This is the first edition of our newsletter. With this and the upcoming

versions we want to keep our members, partners and other interested

parties informed about our past and upcoming activities. In this edition

you will find a calendar with all the upcoming clubs we hold at YIC for the

the members, interviews with the member of the month Karen

Harutyunyan and our EVS volunteer Andres Podsiadlik. Also stories about

Human Rights project, EVS in Sicily, Indian months activities and a new

book reading club. And of course info about our Volunteering

Promotional Month project.

Clubs in July

Mondays:

16:00 – French Club for

Beginners (Flavie Laporte)

17:30 – Business English

Club (Kimberly VanKirk)

Tuesdays:

15:00 – Spanish Club (Anna

Harutyunyan)

16:00 – English for beginners

(Volodya Khachatryan)

Wednesdays:

15:00 – Turkish Club

(Yeranuhi Hovhannisyan)

17:30 – Intermediary English

club (Siranush Minasyan)

Thursdays:

14:00 – German Club for

beginners (Suzan Muradyan)

15:30 – English for beginners

(Volodya Khachatryan)

16:30 – Farsi Club (Galya

Hovhannisyan)

17:30 – European Club (Kert

Kivaste/ Flavie Laporte) OR

Estonian Club (Kert Kivaste)

Fridays:

15:00 – Conversational

French Club (Flavie Laporte)

16:30 – Book Reading Club

(Kert Kivaste)

17:30 – Intermediary English

club (Siranush Minasyan)

More info on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/

groups/yic.members.group/

June with

July 2012 #1

Training course

on Human Rights

in Dilijan

“Human Rights in Crisis: Reviewing

HRE Practice in Youth Work” aimed

to exchange experiences and good

practice and develop competences of

youth workers in the field of Human

Rights Education at national and

regional level and to enable them to

act as trainers or multipliers for

human rights education, especially

through national or regional seminars

and local pilot projects.

The seminar was designed to give

participants the opportunity to

experience and reflect upon activities

and concepts central to human rights

education based on experiential

learning approaches. The course was

also designed as a mutual learning

situation, where participants could

compare their approaches to training

and to human rights education across

Europe in a dialogical intercultural

approach and environment.

Training Course was implemented by

Diggout Association (The

Netherlands) – main coordinator –

responsible for application and

administration of project and Youth

Cooperation Centre of Dilijan

(Armenia) – responsible for

organization and logistics of the

training.

Syuzanna Galstyan and Suzan

Muradyan as YIC NGO volunteers

were representing Armenia and YIC

NGO.

During the training the participants

were given an opportunity to visit

some historical places near Dilijan.

And to some extent it helped them to

get the idea about Armenian culture,

history.

Syuzanna Galstyan

Indian months in YIC

YIC “International Club” organized ‘Indian

tea treating’ in the frameworks of Indian

months at YIC. The host of the event was

Janghiani family composed of the

International club team members who had

created a real Indian atmosphere with

corresponding decoration and clothing. The

event was composed of the following parts:

• Introduction of Indian Gods

• Quiz on Indian culture, history, Gods of

India

• Tea treating prepared and served in a

traditional Indian way

• Showing the way of wearing Indian traditional

dress – “sari”

• Indian dance

In the framework of “YIC Open Air Cinema”

the screening of Indian epic “Ramayana” was

done in Gyumri Central Park. The audience

was composed of YIC members and simply of

passers-by who watched the cartoon with

great interest and left the place impressed.

Another one among the series of events

dedicated to the Indian months was Indian

cooking. A well-known and traditional Indian

dish “Biryani” was prepared by International

Club team and other YIC members who

actively joined the interesting process of

cooking.

As a final event of Indian months “Indian

wedding” will be organized with all Indian

peculiar traditions and rituals and participation

of students from India. The event will take

place on July 7, at 17:00, at Berlin Art Hotel,

Gyumri.

Sona Sahakyan

EVS volunteer Andres

Podsiadlik

Andres Podsiadlik, from Poland, has started

his service at YIC from 2nd of October 2011,

in the framework of Youth in Action program

European Voluntary Service. Andres is

working at Gyumri “HUYS” Children House

and at Armenian Caritas “Little Prince” Social

Center.

He is conducting various sport and cultural

activities to provide the children a healthy

lifestyle and make their free time more

productive.

His volunteering service gets now close to the

end as he will leave Armenia at the end of

June. Andres values his positive EVS

experience and says it has made him a lot

more responsible and more confident to

manage project independently. Working

among an international team he has improved

a lot his English skills. This service has been

also a great opportunity for him to learn more

about Armenian culture and to share his own

culture.

Andres has been very appreciated by everyone

for his cheerfulness and his eternal

enthusiasm.

