PAX kinderhulp werkgroep Armenië

Apeldoorn

Na enkele weken kregen we het onderstaande verslag van de Armeense begeleidster Hayastan. Het is een mooi, ontroerend verslag geworden en geeft ons enorme steun om door te gaan.

Ik wil iedereen dan ook aanraden om dit te lezen het is de moeite waard !

Impressions

from

Armenia – Nederland

february 2010

By Hayastan Mashakaryan

1         Background

My first contact with Pax began with Suren’s call. Suren is the head of Evangelic church in Spitak. I got acquainted with Suren when the Evangelic church of Spitak needed the help of a volunteer interpreter for a group of volunteer American doctors who had visited Armenia and at that time to Spitak to examine some part of the population that had health problems. Although it was a volunteer job, one should have an interview beforehand with the representative of that group of doctors. So when I learned about it, I decided to take part in the selection and if I could somehow have my role for the benefit of the inhabitants of my native town, I would do it with pleasure. Then when I had an interview, I was chosen at once. And shortly after my ´job´  there I received a call from Suren who was also acquainted with Maria Gorris from ´´Little Bridge´´.  Maria Goris was responsible for the selection of children and of the group leaders that would accompany the children to Holland for a holiday for 28 days. During my conversation with Suren by telephone he told me that there was a program organized by Pax Kinderhulp, according to which a group of children from Spitak and Vanadzor would have a chance to have a nice winter holiday in the Netherlands. He also added that Maria Goris would have an interview with some people who know English and who have experience with children in the age of 7 to 12 years old, in order to select a group leader. If I was interested in it, I could take part in the interview.  So on the one hand I wanted to take part and to visit Holland, but on the other hand I understood that it was a great responsibility to take 20 children to a foreign country without having an idea as to what kind of people I would meet and what program they had. At that time I had no further information about the organization of this trip. Then I decided anyhow to take the interview. After my interview with Maria Goris she asked me whether I had free time to accompany her and participate in the process of selecting the children. After I agreed, we started visiting the families to get acquainted to the children and their living conditions. Some days later I received a call from Maria Goris telling me  that I was selected.

2         Preparation

2.1       Spitak

After I was appointed as the future guide for 2010, Maria Goris explained to me what I should do to prepare the children’s documents. I would never have thought before that the preparation process would need so much time and energy, as more than 80 applications had to be filled for the Embassy and for Pax kinderhulp, etc.  As 10 children were from Spitak and 10 from Vanadzor, I ran from Vanadzor to Spitak, visited some children again or called them in order to get information about their families for Pax Kinderhulp. I  also went to Yerevan for many times for Notary agreements, to meet Maria Goris,  to go to the Embassy, etcetera. At the end of the preparation process Pax Kinderhulp with the help of Maria compensated the expenses paid for the children’s documents and my transportation. During the preparation job I had some meetings with the children and their families both in Spitak and in Vanadzor, in order to establish confidence with these families so that they would trust me their children. Also I figured that a good acquaintance with the children would make it easier for the children to join me on a long journey. I wanted them to accept me as their close friend. I gave some instructions to their families as to what to tell their children in order for them to behave properly so that we would have no problems in a foreign country. 

2.2       Early explanations

In this case Paul Ritter’s help was very useful. When I was still in Spitak I received an e-mail from Paul Ritter in which he wrote that he and his wife would be my host family and waited for my arrival. He also wrote that if I had any questions I could turn to him. So I asked him to inform me what kind of program there would be in Apeldoorn and how to prepare the children for the journey, what kind of problems could generally be expected. So, thanks to his instructions I could avoid a number of obvious pitfalls that we might encounter in a foreign country.

3         Action Apeldoorn

3.1       The trip to Yerevan

After all preparations we were ready to start our journey. On the way to Zvartnotz airport we had to stop several times because of some children’s sickness. We came out from Vanadzor at 12.00 p.m. and at 12.30 p.m. we picked up the rest of the children from Spitak and reached the airport at 3.00 a.m. Though we had to be at the airport at 5.00 a.m. we came out from the towns earlier as it was dark, cold, dangerous roads and we were transporting children. In the airport we had to wait until 5.20 to be registered, after which we had to wait until 8.00 a.m. The children were tired and wanted to sleep.  So at about 8.15 we got on the plain and the group leaders together with Oma Til helped the children to find their seats, as the stewardesses didn’t do that. In the plane some children slept, but some of them were very frightened. Especially one boy from my group was in a panic when we were landing. So I changed my place and sat next to him to calm him down.  

During our trip from Vanadzor to Yerevan, Gayane from the Evangelic church in Vanadzor was with us and generally she helped me to gather information about the children of Vanadzor, as she knows them. And even till the end of our stay she kept in touch with me through internet; therefore, with her help I could calm down the parents and answer their questions. Also, with Suren’s help by internet I had contact with the parents of the children from Spitak.

