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Stewart Brewster of Los Gatos is living in Armenia as a Peace Corps
volunteer
By Stewart Brewster, for Silicon Valley Community Newspapers
Posted: 04/23/2012 07:33:38 PM PDT
Updated: 04/23/2012 07:33:39 PM PDT
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
I'm freezing, adjust the thermostat; I'm bored, drive to the mall; I'm
hungry, I order some take-out; my roof leaks, so I call the building
manager.
These are simple problems to remedy in Los Gatos, but I guarantee my
self-reliant neighbors in Armenia take little for granted. In rural
Armenia, there is no central heating, no mall and no ordering out. Water
through frozen pipes does not flow, and if your roof leaks, grab a ladder
and call a limber relative.
Ten months ago, at age 63 old after 41 years in the insurance business, I
retired, said good-bye to my family, friends and Los Gatos neighbors and
flew off to start an adventure serving as a community development Peace
Corps volunteer in a remote Armenian mountain town at a 6,800-foot
elevation.
Landlocked Armenia sits in the South Caucus region between the Black Sea
and the Caspian Sea. Armenia is the size of Maryland, and has less than 3
million people. Armenia takes pride in being the first sovereign country to
adopt Christianity (in 301 AD). Armenia's 2,600-year-old culture is rich in
art, literature and dance. For centuries, goods heading west from Asia
traveled the famous Silk Road not far from my town.
Skill at "shakmat" (chess) has long been a source of national pride, with
Armenia winning the 2011 World Team Chess Championship, edging out China
and Ukraine. Its star player, Levon Aronian, is now ranked second in the
world. Chess is a mandatory class in the Armenian schools, and in village
squares men pass the time huddled over boards.
Armenia today is about 10 percent the size it was at its zenith in the
first century, when it controlled land from the Mediterranean Sea to the
Caspian Sea. From Yerevan, the Armenian capital, volcanic Mount Ararat is
clearly visible as it rises to its snow-peaked majestic 16,854 foot height.
Mount Ararat, sacred to Armenians, is considered the landing place of
Noah's Ark. Scores of businesses use its name, including the famous "Ararat
Cognac" favored by Winston Churchill. However, Mount Ararat is also a
source of great frustration for Armenians as it is now within the borders
of Turkey.
With a modern capital and 98 percent literacy, Armenia is considered a
developed country. However, the per capital income is only 10 percent of
the U.S., with 36 percent living below the poverty level. After the breakup
of the USSR in 1991, Armenia gained independence and is gradually shifting
its ideology from Soviet-style autocracy to a "democratic-like"
parliamentary republic. The 70-year Soviet reign, with its welfare system,
became an institutional crutch and change to a market-based economy has
been painful. Older Armenians wistfully reflect on fond Soviet memories
when jobs were guaranteed, even if freedom of expression was not. While
older Americans might muse about simpler days of old, our steady 235 years
of democratic self-government is reassuring.
My town of 4,600 residents is relatively vibrant because of its mountain
water bottling companies and its reputation as a beautiful holiday
destination drawing visitors to its hot mineral springs. During Soviet
times, the community was a popular vacation spot for Russian elite. In
1985, the population was double its current size, with 25,000 tourists each
year. After 1991, tourism dramatically fell off, the town shrank by half
and the local airport closed.
Sadly, political clouds hang over Armenia. My community closely follows the
long-standing dispute with Azerbaijan, only 14 miles away, and sniper
shootings are common here. A heavily fought three-year war over the
break-away ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, situated within
Azerbaijan, ended in 1994 with a tenuous cease fire--36,000 died in the hot
war, including 26 men from my town. I often walk by the town's Karabakh War
Memorial, where the young heroes' faces, etched into granite, stare out
with a solemn countenance. To the west, the Armenian-Turkish border has
been closed for 20 years as Turkey is politically aligned with Azerbaijan.
This leaves landlocked Armenia with two open borders, Georgia to the north
and Iran to the south, resulting in higher costs and limited goods.
In modern times, Armenia has had two periods of independence, from 1919,
when the Ottoman Empire of which it was a part, broke up, until 1921 when
it joined the USSR. Then, with the breakup of the USSR in 1991, Armenia was
suddenly an independent republic, but with little experience with
democratic institutions. In the void, groups rushed in to dominate key
commodities, resulting today in monopolies that control much of the
commercial trade.
