My First Day at The Children of Armenia Fund

          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.

Our car caught in a sea of sheep 

The women working at the lavash factory