A Spanish-Armenian’s Journey in Yerevan

Hi, I am David López Avakian, I am from Spain (by the moment I am writing this article there are no articles from Spain in the blog, so I am glad to start the legacy if that’s the case), and I am half-Armenian. My love towards this country came from hearing stories from my mom and being touched by all that Armenia has been through in the recent years. I came to Armenia to be enrolled on the Birthright program for two months, which I thought was going to be a very long period but they ended up being the shortest two months I've ever lived.

My first objective coming here was to do an internship related to the economics background and try to contribute to Armenia in some way. The second one, trying to improve my Armenian. I was never told to speak Armenian as a kid, and I was never in Armenia before 2023 so, until a year ago (when I decided to finally start learning) I didn’t know absolutely anything about the language. The last objective I had was trying to experience a bit how life was here outside from the tourist sights.

During my whole stay in Yerevan I had the opportunity to work at the Jinishian Memorial Foundation, an organization that does lots of projects for helping people across the whole country. I liked what they were doing so I found that a very good place where I could do my volunteering. My role there was analyzing the business plans of people from the Syunik region who needed help in the form of equipment for their businesses. My time there was very good (even if they were only speaking in Armenian at the office, which was a bit complicated for me at times). The people there were excellent to me and I even had the opportunity to travel to Syunik with them for two days.

But, for me Birthright Armenia is a lot more than the internship. It was great for me getting to know people from all over the world that shared with me the threat that we all had Armenian blood but we all were living abroad. Getting to know about their communities there was great for me, as in Spain there is not a huge community as in countries like France or the US. I

had the feeling that all the volunteers were friends with each other, so thanks to all the good atmosphere I was surrounded with; I can tell that I felt like I was at home from the very first day.

I loved feeling like there was something different to do every single day, I am grateful for all the activities I was able to do thanks to this program. Some people told me before I came that I'd get bored of the country after two months in Armenia, and I can proudly say that I would have stayed there for many more months. Everything about this country appealed to me before I came, and this experience has only reinforced my belief that my path will cross with Armenia again in the future. I strongly recommend coming here to everyone who has the opportunity to be part of this program. This has been by far the best trip I have ever done.

I can’t wait to come back to Armenia again. I will always cherish this experience.