The 2016 “Diaspora” Summer School Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora is over. Through this program, hundreds of young Armenians visited the homeland and were hosted at Yerevan State University where they gained new knowledge, met new people, established new contacts and had a unique opportunity to get to know and grow to love the homeland. I saw how the participants of the summer school program were bidding each other farewell and saying good-bye to their lecturers with tears in their eyes. They left in different directions. Some went back to Egypt and Lebanon, while others returned to the United States of America and Canada. However, I am certain that they will continue to maintain the friendly relations that they established in a month, and not only because the world is becoming more and more like a global village and distance doesn’t matter anymore due to means of communication, but also because the friendly relations that they have established in the homeland are precious and irreplaceable for each of them.

The participants of this year’s summer school program also established strong ties. They have only been gone for ten days, but they already miss each other. When I asked the participants to share some of their memories, they all said the following: “It seems as though we are still in Armenia. We still feel that our days in the homeland are not in the past.”

However, the participants of the 2015 “Diaspora” Summer School Program are already remembering the moments they experienced in Armenia last year in their respective countries of residence. Throughout the past year, there has not been one day that Moscow-based Mane Harutyunyan, who participated in the Accelerated Armenian Language Courses, doesn’t remember the homeland, the streets and buildings in Yerevan, her friends and teachers. She keeps in touch with most of the participants, talks to them and meets them whenever possible. “We couldn’t forget each other that easily. The homeland connected us, and so we will stay connected forever. I always talk to my friends from Lebanon. We talk about the changes in our lives and the successes that we have achieved. We are so different and yet so similar. We miss each other a lot since we established friendly ties and grew to love each other in the course of one month (and that is not a very long time). Miss Soseh taught us a lot. I kiss and hug her tightly. We even have plans to meet at the Surp Tiramor Monastery of Zmmar in Lebanon where my friends live and study. I also became friends with Lusine from Saint Petersburg. Frankly, I dream of returning to Armenia, discussing different topics and singing the Armenian song “Sareri Hovin Mernem” again with the same people and my friends. I am certain that my dream will come true someday,” Mane says.

Alina Shapaghatyan from Spain also has bright and precious memories. She was one of the most active participants of the 2015 “Diaspora” Summer School Program. She was happy, active and beautiful. “The summer school program gave me the opportunity to meet other Armenians and my peers with different lifestyles, different mindsets and different stories. This is the most important thing. It was interesting for us to establish contacts because we were discovering new things every day. For instance, we learned the traditions of Syrian-Armenians and Lebanese-Armenians, discovered why Aram speaks Russian and not Armenian, why we live far away from the homeland, how our parents found themselves in foreign countries, etc. However, we had something in common-there was no limit to our “Armenianness”. It is in our cells, and it didn’t matter if Aram spoke Russian. He was more patriotic than us and tried harder to learn Armenian. The one-month program wasn’t only an opportunity for us to have a good time and meet new people. It was also an experience to understand and become familiar with the lifestyle of the people of Armenia and the problems facing the country. It is easy for Armenians to come to the homeland, relax and satisfy their longing. We also need to understand the problems and difficulties of the homeland and become engaged in the solution to those problems. I plan on returning to Armenia. The friends I made during the summer school program might also come, and we will meet in Armenia once again,” Alina says.

Lusine Mkrtchyan, who participated in the courses for journalists, intends to settle in the homeland. Nareh has already settled in the homeland, works and has an active lifestyle. Most of the participants say they want to follow Nareh’s example. They are thinking about returning to Armenia and will return sooner or later.

We can constantly write about the participants of the 2015 “Diaspora” Summer School Program and their memories. One thing is for sure-the summer school program became a school for them in all senses.

Amalya Karapetyan