Full Life's Computer Lab Rebuilding Project

When I came to Full Life NGO we had one working XP Desk Top, three working Lenovo Laptops, and one Lenovo Desk Top that was Administratively Locked up and no one knew the password. The XP computer was being used to teach on Adult to use Excel by a Volunteer Teacher but otherwise the computers were not being used.  I worked at getting the Laptop computers working and logged into the Full Life WIFI.  I then began offering our After School Program Children the opportunity to get on our Laptop computers and an I Pad I had brought with me and soon found that it was such a popular part of the After School Program that we soon had half the class working on computers while the other half did Art Therapy.  I soon realized that with 15 After School Children in a class that I had to have more computers operational and find more software for them to use to keep the Children satisfied.  I had to reload the Millennium software on the Lenovo Computer to unlock it.  I found two potential repairable computers in a stack in the corner and discovered that one would work after reloading a unregistered copy of Millennium and another one needed a new hard drive.  That is when I started talking with my NGO about what it would take to make our Computer Lab Functional.   

I was aware that the Minnesota Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association had fund raisers for Grants for Peace Corps NGO's that had a deadline soon for applying for.  Since the limit to our grant request was $1000 I looked into with my NGO what improvements we could make in our Computer Lab for $1,000.  My Director knew of two Lenovo Desk top Computers that could be donated to Full Life but they would need Keyboards, Mice and Monitors.  We only had one flat screen monitor and three old Tub monitors.  I set our goal at getting one new Desktop computer set that could do everything we wanted to do, get registered Windows and Office Software on all our computers, repair Laptop with a Fan Error and replace our bad Hard Drive.  I would have settled for a low cost computer set and less software to keep the cost below the $1,000 Grant that we were grateful that the Minnesota Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association awarded us in May.  Then found that the Peace Corps preferred that we put that Grant through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, which would mean a lot more work to complete the application and to complete a required transfer of knowledge program for the computer lab.  In the process, we were encouraged by our SPA Grant Committee to consider upgrading our Computer equipment and software requests and fund-raise the difference.  We ended up submitting a PCPP Grant for a i3 rather than a Dual processor computer, and adding three flat screen monitors along with the Windows and MS Office Software.

Since this involved a lot more planning to decide what type of Knowledge transfer we could do within a short period so that we could move on to submitting a SPA Grant request for a program that would make use of the Computer Lab,  it was decided to develop some computer training for our After School program.  The challenge was to create some computer training in Armenian and how would we evaluate the results of our Computer Training.  We started with an initial survey of our After School Program kids to see what type of computer and internet access our children had at home and in school.  Then I developed a pre-test and afterwards a post-test to see what they learned from the lessons.  The Tuesday group got both the pre-test, the computer lesson, and Post-test.  The Thursday group because they missed a few classes at the end of the school year got the Computer Lesson and the post-test.  We also have developed a Computer interest Survey for the After School program, Potential Computer Clubs, and Vocational Training Program, which we have completed with the After School program and will become an ongoing Survey for the Computer Clubs and Vocational Programs.

Now we have Three Lenovo Desk Tops with Windows Millennium and MS Office, one with a tube monitor, the rest with Flat Screen monitors.  We have replace two Desk Top hard drives with 500 gig hard drives, they now have Windows 7 and Office 2007.  By the end of July we plan to put a free upgrade to Windows 10 on three of our Windows 7 laptop computers and our three desktop computers with Windows 7.  This will give us a total of six desktop  computers in our computer lab and four laptops. Everything will have registered Windows and MS Office Software on it.  This computer lab that is now completely connected to the internet and not only become very popular with the After School Program but we will be planning to start at least 2 Computer Clubs and use it for a Vocational Training Program. 

Our After School Program has been happy to be able to have six Desk Tops and three Laptops functioning and online.  We had one day when we had 18 After School Program kids here for a Orange Phone Company Grant Presentation that is supporting our After School Program and we were able to have 9 computers running and online.  The Children have been learning to find their favorite games and online web pages. We now have Typing  Instructor, Resume Maker  Software,  some Financial Software, and by fall with free educational Apps within Windows  10 I hope to have Computer lessons and educational software set up and organized to make the Computer Lab a more functional educational tool.  I already have Video and Photo Processing Software on our computers, we are collecting surveys of potential Computer Club members, and will be preparing the software to support Computer Training Classes or Special Interest Computer Groups.  After developing our SPA Grant we plan to be able to develop a Vocational Training Program using our Computer Lab and office.  Not only are the Children more excited with a After School program that is more than just Art Therapy.  But there are some older youth from the community who have become interested in the Full Life Computer Club Program and we have the potential of developing a Vocational Training Program using our Computer Lab to be able to improve the Employ-ability of our Adults with Disabilities.  This computer lab will not only be a important tool to teach individuals with disabilities to be able do develop computer and vocational skills.  It will also become a inclusive program that will not only work with Armenian, English, and Russian computer skills.  But it will include individuals with a variety of computer knowledge and interests together to help everyone improve their computer knowledge and abilities.  

