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Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)
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A Diasporan in Armenia:
Jason Paul Kazarian from Texas discovers Gyumri and its young talents
in unique
way.
Life in Gyumri is a far cry from Texas for Jason Paul Kazarian. But
when the opportunity
arose to fill the vacant Executive Director position at the Gyumri
Information Technologies
Center (GITC/GTech), he accepted it without hesitation.
Moving 5,000 miles away from his home country provided quite the
lifestyle change
for Mr. Kazarian, both professionally and personally. But the vision
and goals he
had for GITC prompted his move and have remained his priority.
Each day for him at GITC – a competitive post-graduate IT institution
– varies.
On Mondays, he teaches a class for students working on their thesis
projects and
helps them with the organization of their papers including the
format, thesis,
thesis chapters, and gives overall guidance to the 20 students so they
can graduate
on July 14. Mr. Kazarian also makes it a point for himself to travel
out of Gyumri
into Yerevan to do development work and build partnerships between the
IT industry
and GITC. There he frequently visits the FAR office. He also spends
his time writing
grant proposals and finding sources of revenue, in addition to
supervising GITC’s
employees.
Founded in August 2005, GITC promotes the IT industry, drives the
formation of an
IT infrastructure and promotes employment opportunities in this area
devastated
by the major earthquake in 1988. GITC has graduated about 50 young
adults. In exchange
for nearly free training, students commit to remain in the Gyumri
region for two
years following graduation.
The cultural differences between Armenia and the United States are
ones Mr. Kazarian
has observed while living in Gyumri. "The way women and men engage
with each other
is similar to the US in the 1950s," said Mr. Kazarian. "The women’s
lib movement
hasn’t taken full effect, although it seems it’s going to happen with
the current
generation who are 25 and under. I’m seeing a modern mindset in some
of them," he
said, noting that Gyumri is a mix of eastern and western cultures.
"It’s interesting to look at our students because they have a
provincial mindset.
Gyumri has a population of 150,000 people and there’s a prevailing
village mentality,"
said Mr. Kazarian, who has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in
computer science.
Moving across the world naturally poses many challenges and obstacles
to complete
even the simplest tasks. "There’s not an open market for rental
property," said
Mr. Kazarian, who had to hunt for a place to live when he first moved
to Gyumri.
"Something as simple as finding a place to live is basically done by
word of mouth."
He compared Gyumri to most European cities where it’s very
compact. Mr. Kazarian
walks 20 minutes to work every day and doesn’t need a car to get
around, as it’s
easy to get everywhere on foot.
Originally from California, Mr. Kazarian lived the last 14 years in
Texas. He has
been in software development for about 25 years and spent three years
in industrial
education in technical topics such as telecommunications and software
development.
Prior to joining GITC, he worked six years as an independent
contractor for multiple
customers and owned a boutique IT company.
Mr. Kazarian’s vision for GITC is three-fold. He wants to modify the
curriculum
so that there are no prerequisites to complete before enrolling in
GITC, other than
earning a degree from a public institution. He would also like to hire
local Gyumri-based
full time faculty which both reduces expenses and improves the quality
of student
life. "Now we have instructors who commute from Yerevan and come once
a week," said
Mr. Kazarian. "There is no opportunity for students to interact with
their teachers.
Having our own faculty will also make it easier for students to get
help on projects
and homework assignments during the week."
He sees GITC moving from an academic model to a vocational and
certification model
of training which is more job-focused and will be more beneficial to
students who
don’t want a college degree but want to work in a technical
discipline. "The vision
is going towards that direction. We are targeting people that don’t
have those kind
of resources and are being ignored by the rest of the educational
community," said
Kazarian.
In addition, Mr. Kazarian wants GITC to engage with more Americans, in
particular,
American-Armenian companies and have GITC students perform outsourcing
and off shoring
work for them. "We need to build bridges with these companies who are
moving in
that [off shoring] direction, especially with the recession we have
going on in
the US," said Mr. Kazarian.
"Armenia is an optimum market for generating wealth through
intellectual property.
