On 10 February, at the school No. 71 named after Nelson Stepanyan, in the frames of “Sustainable development of Syrian-Armenian children” project, Armenian Red Cross Society organized a tree planting.
ARCS Young volunteers gave out gloves, shovels and watering - pots to the pupils. Schoolchildren dug the holes for the trees with the help of volunteers and cleaned the surrounding area. 18 beneficiary children, pupils of 4th to 7th grades, participated in the event, but during the break, other pupils also joined them and helped with great enthusiasm.
Syrian-Armenian beneficiary pupils and their friends wrote their dreams on a paper and put them in the box a week before. After digging the holes, volunteers gave out the boxes and the saplings, before planting the trees pupils placed the boxes into the pits.
Anne Kobaek, Project Regional Responsible, Danish Red Cross representative, discussed the effectiveness and usefulness of the project with Gayane Demiryan, Head of the school and teachers. She also talked to the 4th grade girl from Aleppo; who was answering to the questions of Anne Kobaek in English and was very excited over the conversation with the guest.
The children were so amused of tree planting, that didn’t want to go back to school for lessons. They promised to look after of the trees and take care of them every day.
Armenian Red Cross Society, in cooperation with the Danish Red Cross, implements “Syrian Armenian Children Resilience program in Armenia” project starting from August, 2014. The project was designed based on the method developed jointly by RC/RC Federation (IFRC) of National Societies and Save the Children Fund.The project aims to support the integration and resilience of Syrian-Armenian children. After extensive organizational works, starting from November, 2014 in 13 schools of Yerevan interactive trainings have been organized with the participation of Syrian-Armenian and local children. Children take part in the sessions up to 18 member in a group with non-formal methods such as role plays, discussions, drawing, dancing, etc., addressing such issues as overcoming fear and stress, studying environment, future plans and etc.