3.2       Arrival at Amsterdam airport

As soon as we arrived at Schiphol, we were welcomed by some members of the organization, Cobi, Harmke and Wil from Apeldoorn as well as some committee members from Almelo; they took us by bus to Apeldoorn. Though I was very tired, from the very beginning I noticed how kind and attentive they were to the children. We came to Het Vogelnest in Apeldoorn, where the host families were gathered, waiting for our arrival. The first impression was very nice, because the host families were happy and I understood that they would accept these children with pleasure.

4         Communication

In general the communication was pleasant, effective and in time, both with the members of Pax Kinderhulp and with the host families. I got a mobile telephone from the Pax Kinderhulp in order to be able to call host families. So I could check easily whether everything was OK or they needed my help. Also for them it was easy to reach me immediately whenever they had a question or any kind of problem.  There was no problem related with communication between the organization, host families and me. Even though the children didn’t know Dutch or English they learned to communicate with their host family and even managed to learn some words or expressions in Dutch. And when something was not clear, I was always reachable and they could easily ask for explanations.

5         Events

Everything was organized perfectly. Each activity was interesting for the children. It was very pleasant for me not only to do my work as a guide of the group but also to take part in each activity together with the children. They enjoyed their holidays and learned something for themselves. As these children are from extreme poor families everything was new for them. They learned to skate, to dance, to skate board, to make dolls, soap, patat, to play badminton, basketball, football, to climb a wall, to ride a bicycle, to swim, to make different things from balloons, to paint in oils, to speak some Dutch words etc. They tasted different delicious food which they had never tasted before. But first of all they learned to be organized, to behave themselves more correctly, to obey and respect the rules,  to be clean, to enjoy every minute of their lives, and after all to hope, to dream and to have some goals. They learned what is politeness, real kindness, patience and good manners. And they were fairly well-off and lived in a convenience which they had seen before only by movies. The children having eye problems were taken to the optician and their eyes were examined and those children were given new glasses. Two boys had toothache and they were taken to the dentist and the holes in their teeth were filled. 

6         Co-operation

Co-operation between the organization and the host families, between the members of the organization and me and after all between the host families and me was based on respect and love. Everybody did his/her best for the success of the holidays and for the sake of the children. Thanks to it there were no major problems.

7         Departure

I think the departure was difficult for everybody - for children, host families, the members of the organization and for me. Some host parents and almost all the children were crying and it was difficult to say good-bye. Though I am not a child anymore, I was so excited that I could hardly express my feelings to my host family - Paul and Nance Ritter for those wonderful 28 days spent with them, to Oma Til and Cobi Alink for organizing everything perfectly and for being so attentive to the children and to me as well as to all the other members of the organization for the caring attitude and after all to everybody for their kindness.

In the plane the children told me that they could not believe that they spent 28 days in Holland as it seemed to them that it was only 2 days. When we were coming to Holland the flight seemed very long and they were frightened. But when we were traveling home, on the one hand they wanted to meet their parents as soon as possible in order to share their impressions with them, but on the other hand they didn’t want to fly far from their host families. They were very active and the flight seemed very short. I could notice that even their way of thinking had changed, they now saw their own lives differently. They showed me their photos and told me about their unforgettable experience they had in their second families, as they called their host families like that.

In the plane they met a famous Armenian announcer and each of them wanted to have a photo with her. After having a photo with her they told her about their wonderful holiday and about everybody they met in Apeldoorn. The announcer told me later that allthough she wasn’t acquainted with the organization and with its members, nor with the host families, she began to respect them as she understood that the children were loved and were paid much attention.

8         Return

When we were in Spitak and then in Vanadzor, the children met their families, kissed them and returned to me. They were crying. They didn’t want me to go even a step away from them. They asked me to stay with them and told me that they couldn’t believe that it was the end. The children call me time and again, I call them to know how they are. They became very dear to me, allthough I wasn’t acquainted with any of them before.

A week later I met them and their families. When the children saw me they ran towards me, hugged and began to cry. They said that they missed everybody and everything there. So for them I am the representative of all the people they met and loved in Holland. But they were also glad to be with their families. Their parents were so happy for their children. And they asked to pass their gratitude to the organization and to the host families. Though they are not acquainted with Cobi Alink, they heard her name from the children a lot. So they asked me to pass their special gratitude to her. 

9         Looking back – impressions in Armenia

It is really difficult to express my impressions in words. Impressions from the Netherlands are great, warm and unforgettable. It was really like a fairy-tale for the children.

First of all I was impressed by the kindness the children were surrounded with by everybody there. Remembering the time spent in Holland, I can only smile and I am very glad for these children for their unforgettable experience they had in the Netherlands with wonderful people.  I hope that these children can visit their host families once more in the future; not as children from poor families, but as people having some success in their lives and with a bright future.

I am sure that thanks to this holiday they will try to reach some goals in their lives and will make their own contribution to the development of their homeland,  so as to provide a comfortable life for their children.