Visiting an Orphanage

There is an institution called “gisherotik dprots” in Artsakh were both orphans and children from needy families live. It is not called an orphanage; however, we decided to stick to the name orphanage as there are also orphans living there and there is no equivalent for that institution’s name in English.  


We rented a bus and headed towards Stepanakert to visit the orphanage and an elder’s home on the same day. The youth were extremely happy to visit the capital of Artsakh.  We met at 8am for our departure. Thinking that the youth would be late, I arrived minutes after our scheduled time (8:06am). Surprisingly, when I entered the bus I found every single student waiting patiently. I could sense the excitement by their timeliness.  


The first activity that most of the youth of Tsmakahogh got engaged in at the orphanage was building puzzles and logos alongside the other children.  Most of them worked in groups of 2-4 members and I could sense the team spirit and warm feelings that most of them had towards one another. The second activity of the visit was to make drawings. The youth from Tsmakahogh were offered lunch at the orphanage at the end of the visit. We left all the puzzles, logos and paint for the children at the orphanage, which had been sponsored by Tamar Hayrikyan. The Social Security Ministry of Artsakh notified the Artsakh TV about the visit. As a result, we had a journalist visit with a cameraman to interview for a TV program. The program was aired on Artsakh TV the same evening of our visit.