A Mountain Story: When Two Dreams Meet Each Other by Vystomojo bendardarbiavimo platforma

A Mountain Story: When Two Dreams Meet Each Other

Author: Stasys Vaitonis 2022 m. Photo credit: Vaghinak Ghazaryan, Stasys Vaitonis Project coordinator: Nacionalinė nevyriausybinių vystomojo bendradarbiavimo organizacijų platforma / Lithuanian NGDO Platform www.vbplatforma.org

This publication is part of the project Eurodad network capacity building funded by EC. The publication and its contents are the sole responsibility of Lithuanian NGDO Platform and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Deep in the mountains in southern Caucasus, where the winding road leads, lies the small village of Hin Shen. Hin Shen in Armenian means “old village”. In 2018, this “old village” welcomed an unexpected guest. Unexpected, but long-awaited. The reason was quite simple: for many years this village could not find an English teacher. The main character of this story – and the above-mentioned long-awaited guest – is Sona Gevorgyan. Sona always knew that sooner or later destiny would lead her to the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has been the object of dispute between Armenians and their Azerbaijani neighbours for several decades. Sona spent two years in this village close to the historic town of Shusha in Karabakh. Two years was a period long enough to become a trusted member of a small, closed community. Having graduated in English and later studied in England, Sona was the best a small community without a teacher could dream about. But... There was something else that was needed so that these two dreams could come together in Hin Shen village.

This extra player was Teach for Armenia, an international network for educational initiatives with a mission to send young teachers to Armenian provinces. Over the years, the geography of Teach for Armenia has expanded to include the Armenia-backed Nagorno-Karabakh.

At this point it’s time to leave the name of Nagorno-Karabakh on the side and turn to another name, Artsakh. Armenians prefer using this old historical name to refer to this region. After returning from London, Sona worked at a photography library in Yerevan. “One day a girl came to the library. Just like an ordinary reader. A conversation began between us. We were talking about different photographers, I suggested her a few books. And suddenly she said ‘You know, I was teaching…’ And it all started with talking about her experience. She mentioned that she had collaborated with Teach for Armenia”, Sona remembers. According to Sona, it was a kind of reawakening that brought back her motivation for teaching. However, at that time Teach for Armenia had only been planning to send the first teachers there, to Artsakh. But Sona waited patiently for her opportunity to be sent there.

Mountain children and the connection with them Before the conversation, in Yerevan Park, Sona leans over a spring and drinks some cool water. In Armenia, this ritual is very popular when hurrying passers-by stop to refresh at water stations on particularly hot days. There are many of them everywhere. It doesn‘t matter if you are a child or a solid gentleman, they all drink water without touching the metal tube with their lips. Sona, why Artsakh?

First, I wanted to live there. Second, I wanted to teach children there because my first profession is pedagogy. Third, I wanted to find stories and live with these stories, to be connected to those people. And it worked out!

How important is the local community, also the connection and involvement within the community to the success of a teacher‘s work in such an environment? After all, this is only a short-term project... My first source of inspiration was the community itself. I was a new person there, but I felt that I was quickly becoming a very important part of the community. It was driven by my presence there, my inputs there, and the way I accept what the community brings. However, most of all, I was inspired by my students. And what is the most difficult thing about working and living in an environment where you don’t have those everyday things that you are used to, such as city life, entertainment, friends, etc.? People and activities were things that inspired me and brought me a sense of need and happiness. And in terms of difficulties, they were mostly related to minor everyday household worries. Overall, the biggest difficulty was trying to take care of my time in the sense that I was wondering if I could have done more than I did. There were so many things to do... © Vaghinak Ghazaryan

You say the children inspired you most of all. What do children from a remote mountain village look like? They are not different. Children are children. They want to live in peace, want to create, play together and learn from each other. In general, children are very open. Especially those living in nature who take care of their family farms and help their parents. They are even friendlier here if I may say so. They enjoyed the idea that there was someone in the community who wanted to share their presence. They loved talking to me and felt good that someone was listening to them. Even very quiet children, experiencing respect shown to them and seeing that there is someone there who takes seriously what they’re saying, they are ready to accept you as a teacher and as a friend. They are quite naïve, but always ready to take initiative and do something. They just need a friendly hand on their shoulder encouraging them and saying that they can do so much. I think this is universal. Children want to live in harmony and in a safe environment as much as it is possible.