All Armenian males must serve a mandatory two-year stint in the army when
they turn 18, leading most male students, by the time they're in high
school, to focus more on their service, not their studies. Not
surprisingly, Armenian universities are 70 percent female. Families hold
extravagant parties as army recruits depart their hometowns; army life is
not only dangerous, but living conditions are notoriously harsh.
Much of Armenia's energy focuses on formal recognition of the Armenian
Genocide as the 100-year anniversary approaches in 2015. The genocide is
well documented with firsthand accounts of the systematic removal and
killing of millions of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds from eastern Turkey, as
well as Ottoman Turkey's organized confiscation of personal and Armenian
Church property. Besides demanding world-wide condemnation of Ottoman
Turkey, Armenia's ruling party, supported by the diaspora, is resolute in
seeking reparations and return of all Armenian territorial land
unilaterally confiscated by Turkey just after WWI. Importantly, Armenia
seeks return of sacred Mount Ararat.
Both the Karabakh war and the genocide issue drain national energy from
other important quality-of-life needs. Recently, concern has heightened
about its southern neighbor, Iran, as well as the long-term impact of the
Arab Spring on the region. While in Los Gatos we are concerned about the
war in Afghanistan and terrorism in general, this pales next to Armenia's
collective worries.
One million Armenians have migrated in the last 10 years, seeking jobs and
opportunity elsewhere--Russia, former Eastern Bloc countries and the U.S.
California has 450,000 Armenian diaspora, many in the Bay Area. Worldwide,
7 million diaspora send money to relatives, bolstering the economy. This
brain-drain is a serious problem, and my Peace Corps mission is, in part,
to embed confidence to stay.
With the stark economic collapse following independence, Armenia's middle
class contracted. The oligarchs desire to keep the status quo, while the
patient poor live day-to-day living frugally in typically cold, decaying
Soviet-style apartment buildings. Rural unemployment exceeds 30 percent,
with the average rural family living on $190 per month.
Part of my mission is to promote civic capacity--a challenge where apathy
is rampant and to be optimistic is to tempt fate. There is wide distrust of
all things government. After hearing suggestions for more civic
involvement, a respected town member advised me twice, "The people are not
ready for democracy or any type of civic involvement, so don't try."
However, 17- to 25-year-olds are showing signs of energized activism,
particularly on environmental issues.
I lived with a hardworking host family my first 10 weeks in town, living in
their Soviet-era apartment. Wives clearly run households while men are in
charge outside, huddled in small groups debating the daily issues. One day
I noticed my host dad (many years my junior) rubbing his jaw because of a
toothache. I gave him ibuprofen from my Peace Corps medical kit and
encouraged a dental visit. The next day, when he smiled, his front tooth
was gone. Sadly, he could not rationalize dental excessive repair costs
over other family needs.
My Armenian neighbors are all jacks-of-all-trades, skilled in making do.
Little of value is discarded. If repairing an item proves difficult, then a
relative or a friend will succeed in repairing cars, plumbing, electrical,
walls, sewing--you name it. Common are homemade snow shovels, just a broom
handle and a plywood base. Value is stretched, whether it is twice soaking
tea bags or again using soda bottles for raw milk delivery or bottling
homemade wine. American-style restaurants are few outside of cities;
restaurant food cannot be as healthy or tasty as Armenian women can cook at
home. Why waste money?
Subsistence farm plots surround every village, cultivated with care for
maximum yield. Armenians are good farmers and take pride in the variety of
vegetables and fruit they grow. Every male dreams of owning a car, and if
so lucky, will spend many hours under the hood to keep it running.
In Los Gatos, with Safeway, Whole Foods, Nob Hill, Lunardi's and Trader
Joe's, we have an abundant choice. In contrast, rural Armenians have few
shopping choices, and the price of commodities is surprisingly uniform in
Khanuts, or stores.
The cost of staples, relative to income, is much higher here. Meat is
served twice a week, if the family is fortunate. Cheese, often homemade, is
a main protein staple. Breads or "hats" and the famous Armenian clay-oven
baked unleavened flat bread "lavash" are offered in abundance at meals.
Armenians have reverence for bread, their symbol of life. It would be
culturally shameful to discard stale bread in the trash; rather stale bread
is fed to birds to continue the cycle of life.
