This week, FAR staff along with youth activities trainer Onik Avakyan helped to open this year’s session at Camp Siranush near Yeghegnadzor. Every summer, kids who are enrolled in the Children of Armenia Sponsorship Program, or CASP, have the opportunity to participate in such summer camps free of charge. FAR helps to manage CASP in collaboration with the Women’s Guild Central Council of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern). Through CASP, children under the age of 18 who have lost one or both parents, receive stipends from international sponsors.
This year, 75 CASP children are attending the camp. They are joined by an additional 42 students from other universities in Armenia and Georgia, along with counselors, teachers and other staff.
Avakyan led a training with camp counselors, during which they learned new activities and ways of working with the children through dance, sports and other types of creative activity to foster partnerships. After the training, he led the children in relay races and competitions that were enjoyed by all.
The Syunik Diocese runs Camp Siranush. Father Vazgen Hovhannisyan and Abraham Bishop Mkrtichyan, Primate of the Syunik Diocese also organized Christian education discussions for the children during this time.