Summer Camp for Disabled Children of Kharberd Orphanage

In the summer of 2005, COAF organized a summer camp for children with special needs from Kharberd Orphanage. Through this project, COAF made it possible for a number of able orphans to spend the summer in a specially designed camp facility located in Shorja on the shore of Lake Sevan. This allowed the Kharberd Orphanage to give the remaining children more individual attention and personalized treatment, which is critical to their sense of self-esteem. COAF’s work with the orphanage aimed to ensure that children attending the institution received physical therapy and had a special education curriculum. COAF also upgraded the home’s dental facilities to help meet the health care needs of resident children.

Kharberd Orphanage is home to 230 mentally handicapped children over the age of seven. This institution has provided services such as physical therapy and special education curricula designed for the specific needs of each child. Unfortunately, the orphanage is overcrowded because there are no other facilities that can address the pressing needs of these children. Because many of these orphans have no means of survival outside the institution, they remain at the home indefinitely.