Reminiscences: Antoine Terjanian - Armenian Volunteer Corps

Antoine S. Terjanian (Canada, 2002)

Several times during my lifetime, opportunities opened up to me and in some cases I followed my intuition, sometimes taking a chance on something that was not fully tested.

Such an opportunity presented itself when, after a near-death experience, I decided to go to Armenia and see for myself how I could help. Like everyone else, I had heard and read so much bad press about our Hayrenik, that I was disgusted. I didn’t even want my children to go.

My near-death experience motivated me to try something, and it changed my life.

The Armenian Volunteer Corps (AVC) was born in 2001 when they had their first group of volunteers. I asked friends of mine about the founders and got positive reports and decided to join.

I spent one of the best years of my life volunteering in 2002-2003 in Armenia. My original intention (in the beginning still influenced by all the bad press) was to stay one year, and, having ‘served’ my Hayrenik for a year, return permanently to Canada. But my experiencing first hand our homeland made me change that original decision.

Yes, AVC has evolved and can now accommodate everyone’s personal constraints. I hope that you too can experience the kind of feelings and personal development that I have.

Best wishes to all of you.

More…
Inspired by their successful volunteering experience, Antoine Terjanian and his wife Sheila, who also volunteered with AVC, promptly sought more long-term and sustainable opportunities to contribute to Armenia’s development. They decided to spend half the year in Armenia and chose the beautiful town of Yeghegnadzor as their new home-away-from-home. In the ensuing years, they have helped develop a B&B network that they oversee, providing training and guidance to the hosts. We can attest that he B&B accommodations are excellent as are the meals and personal attention of the hosts, having used their services during our very first Southern Discovery trip in 2015 — and we plan to stay there again in 2016!

Read more about Antoine and Sheila here.
Learn about the Yeghegnadzor B&B network here.