A calico dress made by her mother and reserved for special occasions, a pair of low heels she painted herself, and a bag with Teach For Armenia’s logo: Mariam has already decided what to wear on her first day in school and what to discuss with her students at the first meeting.

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“I want it to be a game: I will introduce myself, write questions on pieces of colored paper and distribute them so that each student answers the questions, see what similarities and differences we have. We will talk about the kids’ preferences, plans, dreams,” explains Mariam.

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She might tell the students that living in Chinari village and teaching them for 2 years is actually her dream.

Resolved to do some good in the world, teacher and biologist Mariam Grigoryan had been applying to Teach For Armenia (TFA) for three years. She dreamed of working in Artsakh or a border village and sharing her knowledge, time and ideas with kids there. The first two applications failed.

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“I told myself I would just keep applying until they accept me,” says Mariam.

At the third attempt Mariam became a TFA Teacher-Leader and moved to a border village, as she wanted. In late August, the new teacher arrived in Chinari, Tavush marz.

“We asked TFA for a teacher every year, and finally we are lucky to get one,” says the principal of the Chinari school, Greta Dallakyan.

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The school does not generally experience lack of teachers. “We have people of retirement age, who are the pillars of our school,” tells Greta Dallakyan, listing the wins in contests and admittances to universities that were secured by the elder teachers’ efforts.

The Chinari school has 76 students this year, which is a clear decrease from last year’s 91. Some have graduated, others moved to town, and one family now lives in Moscow.

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“People keep talking about shelling and gunshots, but I haven’t heard any. I’ve brought peace,” jokes Mariam. She really wishes for Chinari to become a topic of discussion not because of the gunshots, but because of some good, interesting events.

Mariam uses the opportunity when the school yard is filled with people and approaches the students to meet with them. “Hello,” she says, “I am Ms Grigoryan, born in Syunik, living in Yerevan. I teach biology.” Then, she asks the “standard” question of what the kids want to become when they grow up. The answers vary: tourism expert, accountant, dentist…

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“Great, you’ll need biology,” Mariam encourages the future dentist and immediately highlights the importance of her subject. The conversation becomes more entertaining when she tells about her research. According to Mariam, religious music makes plants bloom, while rock hinders their growth.

Mariam has come to Chinari with plenty of enthusiasm, plans and goals. She wants to open several clubs: on biology, mental arithmetic, literature, science. Mariam hasn’t learned everything about the needs of the school and the village, but she has noted that the school has no biology lab and football pitch, and improvement is due.

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A fire in the local administration building destroyed the Chinari library in 2017. Teach For Armenia in cooperation with the Fund for Armenian Relief will soon build a new one in the Chinari cultural center.

Mariam knows that students often miss classes to help out with agricultural works. She has chosen a solution: if any of her students skip classes for that reason, she will teach out of school hours to keep them involved in the learning processes. Another mission Mariam has set for herself is to discover the dreams and wishes of the children.

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“What scares me the most is the thought that the children might not be enthusiastic, might not want to learn or find my lessons boring. Although, it depends on me to make it interesting, create enthusiasm, make them want to learn, but I really fear that it might not work,” Mariam shares her concerns.

The young teacher is getting used to the living condition in the village ahead of the start of the academic year. According to Mariam, she has not lived the true rural routine with all its difficulties yet, but housework takes a lot of time, which she would rather spend with the children.

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“Now I appreciate water more. We use so much of it in Yerevan. It’s sad not to have a faucet with running water that I can drink or use for washing my face. I am not particularly fond of sleeping, but I miss my bed. I was fighting with the one I have here last night, because it’s very uncomfortable. I didn’t get any sleep, but I will get use to it. It just needs some time,” Mariam says optimistically.

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Her stuff is still unpacked: Mariam doesn’t have the furniture to keep it apart from the wardrobe her father helped her build in the niche in one of the walls. The table features two fish aquariums Mariam brought with her from Yerevan.

“Separating from family was difficult. I had mixed feelings. My head was half here, half in Yerevan. The distance adds to the problems, and sometimes I get emotional,” admits Mariam.

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The road is long, getting home is hard: from Chinari to Berd, from Berd to Ijevan, and finally to Yerevan. Mariam says she will grow accustomed to the distance too.

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“The important thing is to look at my journey in the end of the TFA program and know that it wasn’t in vain, see clearly the changes I made and feel that what I did mattered,” concludes Mariam.

Lusine Gharibyan   

Vaghinak Ghazaryan (for Mediamax)