On October 3rd, Mission East, our local partner organisation Nur and the community of Metsamor in western Armenia held the opening of the area’s first children’s clubroom. The purpose of the clubroom is to provide an environment where disabled and non-disabled children in the community can meet, get to know each other, play together, and enjoy common interest activities together.
As part of the “A Healthy Start” project, Mission East is working closely with community leaders to establish children’s clubrooms in 11 communities in the Armavir region.
Mission East’s Community Development Advisor Alfred Waldstein was present at the opening:
“After a few brief speeches we moved up the ramp and through the door. Under the mayor’s leadership, we inaugurated the clubrooms in the Armenian way by sharing bread and salt. Then we got a chance to explore the space and investigate the activities that Nur staff had set up. Several parents brought their children and they had the pleasure of opening the paints, blocks, chess set and books.”
Prominent guests”The clubroom occupies three rooms on the ground floor of the kindergarten in Metsamor. Over the past few months the space has undergone a thorough renovation. The walls and ceilings are newly painted. Drafty wooden-framed windows have been replaced with double glazed prefab units. A concrete ramp now leads up to the entrance from a playground outside. The renovation also included the transformation of one of the rooms into a newly tiled, wheel-chair accessible bathroom/toilet with hot and cold water,” said Alfred.
The celebrants included several prominent local and regional figures – among them the mayor of Metsamor, and the deputy regional governor. However, the main guests were of course the parents, children and community themselves.
The opening of the first clubroom in Metsamor is an important milestone for the “A Healthy Start Project.” Openings for three or four more clubrooms are scheduled in the next month.
October 2007
