The Koghb Art School is located in the northeastern village of Koghb, Armenia and is home to approximately 6,000 residents. The village is situated about 3 kilometers from the Azeri and Armenian border. The Art School has been providing art education to the children of the Koghb region for more than 10 years. The school is open year round, seven days a week and holds many classes for the children of Koghb and its surrounding villages. Currently, there are about 50 school-aged students and 10 university-aged students attending classes and events. The joint effort put in by the staff, volunteers and pupils, provides comprehensive cultural education for all residents interested. The Art School provides many courses including drawing, painting, composition, and art history. Additionally, the school provides applied arts workshops in pottery, carpet-making, metal arts, and woodcarving. The Koghb Art School graduates keep a close bond to the school and continue to participate exhibitions, keep in touch with teachers and help current pupils whenever possible. Events and classes at the school are an important chance to nurture talented young artists living in this border region and ensure that they have a place to practice safely and comfortably. Through support from the local government, the school operates and holds classes in a comfortable, modern building.

The Koghb Art School would like to continue its wonderful work and extend their program to try to combat the village’s unemployment problem. Individuals in Koghb and the surrounding border villages have been leaving their homes in search of employment opportunities. The Koghb Art School seeks to provide not only education, but also training in traditional Armenian crafts, a skill that can be used to create employment and business opportunities for the entire village. The school already has a small business, Yereqnuk Handicrafts, which employs many local women and helps them earn a small income. The Art School’s idea is to help increase training and employment opportunities is by creating a permanent ceramics studio, with all the necessary conditions for training both children and professionals. As of now, children who take pottery workshops at the school are not able learn correct methods of pottery. They create small projects from clay, but because the school doesn’t have a kiln, projects break quickly and cannot be painted or glazed. If the children and visiting students could make a more professional pottery product, both interest in and attendance to the pottery workshops would increase significantly. Also, with the addition of a ceramics studio, the opportunities for employment in the community will increase.

The studio will be created in our existing applied arts studio. The school will provide the teacher’s salary and tables and chairs for the studio. Sponsorship of this project will help raise funds to purchase and install a kiln and pottery to complete the ceramics department. After equipment is installed and the studio is finished, themed workshops will be provided for children and students free of charge. The pottery studio will provide a new outlet for creativity, imagination, decorative qualities, and understanding of 3-D objects for its students. Furthermore, community training courses will also be offered.

Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur (NKA) is a border village with a population of 1,380 residents in the Bert area of Armenia’s Tavush Region. This community, whose territory connects with Azerbaijan, lives and works under a constant risk of sniper fire and renewed armed conflict every day. Along with the economy these difficult and dangerous times have also had a negative impact on educational advancement and school attendance. The primary school in the village is in need of complete remodel in order to provide elementary and high school aged children the opportunity to learn in a clean, new and safe environment. This school, which has 180 children in attendance, is housed in three buildings of which currently two are in use.
The gym has been renovated through local sponsorship from the village, but the classrooms are in still in poor condition.

As part of the Paros Foundation’s ongoing efforts to rebuild the infrastructure of this large village, Michael and Patricia Starzer of Lakewood, Colorado have agreed to underwrite the complete renovation of an entire floor of the elementary school. Their sponsorship will enable us to rebuild five classrooms on the first floor. The remodel will include the hallways, the boys and girls bathrooms, updates to the heating system, new lighting, new paint and new flooring. Once phase 1 is completed we will fundraise for phase 2 renovations, which will include other classrooms, the library, a science lab, and the cafeteria.

The Paros Foundation, with the help of generous donors Jean-Marie and Lori Atamian of New York, has already successfully renovated the Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur medical center and kindergarten, and provided five families with their own agribusiness for their economic development. These projects have had a huge impact on the community. It is of strategic importance to support these villages in their daily lives so that they may remain inhabitants of this village, mere footsteps from Azerbaijan.