Interviewed and edited by Flavie Laporte

Book Reading club

In June we started a new club in YIC called

the “book reading club”. Actually there are

two main themes. First one of its goals, as the

name suggests, is to promote reading in

general. Secondly, regarding the book (“The

Power of Full Engagement”) and the way the

club is built up, it’s also a self-development

club. We are reading a chapter per week and

then we meet on Fridays at 16:30 to discuss

about valuable insights of the book and also

how to incorporate some of the ideas into our

everyday life. For that we set some goals and

challenges for ourselves in order to raise our

productivity. The book is very thought

provoking and recommended for everyone.

The best part is that you can still join us and

hopefully the first book in the list will not also

be the last in the context of this club.

Kert Kivaste

Anna Osipyan

volunteering in Sicily

It’s only 1 and half month here, and it feels

like I have been in this place for ages! I am

Anna, and I am doing EVS in the island of

sun and oranges. I have always wanted to do

EVS exactly in this country and I know why;)

I am working with the Archeoclub d’Italia,

and the project is on youth, tourism and

legality, local development and cultural

heritage. Now we are getting prepared for the

summer youth camp which is going to be a

really big event! We had a cool on-arrival

training during which we had dozens of

activities on intercultural communication,

personal development, EVS in general and in

details. We got stuffed with pasta which is so

typical, and of course making “bordellos” (it is

not what you think!) in the evenings. I am

loving the experience I am going through as

living with guys from other countries and

travelling, seeing and touching teaches a lot.

So far, I have not faced any major problems,

the only one is that formally I am an illegal

immigrant by now, as the police visit and

settling documentation takes ages here! Even

worse than in Armenia! Allora ragazzi, I go on

with enjoying this cool experience and hope

many other guys may have the opportunity to

do the same. Be keen on change!

Anna Osipyan

Interview with the member of June - Karen Harutyunyan

Youth Initiative Center NGO

never breaks any of its laws. And

this time Karen Harutyunyan was

selected by lottery as a member of

the month. On this occasion we

had a very short but interesting

interview with Karen.

How did you find YIC ?

I heard about YIC from my friend

and the first time I attended it to

learn Spanish. I began attending

YIC regularly and I noticed the

energetic and consolidated work.

And I realized that I was at the

right place and this NGO would

definitely have many things to do

and to say. From that very moment

till today I am a full member at

YIC and now I am also a

volunteer.

What is the best thing at YIC?

One of the important things I

would like to mention about YIC is

that people working at YIC are

very frank. They are devoted to

their work. And the most

important thing is that human

relations towards each other are at

a very high scale and there is no

discrimination in staff –members’

relations.

What is the most important

thing you have learnt at YIC?

Following active work rules at YIC

I became more punctual and I

began paying more attention to my

proper use of time and I became

more ambitious.

What do you like less at YIC?

YIC has many positive features.

And for me there are not any

things I don’t like.

What future plans connected

with YIC do you have?

Till now YIC has implemented not

only a number of various local

projects, events, but also

international and public projects

which I have also tried to take part

in. Recently I have taken part in

“You are able” media program

implemented by YIC. It was a great

success not only in Gyumri but

also in other regions of Armenia,

and even abroad. Now I don’t have

any specific plans but I hope there

will be many projects for us to

participate in so we will become

more informed.

What hobbies do you have?

Sometimes I don’t have any free

time for my hobbies because of my

business. But if I have some time I

try to use it usefully. And during

the so called “free time” I try to

record some songs and act in some

videos and films.

Do you study or work?

I am a student at Yerevan State

University of Theatre.

Is there anything at YIC you

would like to change?

Actually there is nothing to change.

YIC works very hard and day by

day it brings new innovations in

the society. I just have to follow

them and manage those

innovations.

Why people should recognize

YIC?

Every young man should know and

recognize YIC to realize what

volunteer work is, to be close to

Europe, to get acquainted with

other cultures, and to be more

informed about the projects about

which he/she was completely

unaware before meeting YIC.

Interviewed and edited by Nune

Minasyan

Volunteering Month with YIC

YIC with the support of local and international volunteers, launches a series of activities for the local youth

within the framework of ”Volunteering Month with YIC” initiative. The activities aim at the promotion of

volunteerism as a mechanism for youth participation.

Being one of the main advocates of voluntary work and youth participation in the Northern Armenia, YIC

sees the need for undertaking actions with the local youth to get them more active and willing to serve their

potential in coping with the problems faced in the community as well as in bringing the change they strive

for.

”Volunteering Month with YIC” will be the promotion of the voluntary initiatives which is to be carried out

through the following activities:

Contacts

Address: Shirakatsi 177a, apt.2, Gyumri 3118, Armenia

E-mail: yic_ngo@yahoo.com

Website: www.yic.am

Tel/Fax: +374 312 4-94-97