Empower 50 refugee children in Armenia

Dear donors,

This program aims to support war-affected children and allow them to benefit from psycho-sociological support from specialists. We care about our community, especially children, and this is why we are convinced that the beginning of our support begins with them so they can carry on contributing to our future.

We want to present our new beneficiary; the person you see on this picture is named Arsen. He arrived two months ago in Armenia and lives together with his sister. He has suffer from his social situation and he dreams of a better life, indeed he wants to become a Doctor. Arsen is willing to give his best to achieve his goals. When he heard about what we can do support him, he immediately showed a vivid interest and we wanted to give him the opportunity to participate, this is why he was included in our beneficiary program.

As you might realize already, the consequences of the armed conflict forced millions of citizen to leave their homeland and seek refuge in different countries. Our program is also dedicated to support 50 refugees children whose lives were tear apart. Through our psychological support we want them to be enable to overcome life crisis and challenges.

We instructed Arsen to close his eyes and imagine that he was in a place where it was very peaceful. He drew his house where he wanted to live peacefully. This was the important part that the beneficiary wanted to show to the public. Next, he had to show he could overcome anger and develop coping mechanisms. We provided Arsen with a picture where he had to mark the parts of his body that hurt when he was angry and worried. All this helps the beneficiaries to recover the psychic world and focus on the future.

We conduct our courses together with Armenian and refugee children in order to build intercultural dialogue and, of course, to help them recover from emotional trauma.

We focus on providing trainings which cover the following topics:

• Conflict management
• Stress management
• Tolerance and pluralism

We also provide the beneficiaries witheducation content and materials necessity to fill in the gaps of the time being out of schools in Armenia.

Finally, we feel it is important to share Arsen’s message to you, donors of the program, who represent an important pillar of what we do.

Hello, my name is Arsen. I came to Armenia to live peacefully. My emotional world is unstable because we went through the war, but by joining this program I hope to recover and move forward.

Nevertheless, by joining this program, I am sure that I will succeed in healing and achieve my goals. May all good people help us and live harmoniously. I want to express my biggest thanks to each member of the Zartonk-89 team for being so encouraging.”

Dear donors and supporters,

Millions of people had to leave their homeland and seek shelter in various countries because of the armed conflict in Syria. The main goal of this project is to help refugee children from Syria overcome this crisis and the ensuing challenges. Your support helps us to create a new life for them.

From the corresponding studies and research, it is evident that immigrant children and teenagers need to be involved in non-formal training modules, where they will be able to share their ideas and suggestions, work in a team, and find solutions to their problems.

This program is implemented in all regions of Armenia and in the capital Yerevan. We select the beneficiaries by considering their social status, educational level, the problems within their community and other important factors. This program has had a great impact over the past years, as we have wonderful examples of beneficiaries who have been able to confidently progress, continue their education, and most importantly, stay in their community by being involved in this program.

Our goal is to help the target group children, give them an opportunity to get integrated into Armenian society and, of course, reduce their social and psychological problems.

After the implementation of the project, we expect the following results:

• Development of Syrian-Armenian refugee children's self-expression abilities and skills, increase in their self-esteem, integration into teams, understanding of tolerance, conflict resolution, and self-development
• Increase in the level of awareness among refugee children and their parents, allowing them to understand the necessity to support the development of our beneficiaries' creative abilities
• Opportunities to print and share the refugee children's stories
• 50 refugee children will overcome their psychological obstacles by becoming fully integrated in our society
• Development of creative skills among 100 children
• Refugee children will become integrated into society, learning to value the importance of intercultural communication

Once again, thank you, dear donors, and remember that your every gesture is important to our team and our beneficiaries. We are confident that this program will be expanded every day with your help.