Too many charities around, about, towards Armenia these days have become a beautiful shield guarding the sacred treasure isles of its oligarchs' and leading "elite"'s villas and enterprises - onshore and offshore, local and international. Charity was a cuter sounding necessity back in the 90s. It was self-evident that a nation who's embraced democracy and freedom overnight, diverging away from planned economy, would be in dire need of charity of all composures, textures and sizes. There was an earthquake, there were refugees from Azerbaijan and Karabakh, there was Karabakh itself. Schools, factories, research institutes, governmental organisations all stopped operating almost overnight. We were getting everything with cupons - bread, sugar, butter (salted!), protein cookies, soy oil, powdered milk etc. Amidst the ongoing braindrain, people still maintained their one dream - to get to work, earn their daily bread and sustain their families and do this all by themselves.
Now, two decades have passed an the the institute of Charity has flourished just like any other flourishing industry in today's Armenia. The fundraisers have become fanciers. So, did the fund-givers. there are mushroom communities of NGOs that entirely run on grants and funds with no returns deemed. The Diaspora structures fund immense projects aimed at updating roads and infrastructure all over the country, provide electricity links and perform gasification, fix schools, take care of orphanages. In the meantime, local, parliamentary and presidential elections have come and gone, with frauds, with violations, with plentiful of proven allegations of corruption nearly in every sector. The government usually denies any and every allegation and the uber-inconsistent opposition keeps using any and every event to point a blaming finger at not the government but people/individuals IN it and claim corruption without proof or in case of proof without consistent legal action. Yes, there have been small success stories in Armenia's courtrooms, but so miniscule in number that the overall face of the corruption has barely blinked and if ever there was a tiny wrinkle, it fought the wrinkle of with a shot of Botoxed overlayers of more corruption.
Now, the truth is that today, on every lever of the society there are anti-corruption efforts being launched. case by case, step by step, but these little changes can clear the way to a bright uncorrupted future. yet, tehre are impediments - internal and external. Make no mistake, WE are the authors of those impediments - not our usual enemies across the border, not the super grand powers abroad or overboard. US - WE are in charge of it. While shifts towards the positive are happening from within, there are barely any signs of Diasporan entrepreneurs joining arms with the internal cells. Now, at this point if you're a Diasporan who's been living and working in Armenia for nearly or over a decade and likes to take part in debates claiming they're naturalized, then this discussion is not about you. If you ARE a Diasporan very much caring of your homeland but have never lived there long-term, do not bear full burden of being that country's national but are being approached by local community chapters for various charities, this discussion is about you.
