Armine Kalbakian during her graduation speech at Alex Pilibos school
BY ARMINE KALBAKIAN
The first time I heard about the Armenian Youth Federation Youth Corps program, I was only ten years old and the concept of homeland was still a mythical one to me. Years later, I found myself stepping foot in Armenia for the first time. It was as if all the love I had harbored for the country was swiftly re-defined.
After a lifetime of displacement in the Diaspora, suddenly finding myself immersed in a land whose inhabitants shared my onerous history — juxtaposed with an undying resilience, a beautiful native tongue (in all its disparate regional utterances), and a striking joie de vivre — took me aback. As I traveled from one ancient church to another, I felt like an infinitesimal being in the face of mammoth history. However, the feeling was not disheartening. Rather it was an empowering one, unique to those belonging to something larger than ourselves.
During my trip, I made a conscious effort to speak to the local people. I listened as they told tales of economic strife filled with contempt or apprehensive love. I could not watch my compatriots suffer silently, and longed for a means with which to help; I found the answer in Serjulik, an eight-year old boy in Artsakh ”“ who amidst all conflict and hardship ”“ proudly proclaimed that he loved his country “million dogos”
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