Salaries paid for talented technical specialists are reasonable, even
when compared
with Chinese and Indian markets. Dozens of companies are engaged in
hardware and
software product development for export, including National
Instruments and Virage
Logic. Some organizations, Epygi and Synopsys to name just two, are
betting the
entire company’s future on Armenian based talent–and winning. GITC is
becoming
a bridge to Gyumri for companies like this and many others. I would
love to see
this opportunity – GITC, explored and supported by, especially, young
generation
of Armenians from Diaspora."
Mr. Kazarian is indeed enjoying his position at GITC and living in
Gyumri. Two of
his favorite things in Gyumri are the weather, which he said is
comparable to Denver,
and the healthier food, including the locally grown organic fruits and
vegetables.
Gyumri, located 75 miles outside of Yerevan, is the second largest
city in Armenia,
and has made substantial progress since it was hard hit with the
earthquake in 1988.
The calamity took the lives of 50,000 people and injured scores of
others. "One
of the big changes is the amount of construction since I was here in
December 2006
to today. There are buildings popping up everywhere. I’ve seen 3 or 4
multi-story
large buildings go up in spaces that were vacant in a little over 2
years. Earthquake-wise,
they’re rebuilding the original Armenian Church, and the project is
coming along.
There have been a lot of changes. It doesn’t look anything like it
did, five, or
even two years ago."
There are many things Mr. Kazarian wants to accomplish as Executive
Director of
GITC, including starting a full-time faculty, hopefully with the
participation of
Diasporan Armenians. "I wish I could encourage people in the IT
industry who want
to become educators to come and teach at GITC," said Mr. Kazarian. "If
we had half
a dozen people who would be willing to move here for a year or two, we
would have
a cutting edge educational institution. We would like to have people
from the Diaspora
to come here and do something different than a typical nine to five
job."
Mr. Kazarian’s friend from Texas, Mr. Ken Maranian, participated in
FAR’s Young
Professional’s Trip to Armenia in the summer of 2006 and had an
incredible experience
that he shared with Mr. Kazarian once he returned to
Texas. Mr. Kazarian was interested
in Mr. Maranian’s experience with GITC and contacted FAR to start
volunteering and
teaching part time. "When I came back and told my parish about the
trip and how
wonderful and promising it was, Jason got in touch with FAR and
started teaching
there," said Mr. Maranian. "We’re really proud of him."
Patrick Sarkissian, one of the founders of GITC said he is proud of
having Jason
as the Executive Director of GITC. "As a fellow American-Armenian, I
am amazed
by Jason’s sacrifice and dedication. As a colleague from the IT
industry – I am
impressed with his talents and capabilities," said Mr. Sarkissian. "He
is bringing
western business ethics and culture to GITC."
While there may have been no hesitance on Mr. Kazarian’s part when he
assumed the
Executive Director position at GITC, the staff was concerned whether
he would be
able to adjust to the realities of life and culture in Gyumri. Those
concerns,
however, eventually faded. "We thank God Jason is with GITC," said
Amalya Yeghoyan,
Deputy Executive Director of GITC. "Students admire him, even though
he is a tough
and very demanding teacher, and the staff owes him a lot for an
incredible learning
curve we have gone through under his leadership. Jason is an excellent
example of
what Diasporan Armenian could do in Armenia."
"Jason is helping the young talents in an area devastated by the
earthquake to regain
hope for a better future," said Mr. Sarkissian.
# # #
About FAR
Since its founding in response to the 1988 earthquake, FAR has served
hundreds of
thousands of people through more than 220 relief and development
programs in Armenia
and Karabagh. It has channeled more than $265 million in humanitarian
assistance
by implementing a wide range of projects including emergency relief,
construction,
education, medical aid, and economic development.
For more information on FAR or to send donations, contact us at 630
Second Avenue,
New York, NY 10016; telephone (212) 889-5150; fax (212) 889-4849;
;
e-mail [email protected].
Fund for Armenian Relief | 630 Second Avenue | New York | NY | 10016
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
