Western Diocese

LONG BEACH – The Christian Youth Mission to Armenia - Western Diocese, will host its first annual Dinner Dance Extravaganza on November 30 at the Long Beach Hyatt, to bring together the Armenian youth to celebrate the success of the programs’ past summer in Armenia.

The purpose of the event is to publicize the program, while also celebrating the success of the past summer. Featuring Khachig and his Band, CYMA hopes to unite Armenian youth and inform potential applicants about the opportunities CYMA provides.

Those who attend with have the opportunity to listen to past participants experiences in Armenia, as well as retain information about the program. Following the small presentation, there will be a raffle, for which the grand prize is a free trip for CYMA 2008.

This past summer over thirty students participated in CYMA, spending two weeks or two months in Armenia in an effort to establish their cultural identities. The program is divided into two a spiritual pilgrimage and professional internship program. The pilgrims stayed for two weeks with an opportunity to soak in Armenian culture, while the interns remain for two months to volunteer for different organizations.

The 2007 Spiritual Pilgrimage was led by Deacon Matthew Ash and Stefanie Ash and consisted of excursions to Armenia’s cultural icons and holiest sites. The 12 participants were busy each day traveling around the country to explore their identity as diasporan Armenians while adopting CYMA-WD’s main mission, “Bridge the Gap.” Pilgrim Arman Kalamkarian said, “Seeing the Badarak in Gharapagh would have to be the biggest affect on my faith. Just seeing all those people walk to church and stand, not sit in pews, and pray was the biggest thing that did it for me.”

A program established four years ago, CYMA has grown significantly every year, this past year sending the most applicants to the motherland. Interns were spread out inside of hospitals, governmental agencies, orphanages and youth programs. Interns had the opportunity to see medicinal practices at a local hospital, direct a children’s play, and write for a local newspaper, all while visiting museums and landmarks, and attending language classes among various forums. This spiritually uplifting mission introduced several other concepts to the participants through various discussions about the Armenian Church, Artsakh, the Armenian Genocide, and personal future involvement in Armenia. At the conclusion of the pilgrimage, it was the wish for most participants to return to Armenia in the summer of 2008 to participate in the CYMA-WD Professional Internship program.

Paul Keutelian, who spent his second summer in Armenia with CYMA as an internship coordinator, said of the trip, “I believe it is very important that more of the youth see and learn about our motherland, because there is so much that is left out of the picture, and we are deprived of this rich history and knowledge about our past.”

To buy tickets visit www.cyma-wd.org