We can learn much from Armenia. Loyalty and familial support is paramount;
young married couples start off living with the husband's parents,
grandmothers take care of grandchildren, allowing the mother to work or
look for work. Sometimes, the greatest threat to misbehaving children is to
threaten to tell their "tatiks," or grandmothers.
Serious crime is almost nonexistent in rural Armenia because shame to the
family is a greater punishment than anything the criminal justice system
could hand out. I have never felt safer than I do living in my mountain
town. I now rarely count my change. Politeness abounds with particular
sensitivity to the old, as seats are automatically surrendered to the
elderly in a public van, or "marshrutni." Students stand up when teachers
enter their classroom. Armenians cherish their children and make sure their
sons and daughters are dressed in freshly ironed clothes for school each
morning.
Armenians truly take pride in believing they are the most hospitable people
on Earth. My experience living in both a rural town and a village bears
this out. Strangers are treated as honored guests almost to a painful
level, with precious food heaped on the plate. They are proud of their
beautiful mountainous country and often ask me to agree that Armenia must
be prettier than California.
As I said up front, the Peace Corps is not for everyone. I am the only
native English speaker in my town. Volunteers must accept hand-washing
clothes, bucket baths, not driving cars (prohibited by Peace Corps rules),
no English newspapers, no American coffee, little heat, treacherous winter
ice, few sidewalks, different food, no sports or watchable TV (unless one
is fluent in Armenian or Russian), walking and more walking, and perhaps
the toughest adjustment, being alone more than any other time in your life.
The Peace Corps is highly supportive and methodically prepares each
volunteer. Volunteers know they will eventually return to their cushy
American life, their family, friends, communities and most importantly,
opportunities.
Armenia needs a helping hand. The modest amount of taxpayer money spent on
the Peace Corps is vitally important at a time when Armenia is walking a
political tightrope in this unstable region.
Sometimes we need to pause to appreciate our supportive infrastructure,
highly invested civil capacity and developments such as our new Los Gatos
library and police building.
But Armenians demonstrate important values as well--faithfulness to their
ancient culture and history, strong family loyalty, trustworthiness,
resourceful self-reliance and their magnificent love of children. As for
material things, Armenians take pride in their version of the old saying,
"Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without."
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_20464268/stewart-brewster-los-gatos-is-living-armenia-peace?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
Stewart Brewster of Los Gatos is living in Armenia as a Peace Corps
volunteer
By Stewart Brewster, for Silicon Valley Community Newspapers
Posted: 04/23/2012 07:33:38 PM PDT
Updated: 04/23/2012 07:33:39 PM PDT
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
I'm freezing, adjust the thermostat; I'm bored, drive to the mall; I'm
hungry, I order some take-out; my roof leaks, so I call the building
manager.
These are simple problems to remedy in Los Gatos, but I guarantee my
self-reliant neighbors in Armenia take little for granted. In rural
Armenia, there is no central heating, no mall and no ordering out. Water
through frozen pipes does not flow, and if your roof leaks, grab a ladder
and call a limber relative.
Ten months ago, at age 63 old after 41 years in the insurance business, I
retired, said good-bye to my family, friends and Los Gatos neighbors and
flew off to start an adventure serving as a community development Peace
Corps volunteer in a remote Armenian mountain town at a 6,800-foot
elevation.
Landlocked Armenia sits in the South Caucus region between the Black Sea
and the Caspian Sea. Armenia is the size of Maryland, and has less than 3
million people. Armenia takes pride in being the first sovereign country to
adopt Christianity (in 301 AD). Armenia's 2,600-year-old culture is rich in
art, literature and dance. For centuries, goods heading west from Asia
traveled the famous Silk Road not far from my town.
Skill at "shakmat" (chess) has long been a source of national pride, with
Armenia winning the 2011 World Team Chess Championship, edging out China
and Ukraine. Its star player, Levon Aronian, is now ranked second in the
world. Chess is a mandatory class in the Armenian schools, and in village
squares men pass the time huddled over boards.
Armenia today is about 10 percent the size it was at its zenith in the
first century, when it controlled land from the Mediterranean Sea to the
Caspian Sea. From Yerevan, the Armenian capital, volcanic Mount Ararat is
clearly visible as it rises to its snow-peaked majestic 16,854 foot height.
Mount Ararat, sacred to Armenians, is considered the landing place of
Noah's Ark. Scores of businesses use its name, including the famous "Ararat
Cognac" favored by Winston Churchill. However, Mount Ararat is also a
source of great frustration for Armenians as it is now within the borders
of Turkey.