We are grateful for the support of the Minnesota Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association for their Grant to make this Computer Lab Rebuilding Project possible.  We look forward to this computer lab being able to improve our educational program of our After School Program, create Inclusive Computer Clubs to improve everyone's computer knowledge, and to have this Computer Lab become an important tool to create a Vocational Training Program within our Full Life NGO. 

Christianity is Alive and Well in Armenia

Christianity is Alive and Well in Armenia

From Christmas through Summer Youth Programs has given me an opportunity to be able to share and fellowship with Christians throughout my community in Armenia to find that there is a diversity of expression of Christian Faith and Worship within Armenia.  The strong feelings of many here in Armenia that there is only one True Christian Faith here in Armenia and that everyone else is a part of a Sect.  I was reminded that this was actually written into their laws that there is one official Church in Armenia and everyone else is considered to be a Religious Organization. I have found though that despite Armenia being a small Country where most of the people share the same Ethnic Heritage there is still a lot of Diversity of Christian Faith here in Armenia.  To cover that up it is natural for the Traditional Armenian Apostolic Church to say that they being the Earliest Christian Nation and one of the oldest Christian Churches that any other Church is a Sect of Christianity (Meaning they are not really sure it is Christian).  In America we also have similar feelings about Sects but for us Sects tend to be limited to many of the groups that we feel have distorted main Christian Beliefs through other Writings and Interpretations of Scriptures so we may think of  sects as only of  Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses as well as some denominations we have strong theological differences with.  I have discovered that there are definitely Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses, which I might consider a Sect, here in Armenia.  But that there are a lot of  Christian groups here that a lot of us in America would say that is just another Denomination of Christians that just believes or worships a little different than I do.   

Although I haven't said it much to my Apostolic Christian Friends, my other Christian Armenian Friends like it when I say since their Church is a minority in America that many people may consider their Church a Christian Sect.  This is especially true since they have so many old traditions that are different than ours and they don't even Celebrate Christmas when we do.  But I find that almost all the Christian Churches in Armenia Celebrate Christmas different than we do.  In America it may be hard to understand why a Church hangs on to so many Church Traditions, Worship Ceremonies, and even their original language when Churches of immigrants to America changed their Worship Services and Language a long time ago.  

I would like to share with you that there is something to appreciate about a Christian Church that doesn't change with the society around them and doesn't move from one Contemporary Worship Style to another.  Although I do like Contemporary Worship Styles, whether in America or Armenia, you will find  those that want to hang on the the old traditions and worship styles.  Watch this video to see how a little country at this point like Armenia has had such a big part of the Christian Worship within the Holy Land since the 3rd Century.   

From Ararat To Zion - Armenian Apostolic Church 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwC8McwG9bw

I consider myself very lucky to be able  to have the local Apostolic Priest Monk Vram Ghazaryan as a friend and although he accepts that I am an Evangelical Christian, he does welcome me to fellowship in his Church.  I am very impressed with his messages since unlike me he can stand up in front of the Congregation without notes and talk with them from his heart sharing a message from the scriptures or an admonition about their faith.  He can even share with me the next day in English some of what he shared in his Sunday messages. He is a very intelligent person who has even written a book that he shared with me on  Armenian Apostolic Church in Middle Asia in  511 AD Centuries.  I would not be able to out argue him in the Scriptures in Armenian since I have seen him in action while speaking to World Vision Staff.  And he doesn't feel comfortable discussing Theological Issues in English so he just shares with me many Armenian Apostolic Church Traditions in English.   Here is a picture of the Surb Sargis Apostolic Church in Stepanavan.

Monk Vram Ghazaryan does remind me a lot of an Apostolic Priest I became friends with in St. Paul, Minnesota before joining the Peace Corps.  He shared in this Video how Armenian Culture and Armenian Faith is tied together I believe within all the the churches within Armenia.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiXrmvaAJao

