GLENDALE : 9 Students to Help Armenians Rebuild

Nine Armenian American college students will spend the next six weeks roughing it as they help the shattered Armenian republic of Nagorno Karabagh rebuild.

The students, chosen from 30 applicants for the trip, will camp out and eat food made by indigenous peoples after 10-hour days filled with hard labor, said Stepan Boyajian, chairman of the Armenian Youth Federation in Glendale.

“We told them you aren’t going to Paris or London, you are going somewhere where life is tough and they need help,” Boyajian said.

The 62-year-old federation decided to sponsor the journey last fall in an effort to help Nagorno Karabagh recover from a six-year civil war between Armenians and Azerbaijanis for control of the 1,700-square-mile republic.

The group includes: Stepan Haytayan Van Nuys, group leader; Dzia Vartabedian, Burbank, assistant group leader; Dikran Garabed Encino; Varnp Gurjian, Glendale; Sarine Gureghian, Glendale; Rita Garlekian, Pasadena; Tamar Abkarian, Studio City; Lela Khajadourian, Burbank, and Viken Sapatijain, Torrance.

Each student had to raise roughly half of the $1,800 fee required for travel expenses, food and lodging for the trip, Boyajian said.

The team will begin its journey in their ancestral homeland by completing construction work on a secondary school dormitory in the forested city of Shoushi in Karabagh. The building, when completed, will be used to house orphaned children from the region.

The second leg of the trip will involve the renovation of a building outside the village of Ashan in the Marduni region of Karabagh for use as a summer camp for Karabagh youth.

During their free time, the Armenian American youth will teach local children songs and dances they have learned in America, and will also brush up on their Armenian, Boyajian said.