Winters in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, are extreme. Unemployment and poverty is rampant. Following the devastating 1988 Spitak Earthquake, in which more than 25,000 people lost their lives and more than 100,000 people were left homeless, Gyumri’s residents did whatever they could to find temporary shelter. This included moving into the overseas shipping containers in which earthquake related humanitarian goods were shipped to Armenia. 24 years following the earthquake, more than 3,000 poverty stricken families remain in various forms of temporary housing.

The harsh winters and extreme poverty lead to these people picking through trash to find something that they can burn to keep warm and cook food for their families. Children do not have the proper clothing and boots to stay healthy and attend school.

This effort will ensure that 60 families living in deplorable conditions receive heating and cooking fuel and warm clothing for their children.

Gyumri is Armenia’s second largest city. Following the devastating 1988 Spitak Earthquake, in which more than 25,000 people lost their lives and more than 100,000 people were left homeless, Gyumri’s residents did whatever they could to find temporary shelter. This included moving into “domiks,” the overseas shipping containers in which earthquake related humanitarian goods were shipped to Armenia. 25 years following the earthquake, almost 4,000 poverty stricken families remain continue to live in unsafe and dilapidated buildings and the rusted remains of overseas shipping containers. In addition to inadequate housing, unemployment and rampant poverty, Gyumri’s people are faced with extreme winters.
The harsh winters and extreme poverty lead to people picking through trash to find something that they can burn to keep warm and cook food for their families. Due to the intense cold weather and toxic fumes, children often get sick and are unable to attend school.

This effort will ensure that 90 families in Gyumri will receive fuel for heating and cooking through firewood for month’s period. Our partner for this project, Shirak Center NGO, will help distribute the firewood to the families.

Currently home to 286 households and 955 people, the village of Baghanis was established in the fifth century and is situated in the Tavush region of Armenia. The village is adjacent to the Republic of Azerbaijan, sharing a 2 km-long border. Today, the residents make a living by farming and tending to their livestock. Now, economic development and opportunities for work are essential to continue improving the conditions in this border village. Sponsorship of this project will help provide needy villagers with the opportunity to care for their families and to help improve the village’s economy.

Armen A. and his family have been identified as one of the families who are in need of additional support in order to help their agribusiness grow. Their family consists of five members including three children. They live in a dangerous area as their home is exposed to Azeri sniper fire. Armen works as a contract soldier stationed on the border. They currently do not barn, but have requested materials to built one along with pigs and chickens for their agribusiness. As a part of this effort Armen A. and his family will be provided training and/or business tips for the ensured success of their agribusiness. Frequent visits will be made to the family to track their progress and determine the success of their new venture.

Currently home to 286 households and 955 people, the village of Baghanis was established in the fifth century and is situated in the Tavush region of Armenia. The village is adjacent to the Republic of Azerbaijan, sharing a 2 km-long border. Today, the residents make a living by farming and tending to their livestock. Now, economic development and opportunities for work are essential to continue improving the conditions in this border village. Sponsorship of this project will help provide needy villagers with the opportunity to care for their families and to help improve the village’s economy.

Andranik S. and his family have been identified as one of the families who are in need of additional support in order to help their agribusiness grow. Their family consists of six members including three children. They live in a dangerous area as their home is exposed to Azeri sniper fire. Andranik works as a contract soldier stationed on the border. They currently have a barn, and have requested cows for their agribusiness. As a part of this effort Andranik S. and his family will be provided training and/or business tips for the ensured success of their agribusiness. Frequent visits will be made to the family to track their progress and determine the success of their new venture.

The Kharpert Home for Special Children is an orphanage located in the village of Nor Kharpert serving more than 250 children with varying degrees of developmental disabilities. The orphanage is a state run facility that receives governmental support to provide these vulnerable children with their basic care and education.

