It was a very difficult day today. Not physically, but emotionally. I went with 2 delegates of the LCO to visit potential new sites for future LCO campaigns. The first place was in Yerevan. We visited the Rehabilitation center for children. This was a great place doing great things with very little means. There is a Kindergarten that focuses on integration of physically and mentally disabled kids within a "normal" environment so that they don't grow up with all the inhibitions that society imposes on them. The second location was another Kindergarten in the city of Taline. This building belongs to the Church and needs lots of work. We then drove off to see another location. This was the orphanage in Gumri (not Sister Arusyak�s). The kids here are sooooo cute. They have mostly been abandoned by their parents because they either have a physical deficiency or a mental illness. There are 90 kids that range between 5 days to 7 years old. The Director was very nice and a very determined lady to get the best for her kids. I truly admired the (mostly) women employees of this institution. They have nothing as far as resources and they are doing so much! You might be hearing some of the same things repeated, but I guess you have to see it to understand what I was going through today.
Anyhow, we continued our tour to visit a newly built orphanage. I must tell you, I was not very impressed with the concept. The place looked like a palace and had the state of the arts furniture. However, they only wanted to take 30 or less kids mostly from low income families� you heard right, I said families. This means they will not really take orphans. They will take kids away from their poor families and put them in this elitist palace and create, what I think, a gap between the kids and their families. They insisted that they did not want any physically or mentally disabled kids. As if they were not fit for care. Their explanation was that they get a lot of help from the government. In less than 2 breaths she said that the government run orphanages are worthless and not educational. The kids there are mistreated and not fed very well�
On our way back, we stopped in the village of Taline this time. We found a Pert (fortress) and a ruined church. It was the discovery of the day. I would like to return there and find out more at another time.

On another note, in the past few days I had a chance to visit the LCO group in Ayroum. They have started building the foundations of the fruit dryer. This weekend they will be going to Haghpat, Sanahin and Odzun churches. They will visit the Tumanian museum and play a volleyball game with the local team. From there I joined Lara and her parents at the Tufenkian hotel near Sevan Lake. What a nice place it was. Disappointing at first that it was not ON the shores of Sevan, but once inside, you could see what James was intending. The food at the restaurant was amazing and the service was PERFECT! A must do when in Armenia. It is a 2 hour drive and well worth it.