Adopt a Family
17.02.2017
In August 2016, the World Council of Churches Armenia Round Table Foundation launched a project aimed at integration and social and psychological support for Syrian Armenians in Armenia. The project is funded by ACT Alliance in close cooperation with ACT Armenia Forum members – the ECLOF Foundation and the UMCOR Foundation; with the assistance of the Aleppo NGO.
On 14-15 February 2017, the ECLOF Foundation held a two day meeting for 20 newly arrived families from Syria, under the Adopt a Family phase of the program. Roughly 50 people from more than 23 refugee Syrian-Armenian families attended the meeting. Invited experts discussed and gave presentations on the following topics, including details from their own life-stories:
· Traditions, lifestyle, language and the difference between the forms of expression;
· Educational, medical aid systems in Armenia;
· How to adapt and adjust to the new environment.
Adopt a Family aims to provide help and guidance to newly arrived families, promoting integration though regular interaction; guiding them with practical advice, emergency assistance and response to general queries; and organizing sight-seeing, cultural and social activities.
On 16 February, the Syrian families met and talked to experts from business, banking, labor sector, and the field of education, giving them the opportunity to make new contacts and learn more about the local environment. On 21 February, the families will receive a tour of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, visit the St.Gayane and St. Shoghakat Churches, and have lunch together.
The Armenia Round Table of the World Council of Churches is an ecumenical faith-based program organized in 1996 on the initiative of the Armenian Church and the World Council of Churches, with the participation of the Armenian Evangelical and Armenian Catholic Churches. The program was created under the pontificate of His Holiness Karekin I of blessed memory. The goals of the Armenia Round Table are to pursue the development of benevolent, educational, cultural and social projects that will benefit the Armenian society.
