By Mariam Sargsyan
Published: June 15, 2016
On June 14, Miganoush Magarian, the Co-founder of TeachSurfing, and I went to the Armenian city of Masis for a TeachSurfing event on Community Development, Non-Formal Education and IT as a Tool for Positive Change. We were hosted by Masis NGO and met around 20 students in the city during the event.
I began with a speech on what community development is and what kind of tools young people can use to make positive changes in their communities. I shared a few successful community development examples which are a source of inspiration, such as River Fest Armenia, and showed how a committed group of people can do something very important for their community. I shared how youth can get involved on an international level of social activism through worldwide networks, such as Global Changemakers, and highlighted the importance of exchanging experiences with different young people from other countries to develop projects and learn from each other. I concluded my presentation by touching back on TeachSurfing and how travellers from around the world share their knowledge and skills with the communities of their travel destination and have a positive impact during their travels.
Miganoush, being an IT professional, gave a presentation on how to use IT for community development. She not only shared her story as the co-creator of TeachSurfing, but also brought other examples of successful IT projects, such as Demining Smart Dog, and how people with specially trained dogs and who work in the demining sphere can benefit from it. With her speech and example, Miganoush showed that everybody has a special talent and if they use their talents properly they can have a great input in making this world a better place.
At the end of the event, we had a workshop with the participating students. They were divided into 3 groups and their first task was to identify and discuss the main problems they see in their own community. These were the 3 issues they finalized: (1) The absence of social spaces and places of entertainment, (2) The problem of unsafe drinking water in Masis, (3) The absence of cleanliness, maintenance and the lack of a culture which promotes a clean environment. During their second task the students brainstormed and suggested solutions for the above mentioned problems. As a result, they plan to have their first United Garbage Collection Day at the end of June.
We were happy to meet such an enthusiastic group of youths in Masis. I believe that they are the ones who can and who will become positive change-makers in their communities.