Excursions for these children to amusement parks and/or other appropriate venues provide these children with both valuable community experience and needed recreation. Children with disabilities in Armenia are generally kept sheltered from society. These children do not attend school, but rather attend classes at the orphanage. It is important for both these children and society for these children to experience community life.

For each donation of $250, approximately 20 children and an appropriate number of care provides will be able to go on an excursion to Yerevan at Victory Park, or another appropriate venue for a morning or afternoon of activities including transportation, admission and snacks. Please consider supporting multiple excursions for these children.

The Taron II community in the city of Vanadzor was built after the devastating 1988 earthquake. Several housing blocks were constructed including a community kindergarten. Currently, the kindergarten is housed in two-section building and in need of minor renovations.

Fortunately the building already has a source of heat and no issues with the roof. Sponsorship of this project will help start renovation work with the kitchen and cafeteria area, as it is the most in need. Our goal is to continue work at this kindergarten once we complete the kitchen and cafeteria renovations.

Representatives of The Paros Foundation have visited more than 100 schools throughout Armenia. While some schools have either been renovated thanks to the Armenian government or as a result of the generosity of international donors, many remain in deplorable conditions and have little hope of being renovated in the near future. These conditions affect both the ability for students to learn, as well as the health of students and teachers. How is a student supposed to learn if there are not proper desks, chairs or windows in the classroom?

One of the schools recently identified in need of a complete renovation is located in the large village of Ljashen in the Gegharkunik region at Lake Sevan. Ljashen Village has a population of 5,000 and one local school. About 300 students attend this run down school.

The Paros Foundation will directly oversee the renovation of a classroom at this school including doors, flooring, lighting, paint, electrical, and furniture as needed. The heating system was replaced 10 years ago by Developmental Services for Armenia, a California based humanitarian organization, and is still fully functioning. Whenever possible, the school, students and their parents will be incorporated into the classroom remodel project to help build a sense of community and personal investment.

Homeland Handicrafts(HH) was founded in order to create jobs- jobs for mostly women – in the regions of Armenia. HH develops market-oriented products that are based on techniques the women know and materials they have. We actively market these items through fairs and shops in Yerevan as well as through export. We still have a lot to do both on the product development and marketing sides in order to reach our goal of creating dozens of jobs for women in the regions of Armenia.

Prototype Fund: As women in villages generally do not have a capital base, it is necessary for HH to purchase the materials need to make the initial prototypes of products. Several prototypes are often necessary to make. The artisan contributes her work to this effort.

Workshop Participation: Product development is a time and work intensive task, and even more so when the artisans in the villages do not have the exposure to the market, not in Yerevan, and not abroad. This requires frequent visits to the villages where the artisans live and work in order to follow up on product concepts- making sure they understand the design and quality requirements, price calculations, labeling, packaging, etc. This means that the volunteers in HH must make frequent trips to each project that we cooperate with. This is very demanding on time and expenses, but is part of the job creation task we have taken up ourselves.

Promotion Fairs: It is important to participate in numerous fairs during the year for several reasons: 1) to sell products, 2) to introduce the artisans to the market, getting feedback on design, price, presentation, etc., 3) identifying potential wholesale customers and contacts for developing more long term business and export relationships.

Marketing Tools: To create jobs, HH must have an active marketing profile. Banners, brochures and flyers are needed to use/distribute at fairs and in other public forums. The www.homelandhandicrafts.org website is another strong marketing tool that will be kept up to date from showcasing the HH effort.

Homeland Handicrafts (HH) travels extensively throughout the regions of Armenia to identify, cultivate and follow up artisans, so that they might make products that can be sold and thus create a sustainable livelihood for them. We keep the expenses down as far as possible by sleeping on couches and eating cheap. Still, we need to buy bus tickets or pay for gas in order to get to these places. This comes out of our private pockets. We would appreciate support to be able to do our voluntary work to create jobs in the regions of Armenia. Funds are needed to underwrite transportation costs to help HH visit and work with these artisans.