"Crossroad of Years" Club

  Gavar is a small town with around 34000 population. It is one of the areas of Armenia where poverty is more emphasized. The area had a high rate of migration, and the number of poor old people and old couples is continuously growing. Currently there are 350 old people who live alone. 80 of them have never had children. There are more 175 old couples whose children are out of the country. Armenian Caritas currently provides home care to 60 very poor old people. Most of them have serious health problems, but the biggest issue is their loneliness.

  In February 23, 2010 Armenian Caritas initiated a club for old people and youth with a title "Crossroad of Years" within the "National Home Care for Elderly" project in Gavar.

  This is an initiative which aims at promoting the integration of old poor people into the society and giving them space to transfer their rich spiritual heritage to younger generations. Even during the first stage of discussions we got very enthusiastic and realized that the club may foster a chain of significant achievements. Each of us envisioned the old people who were models in our lives could feel how we would enjoy their storytelling and unique formulations of different topics. There is a widespread idea that young people are indifferent towards old aged people and avoid spending time with them. Sometimes it happens, but most often many young people enjoy listening to stories on historical events old people witnessed and to visualize the faded images of our past.

  Apart from cultural and integration purposes the initiative pursues also a social objective. The gap between different age segments gets deeper and more enrooted. All this results in weakening of moral and social connections and eventually mutual support mechanisms stop to be effective. Thus, another far going objective of Armenian Caritas is to ensure that old people living alone have wider network and are able to get help easier. The activities of the club will obviously help that the mechanism starts getting pace naturally without imposing a person or an institution to do so.

  For the beginning the club will be held bi-monthly. During the presentation of the Club Armenian Caritas offered that each meeting is hosted by a Governmental or a public organization. Each meeting will have its topic, which will be discussed with the club members and the host organization.

  Armenian Caritas is the founder of the club and will carry out the technical part of organizing the meetings, however, the club will belong to Gavar city and each party was requested to feel responsible and have its contribution in organizing it. Participants of the meeting were very positive about the idea and we could already make a non formal agreement with most of them.

  The Gegharkunik Region Chamber of Commerce will host the club three times a year. Mission Armenia, World Vision, Human Rights Protection Center after Sakharov, Good Morning NGO for disabled children, Women Rights Center, City Hall of Gavar, health and social departments of Governor's house said they would be happy to host the club once or twice a year. Some of them offered to organize the club also in their focal points located out of the city. The city hall representative promised that they will assist in organizing the transportation of club members.

  From this point it is obvious that the elderly will have access to health care, human rights protection organizations and other institutions, which have wide networks. The most touching though was the suggestion of the head of Regional Governor's Department of Child Protection who offered to organize a visit of the club members to an orphanage. "Sometimes we forget that children, who don't have parents, don't have also grandparents. I think old people will be very happy to visit the minors, too," he said.