This is the story of Armen Toros, a young man born in California to Armenian parents from Iran who has travelled the world over and now finds himself in an Armenian village, planting trees and farming.

“I was on a tiny island in Indonesia, surrounded by the clear blue ocean waters. We swam with the fish through the coral reefs. It was an idyllic life. I’d make my carvings. At night, we’d sing and eat. I loved it there,” says Armen, who can be called a free spirit.

It was there, thousands of miles from Armenia, that Armen wrote a letter to his father, suggesting that he tend to the family plot of land in the Armavir Marz village of Nalbandyan.

Armen told me that he had met up with an American called Kingly on another Indonesian island. The American was also a traveller who sold his silver handicrafts and sculptures along the way as a source of income.

For a while, Armen worked in the Kingly’s factory in Indonesia learning the craft. Armen regards the American as his spiritual father and saw him as something of a role model as to how he could live his life.

Armen displaying the beads and bangles, made by Kingly, tied to his braids

“He was a man a lot like me. He started to travel at an early age. When I met him, Kingly had turned 50. I thought to myself that I just might turn out like him. He had no family, travelled, and engaged in art. It was a happy-go-lucky lifestyle. I imagined such a life for myself. But then I realized that I didn’t want to end up all alone like him. Our family has some land in Armenia so I decided to change my path and go to Armenia; to plant some trees,” says Armen.

Four days later, via ship and plane, Armen reached Armenia. He planted 3,000 trees in eleven days.

30 year-old Armen started to travel the world at the age of seventeen. He’s been to some 40 countries since – Argentina, Latvia, Finland, Spain, Poland, India, Singapore...His work history is just as diverse – construction, shoemaking, farming, lumber cutter, tractor/combine driver, goat herder, beer maker, ironsmith, stone carver...

Armen's grove of trees in Nalbandyan

“At times, I worked just for my room and board. I’d stay in one place for weeks or months depending on the work or whether I decided it was time to move on,” says Armen.

Right now Armen is learning how to craft silver and copper adornments. He plans to start learning the art of stone-cross (khatchkar) carving when work on the Nalbandyan land eases up.

Armen was 16 when he first visited Armenia and he’s crisscrossed the country several times.

“I especially like the villages around Mt. Aragatz in Armenia and the regions of Kashatagh and Karvatchar in Artsakh. It’s the mountains that attract me. I also love the Sevan area.”

Armen studied psychology in college, not with the aim of working in the field but because he wanted to understand his feelings and thoughts, his relationship with other peoples and the wider world, and how to live a clean life.

Armen's fields in Nalbandyan

“That education directed me to the village life in the mountains, to sustainable farming,” he says.

Armen’s father purchased an 11 hectare plot of land in Nalbandyan. Four years ago, Armen began plating plum, apple, walnut and cherry trees. This year, there will be a small plum harvest. He’ll also sell the clover harvest as animal feed and plant new saplings.

Future plans include the construction of a hothouse and a barn for raising goats. He’s also like to build a few cabins so that friends from overseas can visit, stay, and help out on the farm.

Armen says that adequate irrigation water is an ongoing problem. He wants to build a small holding reservoir in a few years to resolve the problem.

Yura Sargsyan

Yura Sargsyan, lives adjacent to Armen’s fields. The neighbour makes the rounds of Armen’s fields in a daily basis, tending to the crops and keeping his eyes peeled. Come harvest time, 3-4 other village residents join in to help. Right now, Armen is out working on the land every day.

Armen tells me that many local residents have called him a fool for investing his time and money in farming. The young man says such talk offends him.

“When I meet people, there’s only one in a hundred that will tell me I’m doing the right thing and who will encourage me. I am doing all this for me and my family, for Yura and his 5 year-old son. I learnt this attitude here; that people would rather fight amongst themselves rather than work together, for the good of the motherland. It’s a pity.”

From childhood, Armen has worked and lived amongst Mexicans and other Latin American peoples.  He confesses that at such times he’s experienced conflicting identities – sometimes American, sometimes European.

“Nevertheless, I always felt myself as an Armenian deep down. But here, in Armenian, I feel like an outsider. Sometimes, I’m treated quite badly. I don’t feel like an Armenian. Despite this, I realize that being an Armenian doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be a local resident. It’s a mixture. There are the Armenians from the diaspora. They are all different. When I spend time with my friends from the diaspora, that’s when I know that I too am Armenian.”

It grates at Armen when he gets surly glances while strolling the streets of Yerevan for the way he dresses and looks. He wears rings in his ears and his arms and neck are adorned with a variety of bracelets and pendants that Kingly made and gifted to him.

Some Armenians still have a hard time accepting others who look different and who don’t conform to the mainstream; their conception of the mainstream. The defence mechanism employed by these people, unsure of their own personal identity, is ridicule and insult.

Many, including residents in Nalbandyan, also find Armen’s outlook on life and his opinion to be strange and somewhat alien. Again, it’s a matter of perspective.

These people give up on Armen and the young man, in turn, also gets disillusioned.

Yura and his 5 year-old son working the plan	Armen sowing clover seeds

“The way I see things, people should live and let others live the way they want. Just so long as they don’t do harm to others. I do not judge others for the way they live or what they might think. People are different and variety is the spice of life. It enriches humanity and helps us develop. Unfortunately, people here don’t think along the same lines. People who stand out in Armenia are viewed as alien, as a threat, as something bad. Sometimes this behaviour really gets to me. I see it in the way they look at me.”

Despite all this, Armen continues to live in his house in Yerevan and even toys with the possibility of staying.

“When I first started plating the trees, I was more or less compelled to visit and check up on things. Now, I want to come back to the village, to see Yura and the family. Whether I like it or not, I am creating something in Armenia and I feel better here with each passing year. I would really get irritated in the beginning. I still get annoyed but not as much.”

A few days ago, something really got Armen angry. So much so, that he was thinking about selling the land and leaving Armenia. When he calmed down, he returned to the fields.

“You know, I really love what we’re doing here. I feel like I could stay here with my girlfriend.”

Let’s hope it works out for Armen.