2005 will mark the 13th mission of the Canadian Youth Mission (CYMA) to Armenia. Groups average 25 participants each summer, with over 435 people having participated in the program to date. There is a minimum age requirement of 18 to be eligible.

CYMA’s role in Armenia is:
• To leave a lasting impact on a specific village by building a school, kindergarten, community center or other public building
• To bring happiness to the lives of children in Armenia by organizing a day camp in Armenia
• To provide emergency humanitarian assistance to needy children
• To answer Armenia’s call for a spiritual reawakening after over seventy years of communism.

To learn more information about the CYMA mission to Armenia, please visit the Web site of the Canadian Diocese at http://www.armenianchurch.ca/cyma.html

The Christian Youth Mission to Armenia (CYMA) will provide participants with the opportunity to intern within the religious, political, social and cultural sectors in Armenia. Furthermore, it will incorporate Christianity and the Armenian Church with daily rigors of secular internships.

The CYMA committee, composed of 11 members from various Armenian organizations throughout the Western Diocese, has set the goals high for the preliminary year of the mission. They plan to take at least 50 interns, ages 18 to 35, to Armenia during the upcoming summer. The program will allow for participants to meet before their internship and provide support for them as they venture in their journey to our Homeland. The tentative dates for the four-week trip will be July 8-August 12, 2004, with an approximate cost of $2500 to be paid by each participant. Different programs will be set up for the participants for the duration of their four-week stay in Armenia.

The purpose of CYMA is to take Armenian youth back to their roots in order to familiarize and educate them with their own religion, culture, government and people. It is our hope that CYMA participants continue their involvement with the program in the future and that CYMA will be an ongoing program that will serve the youth of the Western Diocese of North America for years to come.

For general information about this new program, please call Vahe Ashjian, Vice Chair at (213)627-2319. Or visit their Web site at
http://www.acyo-wd.org/californian/californian_articles.php?ArticleID=33