The fruits of kindness

As part of the A Healthy Start Project, Mission East and Nur, our local NGO partner, are working closely with community leaders to establish children’s clubrooms in 11 communities in Armavir Region. The purpose of the clubrooms is to provide an environment in each community where disabled and non-disabled children can meet, get to know each other, and spend time together pursuing activities of mutual interest.
Armavir, in the southwestern part of Armenia, located between the four peaked mountain of Aragats and the Biblical mountain Ararat, is one of the eleven regions of the republic of Armenia. It is famous for its fertile lowlands and beautiful landscapes, but in recent years has been known for the extreme poverty and unemployment that hit the region following the collapse of the Soviet Union with the inherent loss of markets for the agricultural products Armavir is famous for – fruits, vegetables and wine. Those who have employment are mostly seasonal agricultural workers, and therefore most skilled men have left their homes and have sought employment abroad, mostly in Russia. The women are often left to themselves, spending months, sometimes years, without any news from their husbands, having to survive on the meagre funds that sometime arrive, taking care of their children, and trying to make ends meet by taking odd jobs in the fields.
In the western part of Armavir, a recent survey carried out by Mission East showed that nearly half of the children identified as disabled in the communities west of the regional center (town of Armavir) had received no treatment for their conditions, and over a third of the children identified in these communities that had seen a doctor, had received no follow-up treatment. All of the villages in the western part of the province are built in an area lacking drinking water. The villages were constructed as part of the Soviet planning, without consideration of the basic needs of the population. The largest of these villages, Karakert (means ‘made of stone’) is included in “A Healthy Start” project. Even though even the name of the village speaks about the difficulties people meet living there, despite all the poverty and misery, the population have not lost their humanity, hospitality and sincerity. Sveta Hakobyan, director of Mission East partner Nur, mentioned that “The clubroom is a place where the children can play with each other, get independence and the parents can help each other to lighten their burdens by talking and associating with them”.
“A Healthy Start” project is a significant and very important event for the people in Karakert. The inauguration of “Emanuel” children’s clubroom in Karakert on October 19th was a cornerstone in the mission of integrating both disabled and able-bodied children of the community. One of the key purposes of the clubroom is to support the building of friendly and closer relationships between the parents of the children of Karakert. Different meetings, round table discussions and on-the-job trainings will help the parents become more aware of their rights and responsibilities. They will become stronger and braver to advocate for their children’s rights. “I hope the children’s clubroom will support the children and their parents to become maximally involved in the social activities, thus becoming the “creators” of their brighter future”, said Hermine Ginosyan, Project co-ordinator of Nur.
The meetings to be organized in the “Emanuel” clubroom will give the parents an opportunity to discuss the problems that are most urgent for their community and make efforts towards solving these problems. Hopefully, day by day, the number of children in the clubroom will increase and all the supplies and equipments provided in the clubroom will support the children in their development.
One of the volunteers in the Healthy Start project, Liana Khudoyan, is the mother of six-year old Karen, a boy with a hearing problem. Karen had the great honor of cutting the rope for the inauguration of the Karakert Children’s Clubroom.

About her son, Liana says: “In the beginning he had no problems. However, he fell down at the age of six months. At the time, we did not notice anything, only that he never said anything. When Karen was two years old he uttered some words and my husband and I thought that the child would speak a little bit later and that this really was not any problem. Then later, we noticed that Karen did not react when he was playing outside and we tried to call him. We therefore took him to a hospital in Yerevan, where he was diagnosed with a hearing problem.
Two years ago, doctors from Mission East partner, Arabkir Children’s hospital, came to visit the village of Karakert. Karen’s grandmother had asked that pediatrician Nune Alexanian should screen the child. Following this, Karen was referred to Arabkir for speech therapy and was given a hearing aid.

The parents of Karen are very satisfied with the services provided by Arabkir. Initially, Karen had problems with noise from his hearing aid, but now he is used to wearing the device. Now, Karen is able to speak and knows the letters. Until recently, Karen had to travel to Yerevan for speech therapy, but with the recent opening of the Child Development and Rehabiliation Center in Armavir, as part of the Mission East project, Karen is now able to get follow-up care closer to his home.

About the opening of clubrooms in the communities of Armavir, Karen’s mother says: “The clubrooms will support the children to be included into the team work, overcome a number of complexes, get new friends and receive professional care”.