We are looking for volunteers to help with our many projects, all of which fall under the Tumanyan Development Foundation, including the Tumanyan Bathhouse Hostel, Tumanyan Matchbox Label Museum, Flying Samovare Cafe, H. Tumanyan International Lending Library, Kaj Nazar Market, Abastan Coliving Space, and whatever comes next. 

Our general expectations are for 4 hours of help a day, giving you lots of time to hike, read, work on your own stuff, and socialize.

Accommodation for volunteers? Yes. Food? Sorry, just breakfast supplies.

We do not get much funding - we are growing these projects slowly but surely. This means we can provide you a comfortable place to sleep either in one of the hostel dorm rooms or in Abastan Coliving dorm rooms, but we don't provide food beyond some breakfast supplies. We want to emphasize this so that there will be no miscommunication or misperceptions. Our Worldpacker and Workaway accounts both state this as well. Most people get by on between $100 to $200 a month for food in town.

Location and directions? 

We're in northern Armenia, in the stunning Debed Canyon, halfway between Yerevan and Tbilisi. For directions on getting here, you can refer to the Wikivoyage page "Get in" text here: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Tumanyan

What is the work like?

There are endless things you can help with, and we are open to ideas as well. We'd like volunteers who can help with many things such as: 

• clearing the growth around the hostel

• reading English books to kids at the library

• manning the hostel reception, the museum, library or the cafe

• help with social media presence, photography, etc

Length of stay

We have a strong preference for volunteers who can stay for a month or more. That gives you a much better taste of the town, gives you time to get into a rhythm of work, and creates more of a sense of community among volunteers. We are open to shorter stays mainly if you have some special skill that would be especially useful to our projects.

SIM card

If you're staying a month or more, odds are you'll want to get an Armenian SIM card. Please get the VIVA-MTS SIM card, as that one has by far the best reception in Tumanyan. Mobile phone plans are relatively cheap in Armenia.

Cash

There is no ATM/Bankomat machine in Tumanyan. The nearest is 15 minutes away by car. Debit/credit cards are accepted by the stores, but not taxis however.

Rules!

Yes, sorry there are some rules. They are simple, necessary, and if you break them you can be asked to leave immediately.

• No feeding animals of any kind at any time. Sorry, but you will be asked to leave. We have had repeated problems with stray dogs or cats becoming too familiar with volunteers who mean well, but by feeding these animals end up encouraging them to come right up and into the hostel and cafe, as well as get territorial and bite local children and bark at guests, and cause other problems. The simple solution which you must respect is to not feed any animals. Sorry, but that is a hard and fast rule.

• No smoking anything indoors. Please be respectful and never, ever smoke indoors.

• Eating and drinking should be down downstairs in the kitchen and common area. 

• No excessive drinking.

• No guests inside the hostel - neither upstairs nor downstairs in the common area. Neither adults nor kids. You can spend time with guests in the library, town square, soccer field, cafe, or other spots, but like almost all hostels, guests are strictly not allowed on the hostel premises.

• While locals are generally very hospitable, but you should be conscious that this is a small town which tends to be conservative. Behavior that wouldn't even get noticed in Yerevan could cause a scandal in Tumanyan. We ask that volunteers respect that and behave accordingly.

• While there may be some cleaning done by outside help, volunteers must clean up after themselves immediately (and if they are hostel volunteers specifically may be asked on occasion to help with general cleaning as well).

Thanks for reading all of this :)  And while it's 100% not expected, if you happen to bring one of your favorite used books in your language for our Tumanyan International Lending Library, we'd be happy to add it to the collection.