Ingrid, ESC HumAid in Armenia, renewed self-confidence and an enriching experience

When I first arrived at Zvartnots Airport in Armenia a little over a year ago, I was tired, dehydrated, and annoyed at how slow the passport control line was moving. I also didn’t know what my plan was for the next year, but I felt like it would only be an improvement from what I had been doing for much of the previous 12 months: endlessly applying for jobs and feeling like the world was passing me by as I watched the seasons change. I didn’t know if I wanted to continue living in Sweden near my family, move back to where I had grown up in the United States, or move elsewhere in Europe and escape the icy grasp of the Nordic winter darkness. On a whim, I completed the online and in-person training for the European Solidarity Corps’ Humanitarian Aid Programme in the spring of 2023 as I thought it sounded interesting and I believed that a short-term volunteer role could be a good way for me to get out of my mental slump.

So what ended up happening? Well, I applied to a couple of volunteer positions through the ESC portal but nothing really clicked. However, this is when I advise you to check your email’s spam folder regularly because I’m glad I did so one week in July. In that spam folder I found an email from ADICE, saying that while my applications for a volunteer role in Cambodia had been rejected, they believed I could be a good fit for another year-long project management role at a youth organisation in Armenia. Naturally, I was intrigued and immediately opened up two tabs in my browser: one for the Youth Initiative Centre (YIC) and another for the Wikipedia page for “Gyumri, Armenia.” Things moved very quickly after that and within a month I found myself in the aforementioned endless passport control line at Zvartnots airport.

Much has changed over the last year. For one, I met some incredibly kind and generous people at YIC whom I am thankful to now call my friends. Living in a foreign country is never easy, but it is much more enjoyable and less stressful when you have a local support system in place. As part of my ESC HA role, I was assigned a mentor, Anna Yeghoyan, who supported me in all aspects of the volunteer program. In addition to working with me on developing my project writing skills, Anna and her family frequently took me and the other long-term volunteers out to see different sites around Gyumri and invited us home to her family’s place for holidays like New Year’s, Christmas, and Easter. Many of the staff at YIC did the same, and I was able to attend Armenian dance classes, go to the gym, and participate in different events organised by the YIC youth centres around Armenia.

Ingrid with her ESC mentor in Hosting Organisation, Anna Yeghoyan

One of the challenges over the last year was, of course, the language. Armenian is a beautiful language but I found it difficult to learn. Combine the Gyumri dialect with the influence of Russian and I developed an eclectic vocabulary bank. In addition to language lessons organised by YIC, I also studied Russian on Duolingo to help me get by in the grocery stores as the Google Translate app was not always the most reliable. Volunteering in a foreign country with a different language than your own is always a good idea if you want to develop your sense of adaptability. You can also make some pretty interesting friends with your neighbours or fellow community members that way!

Working at a youth organisation can be a lesson in adaptability. As a humanitarian aid volunteer, I spent most of my working time at the YIC office but I often had the opportunity to go to the six YIC youth centres around Armenia. I co-facilitated English language clubs and gave presentations on American and Swedish holiday traditions and cultural history. In return, I loved speaking with the Armenian youth and learning from them about Armenian history, culture, and society, and I often integrated that material into my next presentation or project activities.

Youth beneficiaries at one of YIC’s Youth Houses craft traditional Swedish Christmas decorationsIn the last month of my volunteer role, I was the project management coordinator for YIC’s Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) camp, a summer camp which aims to empower teenage girls and support them in the development of their project ideas in their communities. The weeklong camp was the culmination of my skill-building over the last year. I had to ensure I communicated clearly with the camp attendees in my instruction of the design and implementation of their project ideas. What complicated my task was the fact that not all of the girls spoke English and I did not have the Armenian language skills to facilitate the presentation by myself. Adaptability once again made an appearance as my most-used skill, as I altered my training material based on the previous day’s learnings (and challenges) and my organisation director, Valya, helped to translate my presentation and material.

Ingrid facilitating a Euroclub conversational meeting

I left Armenia in a similar manner to how I arrived: my flight out of Zvartnots airport was departing around 4 am so I was again tired and annoyed at how slow the passport control line was moving on the 19th of September, 2024. Yet, I look back on my experience and am immensely thankful for the opportunity to have met so many amazing people and learned so much about Armenian culture and society. I am once again back in the thick of applying for jobs, but with a renewed sense of self-confidence and interest in contributing to the world by way of civic engagement and intercultural communication. And I know that I will return to Armenia one day soon, as I refuse to miss out on another season of fresh apricots.