Make Children Smile: a trip of Aregak Center children to the Zoo.

Each child, irrespective of age, gender and the position they have in the society, should be protected by the State. Children with special needs are among them. They also need shelter, care, love and family.

Taking into account this essential problem Armenian Caritas established "Aregak" daycare centre in July 3, 2008. The project is funded by Caritas Austria. The centre is functioning nearly a year and completely demonstrates its value in practice. That is to integrate children with special needs into society and avoid isolation.

The centre has 27 children, 7 of which have their individual schedule of attendance. Almost all the children have multiple disabilities: physical and mental. Specialists take care of these children in the center. Voluntary work is also one of the activities encouraged by "Aregak" day care centre.

Recently "Aregak" centre organized a trip to Yerevan, Zoo on June 4, 2009. The trip was not an end in itself. It had the aim to teach children to love animals and lately to facilitate their further treatment effectively.

The trip was financed by Armenian Caritas and the parent's council of the centre. Each child had the opportunity to participate in this trip, without taking into account the degree of disability.

The trip was great. Children had a lot of fun and their smiling faces were the evidence of this great day. They will never forget it. Tamara Vanoyan, the coordinator of "Aregak" centre, described the trip with these words.

Written and translated by Satik Tokmajian