brightest and most competitive young educated Armenians who are leaving. Unfortunately, Armenia also now has a small middle class created in part by the severe economic collapse following the soviet bloc break-up in 1991. Because the middle class is usually the catalyst for change this is an additional challenge. Armenia’s wealthy desire the status quo and Armenia’s poor simply try to survive with limited food and typically live in unheated decrepit soviet style apartments units.

Observations on the people: Armenians believe and take pride on calling themselves the most hospitable people on earth. My experience bears this out. They will treat every stranger as an honored guest, they will share whatever they have to an almost painful level. They are proud of their beautiful mountainous country and habitually ask me if I agree that Armenia is prettier than California. Armenians are hard-working. Ubiquitous subsistence farm plots surround every village, all nursed with care to produce maximum yield. Armenians are good farmers and take pride in the variety of vegetables and fruit they grow. Every male dreams of having a car and if he is so lucky, spends hours upon hours under the hood working to keep it running. Rural unemployment is well over 30%, especially during the cold long winter months. Village and town people are in general very poor, with a per capita income of about one tenth of the U.S. families. The average rural families live on the equivalent of $190/month. Clearly they need a helping hand to help themselves.

Outside the capital, there is little variety of food and commodity items. Meat is usually served twice weekly if the family is lucky. Homemade cheese is the main protein staple. Bread and the famous Armenian lavash is the national food staple, offered in abundance at every meal. But interestingly stale bread cannot be thrown away because it is culturally shameful to do so; if not eaten it must be feed to birds to continue the cycle of life. Family loyalty and support is paramount to everything; young married couples start off living with the son’s parents; grandmothers take care of grandchildren assuming the mother is lucky enough to find a job. The greatest threat to misbehaving children is to threaten to tell their “Tatiks” or grandmothers. Serious crime is almost non-existent in rural Armenia because shame to the family is a greater punishment than anything the criminal system could hand out. Politeness abounds with particular sensitivity to the old, as seats are automatically surrendered in the ubiquitous public vans to the elderly. Students still stand up when teachers enter the class room. Armenians cherish their children as they sacrifice greatly to make sure their kids are dressed clean and well for school. There are no holes or rips in their cloths as this also would be shameful.

My Peace Corps assignment is not to change Armenia’s strong culture because the people clearly have a strong deeply-seated ethical code. However, there are some latent social issues the Corps is trying to address, such as a general ignorance about transmission of HIV/AIDS. Also in this male dominated society, domestic abuse now being recognized and discussed in open forums. One of my challenges is to work with town youth to give them a vision and optimism to keep them from 4

automatically moving to the capital, which now has half of the country’s 2.6M population, or migrate out of the country altogether . My office is in the city hall and at every opportunity with my clumsy Armenian I make subtle suggestions of ways citizens can get involved in government. I am also looking to stimulate small business opportunities or identify untapped tourism attractions, because similarly to the U.S., jobs and prosperity go hand-in-hand. Importantly, everything I do must be sustainable, meaning if a project does not have strong legs when I leave, I have failed in my true mission.

The Peace Corps has humanitarian goals and is strictly non-political in its mission. However the U.S. is in an ideological tug of war with Russia over the South Caucuses region. During soviet times Armenia was a benefactor of millions of rubles, but after the bloc collapsed times became very tough. Older Armenians think back wistfully of the economically stability of the 70’s and 80’s compared to significant infrastructure decay evident today. Russian troops remain in Armenia under contract to guard the Turkish border and Russia is Armenia’s largest trading partner by far. Vladimir Putin has recently upped the discussion about reinvigorating the Commonwealth of Independent States and shoring-up their traditional sphere of influence. Therefore, increasing local civic capacity, dare I say true democracy, is a very important part of my assignment. There is a link between local participatory governance, increase in transparency and an increase in quality of life for ordinary rural citizens.

A few comments on stepping outside my personal comfort zone (remember I said the Corps is not for everyone). After a while volunteers get used to most things which had been taken for granted and you slowly adjust your daily life to those changes. Things such as hand-washing your clothes, cold water bucket baths, not driving cars, no English newspapers, no American coffee, few English speakers, little heat, few sidewalks, different food, no sports or watchable TV, walking and more walking and maybe the toughest adjustment, being alone more than any other time in your life. The Peace Corps is highly supportive and understands the impact of culture shock and does an excellent job making each volunteer as prepared as possible. Volunteers also know that at some point they will return to their cushy American life, their family, friends and church.

Finally, I must comment on my meeting last week with the Director of Nutrition at UMCOR’s main office in Yerevan. UMCOR has been a strong force in Armenia since 1994 working with the rural poor on nutritional education, Agricultural Coops, Free Cheese Program, Aids Awareness, Tuberculosis Prevention, Anti-Trafficking/hot line, hosting a women’s shelter and Anti-abuse education. UMCOR routinely hands out to the very poor hygiene and school kits, blankets and toiletries. The UMCOR staff is clearly a dedicated group of humanitarians. I am proud to say that Peace Corps partners with UMCOR on several Armenian projects.

Skip Brewster

Peace Corps Volunteer-Armenia

Skip.brewster@gmail.com