| Mr. Nishanth - Football Class Trainer
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Armenian Youth Cultural Foundation
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We are pleased to inform you that a new volunteer has joined the harmonious and committed team of our NGO, this time not of Armenian but Indian nationality. Nishanth Kumar is a student at Yerevan State Medical University and he will contribute to our activities by running the football trainings for the boys at #12 Special School.
The first time Nishanth met the boys, they felt awkward and uncomfortable for the first time seeing an Indian guy. During the succeeding meetings they reviewed their behavior and now they have accepted Nishanth, talk to him and from time to time try to translate his phrases. The boys are greatly pleased with their new volunteer trainer.
The classes with Nishanth is not only a source of sports skills, but also an actual chance for the boys to communicate with a foreigner, because definitely suchlike communication will be a certain part of their mature life.
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"Future is Open" NGO Tuesday class hosted Armenian Youth Cultural Foundation President Derenik Parjamyan and his wife. They ran the class in a very energetic and lively manner, told the children a short story, which possessed deep moral judgment about lying and respecting elder people. They also taught the children two spiritual songs. The children actively and enthusiastically participated in the class and were highly impressed by the guests.
Our NGO has made an aim to organize meetings for the children with representatives of various organizations and celebrities (also in the frames of the class "he World and Me"), so that they, seeing the path they have passed and their current career achievements, should as well become anxious and have the inner motivation to do well in classes and receive proper education. This is the only way they will become honorable citizens of our country.
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| Start of the 2nd Term of the Educational Year
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On January 28, "FIO" supervising staff (Samvel Movsisyan, Marieta Grigoryan and Hayk Maghaqyan) met to discuss issues related to the educational programs and activities in the second term of the educational year.
Since Monday, February 4, classes will resume in the orphanages and the Special School.
As long as we track the children's progress and general educational growth through the educational programs, managed by "FIO", we will continue to broaden our programs also for other underprivileged children. The list of our programs became longer as we are going to start a new class, titled 'The World and Me', due to which the children, with our help, will keep track of the ongoing developments in science, politics and other fields and will follow the latest top news in the world.
Besides, a new group of children, aged 5 to 8 in Special Type Orphanage will be included in the language classes of Armenian, Russian and English.
New ideas are being nurtured in our minds that we plan to bring to life during this term, which will be a great incentive to heighten their educational level.
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| New Year Events
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Completion of the Autumn Term
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On December 22, 25 and 26 New Year events were organized in #12 Special School, Special type Orphanage and in "Children's home" due to joint efforts of the children, teachers and the volunteers of "Future is Open". In the three mentioned institutions the children displayed a wonderful show, singing, dancing, reciting and performing. Even the Santa and his Granddaughter visited the children giving them nice gifts, which had been obtained through the assistance of the NGO Friends.
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On December 29, the members of the "Future is Open" NGO had a final meeting at the NGO Office. At the meeting, first the president Samvel Movsisyan spoke in detail about all the events, organized during the year, achievements (football, basketball, chess training start, the successful processing of the Vanadzor computer classes etc), the supporters of the project, such as Vivacell company, "Web" and "Arminco", British Council.
Afterwards, the class responsibles reported on their subject, the problems and positive changes. The volunteers were especially impressed by the last public classes in all the three institutions, which were very memorable and vivid. The problems mentioned by the volunteers included the inadequate distribution of the children into groups, the regular absences of some children, though, on the whole, they all stated that they all work with the children with great pleasure, even if the children have not yet achieved great results, but they will have more success, as soon as they realize why they learn, how they are going to make use of their knowledge in life. Not that they will all become great specialists due to these classes, but more important is that they will learn to think. Finally, the most valuable achievement of the year is the trust and belief that the NGO with his volunteers have gained among the special school and orphanage children, management, and the teachers. The best possible feedback that could come out of a child's lips is the following phrase 'You again came this year, Mr. Samvel! I thought you would no more come, as many people visit us, take our photos for unknown reasons and than never come back a second time'.
At the end the NGO president thanked all the volunteers for the exemplary work done during the term, for the open-to-cooperation and committed attitude.
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| Public classes
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Meeting with the YSLU Students
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In the frames of the project "Help the Children" the classes of Armenian, Russian, English, Computer, Spiritual, Chess, Football and Basketball were run as public classes at the end of the term, i.e. anyone interested could attend the classes. During the public classes the volunteers had talks with the children in an informal atmosphere, summarized the material passed throughout the semester, what they have learnt and what their expectations are from the classes.
Suchlike public classes are also proper occasions for monitoring the whole educational process, the work done by the children and the volunteers, trying to dig out the drawbacks for future consideration.
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Unfortunately, today the most part of our students is unaware of what is going on in the life of one of the underprivileged layer of the society, i.e. children of orphanages and special schools, that among them there are fifteen-sixteen years old teenagers who cannot even read and write properly. The problem is not in the fact that they may be indifferent, but the lack of the information flow into the Universities or other organizations.
To fill the gap, 'Future is Open' NGO from now on will make regular visits to the (non) educational institutions of the republic to meet the students or employees. The aim of such visits is not gaining reputation, but enabling them to get aquainted with the content of the projects.
On December 15, the staff of the 'Future is Open' NGO, having been invited by the YSLU Student Council, visited the University and met with a group of students. The representatives of the NGO presented the current projects running in the orphanages and special schools, the main objectives of the projects, the difficulties and also the achievements. A small film was shown about the various events organized by the NGO. At the end, a discussion started and the the students asked the questions that concerned them to the representatives of the NGO.
Some of the students expressed willingness to become volunteers in the NGO, with the determination that they can also make a difference.
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