With a modern capital and 98 percent literacy, Armenia is considered a
developed country. However, the per capital income is only 10 percent of
the U.S., with 36 percent living below the poverty level. After the breakup
of the USSR in 1991, Armenia gained independence and is gradually shifting
its ideology from Soviet-style autocracy to a "democratic-like"
parliamentary republic. The 70-year Soviet reign, with its welfare system,
became an institutional crutch and change to a market-based economy has
been painful. Older Armenians wistfully reflect on fond Soviet memories
when jobs were guaranteed, even if freedom of expression was not. While
older Americans might muse about simpler days of old, our steady 235 years
of democratic self-government is reassuring.
My town of 4,600 residents is relatively vibrant because of its mountain
water bottling companies and its reputation as a beautiful holiday
destination drawing visitors to its hot mineral springs. During Soviet
times, the community was a popular vacation spot for Russian elite. In
1985, the population was double its current size, with 25,000 tourists each
year. After 1991, tourism dramatically fell off, the town shrank by half
and the local airport closed.
Sadly, political clouds hang over Armenia. My community closely follows the
long-standing dispute with Azerbaijan, only 14 miles away, and sniper
shootings are common here. A heavily fought three-year war over the
break-away ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, situated within
Azerbaijan, ended in 1994 with a tenuous cease fire--36,000 died in the hot
war, including 26 men from my town. I often walk by the town's Karabakh War
Memorial, where the young heroes' faces, etched into granite, stare out
with a solemn countenance. To the west, the Armenian-Turkish border has
been closed for 20 years as Turkey is politically aligned with Azerbaijan.
This leaves landlocked Armenia with two open borders, Georgia to the north
and Iran to the south, resulting in higher costs and limited goods.
In modern times, Armenia has had two periods of independence, from 1919,
when the Ottoman Empire of which it was a part, broke up, until 1921 when
it joined the USSR. Then, with the breakup of the USSR in 1991, Armenia was
suddenly an independent republic, but with little experience with
democratic institutions. In the void, groups rushed in to dominate key
commodities, resulting today in monopolies that control much of the
commercial trade.
All Armenian males must serve a mandatory two-year stint in the army when
they turn 18, leading most male students, by the time they're in high
school, to focus more on their service, not their studies. Not
surprisingly, Armenian universities are 70 percent female. Families hold
extravagant parties as army recruits depart their hometowns; army life is
not only dangerous, but living conditions are notoriously harsh.
Much of Armenia's energy focuses on formal recognition of the Armenian
Genocide as the 100-year anniversary approaches in 2015. The genocide is
well documented with firsthand accounts of the systematic removal and
killing of millions of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds from eastern Turkey, as
well as Ottoman Turkey's organized confiscation of personal and Armenian
Church property. Besides demanding world-wide condemnation of Ottoman
Turkey, Armenia's ruling party, supported by the diaspora, is resolute in
seeking reparations and return of all Armenian territorial land
unilaterally confiscated by Turkey just after WWI. Importantly, Armenia
seeks return of sacred Mount Ararat.
Both the Karabakh war and the genocide issue drain national energy from
other important quality-of-life needs. Recently, concern has heightened
about its southern neighbor, Iran, as well as the long-term impact of the
Arab Spring on the region. While in Los Gatos we are concerned about the
war in Afghanistan and terrorism in general, this pales next to Armenia's
collective worries.
One million Armenians have migrated in the last 10 years, seeking jobs and
opportunity elsewhere--Russia, former Eastern Bloc countries and the U.S.
California has 450,000 Armenian diaspora, many in the Bay Area. Worldwide,
7 million diaspora send money to relatives, bolstering the economy. This
brain-drain is a serious problem, and my Peace Corps mission is, in part,
to embed confidence to stay.
With the stark economic collapse following independence, Armenia's middle
class contracted. The oligarchs desire to keep the status quo, while the
patient poor live day-to-day living frugally in typically cold, decaying
Soviet-style apartment buildings. Rural unemployment exceeds 30 percent,
with the average rural family living on $190 per month.
Part of my mission is to promote civic capacity--a challenge where apathy
is rampant and to be optimistic is to tempt fate. There is wide distrust of
all things government. After hearing suggestions for more civic
involvement, a respected town member advised me twice, "The people are not
ready for democracy or any type of civic involvement, so don't try."