Sona, didn’t you feel lonely living far away in the mountains? You know, sometimes people say they are lonely. To tell you the truth, I don‘t understand it... I’ve never felt lonely, I’m not and I won’t be lonely. Just when you go through that life experience, you realize that you’re a part of something. Even if you are physically alone, you are still part of that space, part of someone you’re talking to. You’re a part of yourself. And that means you’re not lonely. Being a part of someone means understanding and taking responsibility for the place where you live. In general, we learn a lot by moving. I mean, even sitting here, I can be there with my thoughts, because I’ve been there, I’ve lived there... What else have you learned? One of the things that I learned is that the word ‚responsibility‘ should not be intimidating. On the contrary, you gradually begin to love that sense of responsibility as something special and important. That’s what I’ve learned. Another thing is a proper approach to education. Education includes everything. I would say this should be the most important thing for everyone. Even health, for instance, taking care of yourself comes from education. Education should be free for everyone. It’s a lifelong process, not only several years of study. It is essential for the whole civilized world to move forward. Well, the third thing is no less important. I realized that being professional and adding love to what you’re doing is the foundation of everything. Thus, professionalism and love for your work are the two cornerstones of success in any field, not only education.

A human right everywhere and for everyone When you enter the Teach for Armenia office in central Yerevan, you see a lot of shining eyes. The staff makes every effort to ensure that the training process is not interrupted. Unfortunately, when I arrived there the situation was different. There was the Covid-19 pandemic on the one hand as well as the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which reerupted at the end of September 2020, on the other. The Teach for Armenia team did their best to reach their students and to ensure that the voice of the teachers is heard. One of the tools for remote teaching process is digital tablets. And yet, according to Ruiz Clark, interim CEO of Teach for Armenia, people and their attitude is probably far more important than technical items. First of all, we are talking about teachers.

“If we had to describe in one sentence what we’re doing, it would be recruitment for talented people to solve complex problems related to education. We strive to create opportunities for students across the country by finding people who are willing to serve the interests of the students. I think what makes our programme special is the people. We manage to find really amazing people who are dedicated to the development of the country, the development of the programme and our mission. Our recruitment team is just fantastic”, Clark says. He explains that the idea is that carefully selected candidates are prepared in an intensive training programme before their two-year long placements as teachers, in order to integrate properly into the communities and serve the students of those communities. Teachers are only sent to rural communities. In the context of Armenia, it is important to understand that lots of opportunities are concentrated exclusively in the largest and most important city – the capital Yerevan. The situation in provinces is radically different: there’s no infrastructure and only limited opportunities. More and more young people are being forced to leave their communities because they don’t have enough opportunities there. © Stasys Vaitonis

“We believe that children, no matter where they were born, deserve to have access to education. A child born in a disputed territory has a human right to education. It’s also important to spread teaching that promotes peace and talks about differences. We want the child to choose the path of peace rather than hate. So, when people ask why we’re in Artsakh, I answer simply: it’s important for us to give children access to opportunities”, Clark says.

In 2022 “Teach for Armenia” has mote than 200 teachers at 9 country regions. In one of Yerevan‘s parks, called the English Park, autumn tree leaves, blown by a warm breeze, slowly fall underfoot. Sona picks up one dry yellow leaf from the ground and twists it between her fingers. She stares somewhere in the distance. Sona knows she’ll return to Artsakh as soon as the situation permits her to. Her hopes came true. When the armed conflict was terminated and a ceasefire announced, Sona returned to Artsakh. This time – as a Teach for Armenia Emergency education manager. © Stasys Vaitonis