Satenik lives in Siaro Washington, USA. There aren’t many Armenians there, and her peers are foreigners. She attends an American school since there is no Armenian school in her city.

However, Satenik says her parents try to do everything they can to provide her and her brother with an Armenian upbringing by telling them about Armenia, showing photos of historic and cultural sites on the Internet, etc.

With the purpose of making her daughter feel “Armenianness” around her, Satenik’s mother sent her daughter to Armenia to participate in the “Ari Tun” Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora for homeland recognition.

The “Ari Tun” Program helped Satenik reveal many things. The last time she visited Armenia was five years ago, and since she was little, she didn’t get a good picture of the places that she visited. Now it seems as though she is looking at everything as a mature person. Feeling happy and proud that the girl visits ancient Armenian churches, museums and other sites is not in vain. She takes photos of the structures so that she can show the beautiful architecture of her country to her foreign friends.

During the conversation, Satenik said her brother helped her participate in the program. He participated in the program three years ago and couldn’t stop talking about his days in Armenia and the funny stories when he returned to the USA. He talked about it so much that it made Satenik get excited. “I only have a hard time communicating with my friends, but I hope the Armenian language courses will help me improve my knowledge of Armenian,” Satenik said at the end of the interview.

Gevorg Chichyan