Today was the first day of my volunteer placement at The
Children of Armenia Fund (http://www.coafkids.org/). I had to go in extra early because for my
orientation because they decided to let me accompany three of the woman who work with
COAF’s finance team on a trip. We traveled a couple hours away to see the different projects that COAF
has successfully implement in some of Armenia's villages.
Our
first stop was an extremely impoverished village with gray crumpling stone homes but on the left side of the village visible from miles away stood a
beaming white school, built and funded by COAF and its amazing network of
donors, it shined in the distance like a beacon of hope for the entire community. We went inside and saw teachers who were having a training in their new
technology lab so they could implement more modern teaching
methods. We also traveled to
another village, that housed COAF's newest school, which was even more impressive then the
last.
However,
on the drive between the two schools I saw that the organization wasn’t just
providing educational opportunities but they were also working to build infrastructure and a viable economy were those skills could be put to use. We stopped at a community center
where a COAF employee was offering business trainings to the villagers. After the training they could
write their own business plans and apply for an interest free loan.
After
that one of the new business owners took us to his house where we saw the small
lavash (flat bread) factory he had in a stone hut in his yard. Then we traveled
across one of the only smooth roads and I learned that the organization was
responsible for the road as well. Then we continued to a lovely bridal shop
that rented dresses to women in the village, and finally we saw a small general
store, both funded through the interest free loans they received.
Everyone
was so grateful for the assistance they attempted to feed us everything they
had. At the lavash factory we were given lavash by the feet with lots of fresh
cheese to roll in it, at the schools we were offered fresh fruit and
homemade juices, and at the bridal shop one of the women I was with had to wrestle the
shop owners finest box of chocolates out of her hand as she attempted to open
it for us.
And of
course, the day wasn’t without laughs because our car did get stuck in the
middle of a flock of sheep not just on the way to the villages but on our way
out as well.
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| Our car caught in a sea of sheep |
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| The women working at the lavash factory |