No matter what Church you are a part of in Armenia considers Armenia a Christian Nation.  That is especially true when they remind you of the Armenian Genocide or the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the break-away Republic of  Nagorno - Karabakh.  Having had to remember the attempt to wipe out the Armenian people by Turkey for the last 100 years there is a definite reminder that no matter what church you are in that they are a Christian Country surrounded by Muslim Countries. There is a feeling that there is no sense of religious freedom, harmony, and security with any of their surrounding countries.  That is why they had the war over the break-away Republic of  Nagorno - Karabakh.  When the Soviet Union broke up and left major groups of Armenians living within the neighboring Muslim Country of Azerbaijan the only sense of security when radical Muslims come in by night and kill Christian Families is to want to separate yourself from your neighboring Muslim neighbors and become a part of your Christian Heritage of the country of Armenia.  Even now I was reminded that there is only one Mosque in Armenia and it is more of a Museum than a Muslim Worship Center.  In neighboring countries like Turkey Christian Leaders have been threatened, it is not legal to come in as  a Missionary, and your life would be in danger if they thought that you were trying to convert people to Christianity.  For many Centuries Armenian Christians have been spread throughout the Middle East seeking to co-exist with their Muslim neighbors but when governments become unstable like in Syria then you can have radical Muslims like ISIS come in who what to forcibly convert, drive out, or kill all all Christians in their land.  It is no wonder that the way Israel has tried to create a religious homeland in the Middle East that the Armenians have tried to hang on to their homeland in the mountains of Armenia as a safe Christian Homeland for Armenians.

But although Armenian Apostolic Christians like to hang on to the idea that theirs is the only true Church in Armenia they tend to become a little more Ecumenical when it comes to dealing with the other Christian Churches around the world.  They find it easier to accept Orthodox and even Catholic Christians as Christians even though they feel their Theology and Church Traditions are better and more true to Christianity.  I have found that there is a strong Catholic Ministry in Armenia since the Earthquake through the Armenian Sisters.

http://armeniansisters.org/

 But they don't seem to know what to do with the Protestant, Evangelical, and Charismatic Christian movements within their Armenian Christian tradition.  Even though the Evangelical Revivals started in the 1800's among Armenians and many of the Charismatic Churches are influenced by Armenian Christians in Russia or America.  Through the history of Religious oppression during the Soviet times they tend to have been insulated from the Christian Revival Movements that took place in the last 100 years.  Their experience with it in the last 25 years since they have been exposed to the Christianity of the outside world has not given them any cultural acceptance of the differences in Christian Theology and Worship.   That may come in time as they learn to accept that in many ways Christian Revivals have brought more personal spiritual commitment  to the ministry of the Church.  They have had some spiritual renewal within the Church due to the support of outside Christian Groups like World Vision who have helped them to develop material sharing the history and theology of their Apostolic Church which is taught within the school system and now developed as a part of a Christian Education program within the Church.  But they do not recognize that much of the social and spiritual support that they receive from programs like World Vision  or other clothing and Medical Missions supports comes from Protestant and Evangelical Churches from around the world and not just from Armenian Apostolic Christians.

I have found that despite the feelings that the Apostolic Faith is the original and only truly Armenian Church that Christianity is alive and well within Armenia.  Within my small town of Stepanavan I am finding that there are a variety of Christian Churches.  Here is the Evangelical Church of Stepanavan that I have found a strong tradition of Christian Ministry within the Community.

In some ways I find it not much different than the Evangelical Churches that I grew up with in America.  Their worship and ministries are very similar to the many Evangelical Churches Churches I attended in America with similar worship styles and traditions.

I have also found Charismatic Churches  like the Word Of Life Church. 

Or even more Pentecostal Churches coming from Russia like the New Generation Church.

Within Armenia there are many Growing Christian Ministries leading to a revival of Christianity within all of the Churches within Armenia.  

The Armenian Evangelical Church

Young Life

Youth With A Mission Armenia

Although I have been reminded by some of my Peace Corps Volunteers that we are not here to change peoples Religious Faith I find that they are more afraid of people seeking to change their Religious beliefs and lifestyles.  I would prefer to encourage people to grow in their Spiritual Faith and Commitment to God in whatever faith they are brought up in even among my Jewish friends in the Peace Corps.  I do find in Armenia a strong religious heritage and a strong sense of a Christian  culture where I can find Christian Fellowship no matter what Church I have attended.  Sure it helps that I can't speak Armenian so we don't have to disagree over our Theological differences.  And there are some churches that I feel more comfortable worshiping in than others.   But Christianity is alive and well in Armenia.  In some ways being a Christian nation surrounded by non-Christian nations has given them a long history of being identified as a Christian nation.  Recently I have been in discussion with some people as to which is a more Christian nation Armenia or America.  That is a subject that would take too long to discuss in this blog.  But ever since I began pre-service Training here I have had a desire to share with Armenians one of my favorite Christian Patriotic Songs.  Since they have borrowed a lot of our other Christian Music I don't think it would be unpatriotic or unchristian to share this song with them

God Bless Armenia
Land That I Love
Stand Beside Her
And Guide Her
With A Light That Is Bright From Above
From The Mountains To The Valleys
From Lake Sevan To Yerevan
God Bless Armenia My Home Sweet Home
God Bless Armenia My Home Sweet Home