Fig heaven: Vazashen village
Once famous for its vineyards, the grape fields of Vazashen were left across the border after the 1990s war. Nowadays, the people of Vazashen have to be satisfied by their home yards.
Four countries, one motherland. Welcome home!
Nairi comes from the country of colorful and hottest carnivals. “In Brazil, people say that the year starts with carnivals,” explains the young architect with pure Armenian. Carnivals take place in February, which is almost over.
Seven-year-old love story: Vanand
There are over 850 villages in Armenia. Getting to know each of them is learning about a new culture, history, people, and problems. It also means discovering fascinating places which one can hardly find on touristic maps.
The dream school and its first SMART Citizen
“SMART has been the school of my dreams” – Rudik Gharibyan, the first SMART Citizen, who finished the SMART Citizenship curriculum this week, summarizes his two-year journey at the COAF SMART Center and is getting ready to go to the army today.
Odzun: a village hanging from the clouds
Once you overcome the winding trails taking to Odzun village of the Lori region, it seems like you are about to touch the clouds. Just gaze at the tile roof houses lying somewhere high and the endless fields of wheat, corn, and sunflowers stretching till the rim of the gorge.
Branding Armenia’s Debet village
Debet is a small mountainous village seated on the right bank of the Pambak river in the northern Lori region of Armenia. It took its name from another namesake river (Debed) that passes through the village and is well-known from the most celebrated Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan’s works.
What happens in Shenik, stays in Shenik
The straight road from Yerevan takes you to a small village, living where means waking up every day, walking through pink tuff houses, greeting men playing backgammon (nard) outdoors, and seeing children dashing through the streets, though now less often than they used to – cell phones did it all!
The United Kingdom of Marts
They have the most delicious barbecue, but pig breeding has slumped after the last cholera pandemic. They are known as Russian-speakers, but few speak the language nowadays. They count the inhabited houses not by the smoke coming out from the chimney but with laundry spreads.
Sugar in a bowl from the coziest place in the world
“The future of the world is in your classroom” is mentioned in Meline Grigoryan’s recently published book about education management. She works with rural students and teachers with utmost care as she believes they are the core of a society.
Debet: Armenia’s first SMART village
After a challenging year, each piece of good news deserves some special cherishment. Here is one from us. We embark on a new journey to transform Debet, a rustic and cozy village located in the northern Lori region of Armenia, into the first SMART village in the country.
The hospitable villagers of Yeghegnut
As soon as you step through the gate of one’s house in Yeghegnut village of the Lori region, the landlord rushes to invite you for a bite or a drink. Want it or not, here people won’t let you leave without a good treat.
Empowering children with management skills
They say the future belongs to those who prepare for it today. We prepare the youth of the COAF SMART Center for a better tomorrow by making a wide range of modern professions accessible to them.
