According to Hayern Aysor, Rima Sahakyan, 18, has traveled from the capital of Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan to participate in the “Ari Tun” Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora. This is her first visit to Armenia. Last year, she and her friend had decided to participate in the Program, but there were some problems. Rima fully hopes the “Ari Tun” Program provides her with the opportunity to make new friends, receive a lot of information about her Homeland and visit all the historic and cultural sites that she has only seen on the Internet.

After graduating from school, Rima got accepted to the Tourism Academy of Bishkek. Rima is involved in Oriental martial arts. She has also taken culinary and hairdressing courses.

True, she speaks Armenian with some difficulty, but she isn’t depressed. Rima realizes that she must remember her language and never lose her identity while living in a foreign environment, and her family helps her with that a lot. Her parents always maintain an Armenian atmosphere at home and celebrate all Armenian national holidays during which the table is decorated with the traditional dishes made by her mother.

Rima has taken Armenian language courses and participated in various events devoted to national preservation that she has great impressions of.

Rima attaches great importance to the role that her Armenian friends play in her life. She is sincere to them, and they often go out for walks and talk about their future plans.

For the past two weeks, our interlocutor has been enjoying being under the hot sun in Armenia and has been visiting different places with her relatives. Rima says she likes the ancient churches of Armenia the most.

When asked about her first impressions of Armenia, Rima said the following: “Armenia is indescribably beautiful. I really loved my Homeland.”

Gevorg Chichyan