SOS Kinderdorf Children’s Village, Kotayk, Kotayk Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

In February last year, as part of my ongoing work on children in institutions or deprived of appropriate parental care, I wrote an article and produced a photo story on the work of SOS Kinderdorf in Armenia. The article was just one of many that have dealt with the issue of poverty and abandonment in both Georgia and Armenia.

[…] SOS Kinderdorf has into the largest organization dealing with orphans and children deprived of parental care in the world. The Hermann Gmeiner Foundation, as well as individual donors, funds the organization’s activities. There are currently over 60,000 children living in 450 villages operating in 132 countries. An additional 500,000 children receive support through kindergartens, schools and youth centers.

[…]

Regardless of it’s size and success, however, what makes SOS Kinderdorf different from other organizations dealing with children deprived of parental care is in its approach. Although many Diasporan-based organizations have sought to support institutions for abandoned children, a new government policy aimed at removing children from residential care in Armenia instead seeks to promote alternatives.

“The main thing that makes us different from State orphanages is that we provide long term family-based care,” says Ashot Kocharyan, National Director for SOS Children‘s Villages in Armenia. “When I say long-term, I mean in terms of our commitment to the care and upbringing of our children. We don’t stop when they reach the age of 18, but continue up until the age of 22 and sometimes 24.”

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This week’s edition of Hetq Online is now available. In particular, my article and photo story on SOS Kinderdorf in Armenia have been published. Although there are significant problems for children deprived of parental care in Armenia, it was refreshing to look at alternatives to state-run institutions for a change. Very refreshing, in fact.

YEREVAN, Armenia — By all accounts, Arsen Poghosyan is talented and will undoubtedly find success in life. Sitting in his three room apartment in the Massiv district of the Armenian capital, the 25-year-old places a dozen pots in front of him and says that after graduating from art college he hopes to eventually open a shop in the center of the city to sell his mosaics, tiles and ceramics.

On the top of the adjacent cupboard, metal sculptures made while completing his military service in the northern city of Gyumri show that his talents go further than anything crafted in a kiln. When his ceramics and metalwork are combined, the results are even better, proving that he has come a long way since the 1988 earthquake devastated his native town of Spitak.

After that tragedy, Arsen and his older brother found themselves orphaned, and like many others, without much hope for the future. Indeed, the situation of the three boys might have been hopeless had it not been for a massive influx of foreign assistance that materialized after world-wide media coverage brought international organizations into the former Soviet Republic.

One of those organizations was SOS Kinderdorf, an Austrian charity established by Hermann Gmeiner in Tyrol, Austria, in 1949. After witnessing the plight of a new generation of orphans created during World War II, Gmeiner established a unique “village” in his native Austria to care for parentless children in a family-based environment.

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SOS Kinderdorf Youth Facility, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

As I’m nearing the end of what will be about seven days work in advance of an article and photo story to be published by Hetq Online on Monday, I’m posting the full transcript of the interview I held with the National Director of SOS Kinderdorf in Armenia along with some new photos. It’s been great fun doing this work, and not least getting to know the kids in Abovyan and Yerevan. Certainly, even after the work is complete I’ll make it a point to go back from time to time to see how things are progressing.

INTERVIEW WITH ASHOT KOCHARYAN

National Director, SOS Children’s Villages

ONNIK KRIKORIAN: What makes SOS Kinderdorf different from a State-run Children’s Home?

ASHOT KOCHARYAN: The main difference is that we provide long term family-based care. This is what makes us different from State Orphanages. When I say long-term, I mean in terms of our commitment to the care and upbringing of our children and we don’t stop when they turn 18. We continue this work up to the age of 22 and sometimes up to 24 depending on the achievements of the individual development planning of the children.

What I mean by this is that if a child has grown up in the SOS Kinderdorf village, he or she already has a profession, the issue of housing is somehow sorted, he or she already earns enough money to live, and he or she is ready for independent life, it is only then that we stop our care fully. Otherwise, we have different phases. The first phase is the children’s village where the children stay up until the age of 14 or 15 and sometimes up until the age of 16.

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SOS Kinderdorf Kindergarten, Kotayk, Kotayk Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

One of the nicest surprises with SOS Kinderdorf’s work in Armenia as well as other countries is with how they try to integrate children deprived of parental care into the surrounding community. Not only do SOS children attend regular school, but in villages such as Kotayk where there was no kindergarten, children from the surrounding villages attend the one they established for SOS children.

Children from the children’s village attend schools in the local vicinity wherever possible. Where school facilities are lacking or inadequate, SOS Children’s Villages establishes schools which are open to all children, whether they come from the SOS Children’s Village or the local community. This is also the case with the SOS Kindergartens and the SOS Vocational Training Centres.

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SOS Kotayk Village, Abovian, Kotayk Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

Yesterday saw my first visit to the SOS Kinderdorf village near Abovian. The collection of cottages aims to bring up children deprived of parental care in a family-type environment. Not exactly fostering, but similar in a way.

SOS Children’s Villages revolve around the effort to give children who have lost their parents or who are no longer able to live with them a permanent home and a stable environment. The SOS Children’s Village family-like structure is formed by four basic principles: mother, brothers and sisters, house and village.

Each child is given a so-called SOS mother. She is the main person who cares for this child and is a substitute for the child’s natural parents. She lives in a house together with the children that she is looking after. Together with them she organises the family’s daily life. She creates strong and dependable relationships and gives the children a safe and loving home. The job of an SOS Children’s Village Mother is usually carried out by single women who have to complete an extensive training programme. They are supported in their highly responsible task by educational co-workers as well as by women who are still training to be SOS Children’s Village mothers.

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SOS Kinderdorf Youth Facility, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online

There are many themes I return to again and again, and one of those is the issue of children in state-run institutions in Armenia. However, after recently returning from Georgia where I photographed work undertaken in this area by the British Charity EveryChild, I’ve started to look at alternatives to residential care in Armenia.

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