However, 17- to 25-year-olds are showing signs of energized activism,
particularly on environmental issues.
I lived with a hardworking host family my first 10 weeks in town, living in
their Soviet-era apartment. Wives clearly run households while men are in
charge outside, huddled in small groups debating the daily issues. One day
I noticed my host dad (many years my junior) rubbing his jaw because of a
toothache. I gave him ibuprofen from my Peace Corps medical kit and
encouraged a dental visit. The next day, when he smiled, his front tooth
was gone. Sadly, he could not rationalize dental excessive repair costs
over other family needs.
My Armenian neighbors are all jacks-of-all-trades, skilled in making do.
Little of value is discarded. If repairing an item proves difficult, then a
relative or a friend will succeed in repairing cars, plumbing, electrical,
walls, sewing--you name it. Common are homemade snow shovels, just a broom
handle and a plywood base. Value is stretched, whether it is twice soaking
tea bags or again using soda bottles for raw milk delivery or bottling
homemade wine. American-style restaurants are few outside of cities;
restaurant food cannot be as healthy or tasty as Armenian women can cook at
home. Why waste money?
Subsistence farm plots surround every village, cultivated with care for
maximum yield. Armenians are good farmers and take pride in the variety of
vegetables and fruit they grow. Every male dreams of owning a car, and if
so lucky, will spend many hours under the hood to keep it running.
In Los Gatos, with Safeway, Whole Foods, Nob Hill, Lunardi's and Trader
Joe's, we have an abundant choice. In contrast, rural Armenians have few
shopping choices, and the price of commodities is surprisingly uniform in
Khanuts, or stores.
The cost of staples, relative to income, is much higher here. Meat is
served twice a week, if the family is fortunate. Cheese, often homemade, is
a main protein staple. Breads or "hats" and the famous Armenian clay-oven
baked unleavened flat bread "lavash" are offered in abundance at meals.
Armenians have reverence for bread, their symbol of life. It would be
culturally shameful to discard stale bread in the trash; rather stale bread
is fed to birds to continue the cycle of life.
We can learn much from Armenia. Loyalty and familial support is paramount;
young married couples start off living with the husband's parents,
grandmothers take care of grandchildren, allowing the mother to work or
look for work. Sometimes, the greatest threat to misbehaving children is to
threaten to tell their "tatiks," or grandmothers.
Serious crime is almost nonexistent in rural Armenia because shame to the
family is a greater punishment than anything the criminal justice system
could hand out. I have never felt safer than I do living in my mountain
town. I now rarely count my change. Politeness abounds with particular
sensitivity to the old, as seats are automatically surrendered to the
elderly in a public van, or "marshrutni." Students stand up when teachers
enter their classroom. Armenians cherish their children and make sure their
sons and daughters are dressed in freshly ironed clothes for school each
morning.
Armenians truly take pride in believing they are the most hospitable people
on Earth. My experience living in both a rural town and a village bears
this out. Strangers are treated as honored guests almost to a painful
level, with precious food heaped on the plate. They are proud of their
beautiful mountainous country and often ask me to agree that Armenia must
be prettier than California.
As I said up front, the Peace Corps is not for everyone. I am the only
native English speaker in my town. Volunteers must accept hand-washing
clothes, bucket baths, not driving cars (prohibited by Peace Corps rules),
no English newspapers, no American coffee, little heat, treacherous winter
ice, few sidewalks, different food, no sports or watchable TV (unless one
is fluent in Armenian or Russian), walking and more walking, and perhaps
the toughest adjustment, being alone more than any other time in your life.
The Peace Corps is highly supportive and methodically prepares each
volunteer. Volunteers know they will eventually return to their cushy
American life, their family, friends, communities and most importantly,
opportunities.
Armenia needs a helping hand. The modest amount of taxpayer money spent on
the Peace Corps is vitally important at a time when Armenia is walking a
political tightrope in this unstable region.
Sometimes we need to pause to appreciate our supportive infrastructure,
highly invested civil capacity and developments such as our new Los Gatos
library and police building.
But Armenians demonstrate important values as well--faithfulness to their
ancient culture and history, strong family loyalty, trustworthiness,
resourceful self-reliance and their magnificent love of children. As for
material things, Armenians take pride in their version of the old saying,
"Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without."
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_20464268/stewart-brewster-los-gatos-is-living-armenia-peace?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com