We traveled to Armenia in the summer of 2003 and worked in Ayroum, a small northern village, and helped construct a solar fruit dryer to assist the local economy. In the course of our work we came out, and not without incident. We were interviewed at the time in an Armenian-American ‘zine, and have reprinted the interview below.
Note that we remain friends with “Vartan” today. More on that at the end of the story:
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1. I know this is your first time joining a campaign with the Land and Culture Organization (LCO), how did you get involved with this organization?
I grew up in Los Angeles, where my parents sent me to Armenian Mesrobian School until I was 12 years old. At Mesrobian, I learned that one day there would be an “angakh ou azad Hayastan [liberated and free Armenia]” and that all Armenians in the Diaspora would move there and live together happily ever after. I wasn’t so sure about moving to Armenia, but the prospect of one day placing my feet on Armenian soil felt like part of my destiny. Read more