Our Trip
Day 3 - April 30
After breakfast we travelled in the south western direction to Khor Virap Monastery and Mount Ararat.The weather was clear and sunny, so it was ideal to see the majestic mountain in full beauty (which unfortunately is not always the case). It was a sight to behold and even the best photos are unable to show the impression of this sight! Mount Ararat nowadays is on the national territory of Turkey and cannot be reached from the Armenian side. Nonetheless it belongs to the historical Armenia (just like large parts of today's Eastern Turkey) and still is the national symbol of the country.
The walls of the monastery
Pictures on the church walls
Inside the church
Sight from the monastery hill onto Mount Ararat
After lunch followed one of the most important items of the entire trip: the visit in the "Village of Hope" and the meeting with the children we are sponsoring. The "Village of Hope" is a project of the Swiss relief organisation Diaconia. It is being built on the outskirts of Yerevan and the intention is to give a home to 200 families in need, plus an infrastructure like an Israeli Kibbutz. Until now there are 76 families living in the village, there is a bakery, a doctor and a dentist. A school is currently being built. Unfortunately due to the financial crisis the donations are not coming in as before, so that Diaconia is struggling to get everything finished as planned.
The administration building
The bakery
Some houses and the half finished school building
Visiting a family
We also met the children we sponsor and we were surprised how well they were doing - considering the fact that they are from extremely poor families. Of course, they get some material help via the sponsorship, but this cannot replace good parents. However, we saw how much these parents care for their children, even though some of them also have got personal problems caused by unemployment (which is extremely hard for men in such a traditional society) or single parenthood (some of the mothers have been left by their husbands and one is a widow). In spite of that all children made a content and well-mannered impression. The only one we worry about is Sargis, a little boy with severe mental and physical handicaps. His parents are just great and do everything they can, but unfortunately there seems to be no possibility for him to get proper therapy - let alone some kind of special education as children like him get in most western countries. We are currently thinking about how to help him at least get the much needed therapy.
Update on Sargis: Therapy for him proved to be much less expensive than expected, but too expensive for us alone to afford. However, meanwhile we have raised enough money for him to start a therapy and he is making very good progress. Also his mother is being trained how to care for him and communicate with him. We pray that there will always be enough money available to keep up the therapy!
Some of the children with their relatives
This impressive day ended with dinner in the Restaurant "Kovkas" ("Caucasus"). Apart from a superabundant meal there was a special surprise: Armenian musicians playing traditional music especially for our group. The performance (and a spontaneous performance by our Swiss friends which was skilfully accompanied by the musicians) can be watched in the three little films made by Hermann.
Traditional Armenian Music 1
Traditional Armenian Music 2
Traditional Swiss Music accompanied by Armenians :)
Photos by us
©2009 Hermann-Peter Steinmüller & Dr. Barbara Strohmenger
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