Armenian Facebook Groups in the UAE

 

 

Social networking amongst UAE Armenians witnessed a great leap in 2007, especially with the advent of Facebook. This was obvious mainly in the circles of the young UAE Armenians, who were deprived from an organized life in the last few years.

 

Members of the Legislative and National Councils may quote several factors behind the lack of Armenian youth gatherings in recent times. “The youth are indifferent”, “they have different interests”, “they are not interested in traditional events”, etc, are some of the excuses in circulation. No serious effort has been made though to understand the present day needs of the youth.

 

Hye Lounge was established in the Spring 2007. According to its definition (see Facebook page) “HYE Lounge is a group of young Armenians that have the same will: creating an Armenian Youth Community that would gather every few weeks in different places (restaurants, lounges, etc.), to be able to meet, talk, and enjoy time surrounded by friends having the same roots“.

 

The above introduction is a very sincere one; in few words it says a lot. It indicates the need of associating with fellow Armenians, the need to meet, talk and enjoy the friendship of people sharing the same roots and destiny.

 

Hye Lounge succeeded in arranging several social gatherings, mainly in Dubai. It managed to attract more than 150 members into its Facebook page, where they exchanged messages, funny stuff, serious ideas, recommended links, etc.

 

In June 2007, the Council of the Armenian Community in the Northern Emirates invited the young Armenians to attend a consultative meeting, in order to discuss youth issues. The meeting resulted in the formation of a youth committee. This was a sort of revival of the Armenian House (the Armenian House used to function in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi about a decade ago. It had a draft Constitution. The young members used to come together around sports and social activities, but these gatherings eventually got disorganized and only the football team survived in Sharjah).

 

By the end of this year, the newly formed youth committee managed to gather data about the youth in the community (through a detailed questionnaire) and invited them for preliminary meetings, forming cultural and social subgroups. The athletic subgroup did not need much attention as it was the only surviving part from the past. 

 

On Facebook the youth committee created a group called Hayer. 
 

 

The Hayer group starts the new year with a gala dinner on 5th January 2008 in Khaleej Palace Hotel in Dubai (at a Greek restaurant called Zorbas), where both Greek and Arabic entertainment will be available.

 

Other Facebook Groups in the UAE:
– Armenian Events in the U.A.E (link)
About 60 members. Admins: Mariana Markosian and Daniella Melikian.  

 

– Armenians in Dubai (link)
About 25 members. Admins: Serine Gharibian and Suzana Karajian (both are Admins in other Facebook Groups)

 

– Azad-hye: Middle East Armenian Portal (link)
About 350 members. This is a Facebook presence of our website, through which we inform the members about our newest articles and newsletter editions. Also it is a platform for exchanging views. The purpose is to attract the members into the main website, where they would be able to continue the discussions and postings.   

 

Finally, our wish is to see in our community quality activities and events in the near future. We need to find out ways to stimulate creativity in a really motivated atmosphere. Everyone knows how easy is to invite a person to a meeting or a gathering. Curiosity in itself will drag the person to attend such an event, especially if he/she is allured with the promise of an Armenian ambiance. But the real question remains: How to keep the interest of the same individual on a constantly high level. It is time to adopt professional attitude. The traditional ways will achieve only the minimum.

 

 

 

Hye Lounge	Armenian events in the UAE	Armenians in Dubai