School and extracurricular classes, leisure time – everything has become insignificant for Ani Ghulinyan since the start of the FIFA World Cup. Her family has accepted that the TV set “belongs” to Ani until July 15 and they have to “obey” the rules she sets and go along with the moods she gets.

 

“They usually watch other programmes, but now football has taken up that time. On top of that, I vent loudly while I’m watching a game and I get upset if my team is losing.”

 

Ani, the former goalkeeper for girls’ football team in Dsegh village, means Argentina and Barcelona as “her” teams.

 

 

However, even amidst the World Cup insanity Ani finds time to visit the neighboring village of Debet. The newly opened COAF SMART Center there often needs volunteers to meet and guide the guests, introduce them to the center’s activity. When the center was under construction, people from Dsegh and Debet used to go see the work in progress.

 

 

“Any type of construction is difficult in our area, be that a road or a building. That’s why we all had misgivings about the center. We did not believe we would have something like that within ten years, but seeing the main parts of the building finished made us hopeful.”

 

 

Now Ani tries to attend every event in SMART Center. Ani has come to meet with members of the children’s club from the Cafesjian Center for the Arts along with her friend Stella. Together, they will discuss how museums can become more attractive for young audience.

 

 

“I am a big fan and honored visitor of Hovhannes Tumanyan House-Museum in Dsegh. I take every guest of my family there and show them around. I love the routine in the museum. Whenever I happen to be in Yerevan, I try to visit as many museums and galleries as I can,” says Ani.

 

 

While SMART Center guests are on their way, Ani calls on the library and takes the book she has yet to finish - Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul. Ani chose it because it is from the “Banned books” series and she was curious how an Armenian and a Turk could associate a century after the Armenian Genocide.

 

 

Ani wants to learn about international relations not only from fiction. The 16-year-old girl tries to assess the state of global affairs as a future diplomat.

 

 

 

“I felt I was good at negotiating since I was very little. I like studying world history and international relations. Some diplomatic institutions, England, for example, always manage to get off with a whole skin more so than others, whatever the circumstances. But our, Armenian state doesn’t manage that. We have always been the aggrieved, minor party. I can’t say our diplomats failed, but their efforts were not enough for a small country like ours.”

 

 

Ani is studying Spanish along with German and English, so that she doesn’t face the language barrier if her dream comes true and she gets assigned in Latin America as a diplomat. It is not the first or only occupation Ani has thought about. She says if parallel universes were real, she would love to become a doctor or professional tennis player in one of them, or work as a tour guide.

 

“I used to have more dreams, but they all became tangible, accessible and were dreams no more. Now they are targets.”

 

Ani disagrees that life in the countryside is dull. She believes it is up to the people to organize their routine in an entertaining way. For instance, Ani herself has no free time. She is waiting for her lessons to end so she can lie down in the hammock in her family home’s garden and do nothing. She loves Dsegh, and the only thing that doesn’t look bright in her future career as a diplomat is that she will have to leave her native village.

 

 

Ani says she has been an active member of the society since the age of 13.

 

“There are always things that irritate you, things you don’t like and want to change in your community and school. You can do nothing and wait for the problem to resolve on its own or leave it to others, because the issue doesn’t concern you personally. The other way is to try to do something, find a solution. I choose the second option.”

 

  

 

Ani takes part in initiatives and programs designed for the youth. She wants her fellow residents of Dsegh to become involved and take responsibility for their village. According to Ani, others in Dsegh usually avoid raising issues. Ani’s family doesn’t share her tendencies for social activism, but they support her.

 

 

“If we elect someone head of the village or member of the town council, they should serve the people and be responsible for their voters. People need to understand that and stop feeling shy or ashamed to voice their concerns, because freely speaking about problems and seeking solutions is a normal process in any democratic country. I want stereotypes and the closed-minded, backward approach to disappear in our village and entire Armenia, I want all walls between the leaders and the citizens to fall down.”

 

Ani writes about her concerns and some interesting characters left out of the large audience’s attention on 17.am, a website for children and teenagers. Last year Ani took COAF media studies classes in Dsegh Smart Room, which now help her to navigate through the huge information field.

 

 

“In particular, when the situation in the country is difficult and all news websites work very actively, you need to find reliable sources to avoid spreading misinformation. I laugh when I think about the kinds of posts I used to share.”

 

Now Ani knows the power of the word. The former goalkeeper dreaming to become a diplomat can’t wait for her rhetoric classes.

 

Everyone above the age of 14 from Lori marz’s communities can attend rhetoric classes at COAF SMART Center for free. The purpose of the program is to teach attractive, literate speech. The students will learn the skills for successful public speeches, presentations, negotiations and general communication, and they will be given the opportunity to apply their knowledge.

In order to raise media literate consumers, SMART Center also teaches media literacy classes, which explain the way media work and tell about their motives and areas of focus. Teenagers aged 14-16 who attend the classes will learn to assess critically information from news outlets and avoid the negative impact of the media.

For additional information about COAF SMART Center please call +374 10 50 20 76 or visit https://am.coafkids.org/coaf-smart/.

 

Lusine Gharibyan 

Photos: Vaghinak Ghazaryan (for Mediamax)