trips

Yeritsvank

August 10 schedule included a very special activity: a tour to one of the historical sites of the region, called Yeritsvank . It's a range of old churches which, although mostly destroyed, still carry the beauty of the past!

The excursion to Yeritsvank took a good deal of time, but songs, jokes and games accompanied campers even during the bus ride! As the order remains order, campers were divided in two groups to take the educational historical tour guided by comrade Tsaturyan. Children were shown the Zangezour region from the top of a huge rock, from where a picturesque view opened up to Mt. Khustup(app. 3800m) and Mt. Kaputjugh(app. 4019m) - the most cherished mountains of Syunik; the Artificial lake with the waste waters from mining in the region and many many more connected with this “place with lots of forests”, as a young guy from Spitak describes Kapan.

Then campers were given time to not only digest the information given earlier at the excursion, but also plenty of time for lunch in the park next to Yeritsvank!

The camp provided supply for numerous games and activities, such as ball games, jump rope, hoola hoop, dodge ball, mini billiard, chess and checkers and other board and mini games. But you should never think this is enough for the kids! Creativeness is a special talent they enjoy, especially in the wild! And all of this was discussed and carried out with the camp councelors , always alert and always present.

After all the fun and crazy time, a representative of Kapan Aarhus centre, Ashot Avagyan, asked us to look around and evaluate the way our park looks. Everything was great other than…we could see trash accompanying our green environment! Ashot spent some time with the campers bringing up the importance of clean nature. The result is astonishing. The groups organized a strong and effective army against any trash and waste, and soon the park filled up with brightness and joy. If you are not in a hurry, there's something else to be said before we leave Yeritsvank and its park: “…a clean environment makes us happy”, ensured Ashot. Another essential advice was to not only keep our environment clean, but also alert others and let them learn the key element of happiness!

Ukhtavank

Another remarkable trip was the trip to Ukhtavank. This trip was special as we had a guest speaker from “Khazer” NGO, Amalya Hambardzmyan. She spoke to the campers about the importance of keeping our world clean. Various games supported her speech and served as mini practice for campers

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One of the games was the following: one person takes a yarn roll and calls out a name of an animal or bird. Then he throws the yarn and the one who catches does the same. The game ends when the yarn ends but nobody can leave as they are all trapped in the yarn. “The same is with our world”, says Mrs Amalya, “we are connected and all the animals and birds are connected”!

Vahanavank

The excitement about the trip was so strong that children asked to go there again. Therefore after the nest trip to Vahanavank, a system of churches built in the mountains in the 8 th century. During the trip comrade Tsaturyan and one of the site renovation workers acquainted us with the historical facts connected with Vahanavank.

After Vahanavank we headed to Ukhtavank were a whole evening was spent playing games, competitions between campers and their counselors. During and after camp activities some campers and counselors organized wood gathering for the next day's fire. Comrade Anjela promised the children they will have as big of a fire as they wish. Upon our arrival back to the camp, campers confessed they felt like returning home.

Other photos from Yeritsvank
Other photos from Ukhtavank
Other photos from Vahanavank