Participants' Names

Testimonies and Numbers

It is Monday 10th of July 2006, 8:30 in the morning, the first day of "Arevig 2006" Summer Day Camp at the beautiful campus of St. Hripsimiantz College in Fanar. Beautiful happy faces show up one after the other, with an excitement expression, knowing that this is no ordinary school, but a fun summer camp where they will have lots of fun everyday and all day. The children were welcomed with lots of smiles and welcome arcs and balloons; and in this way the summer fun was launched.

The children were divided into groups called after fish names, and from the youngest to the older to the oldest, they became the Goldfish, Dolphins, and Mako sharks, respectively. Periods of drawing lessons, arts and crafts, singing, dancing, drama, sports, football and basketball, playing with toys and outside equipments, physical and mental games, preparation of newsletter and a little bit of doing homework were all taking place during the summer camp days.

The children were so happy that even from day one, they started asking whether they can come next year as well!

Then Wednesday the 12th of July, 2006, was the start of a sad period of time for everyone in Lebanon; however then, no one knew what terrible days were coming our way.

Nevertheless, inside "Arevig 2006" doors, the children were kept away from all devastating news, and Thursday 13th of July was filled with animators from Kids' Paces who came to entertain the children along with the big red square character called "Mattitta". But that wasn't all… Boxes and boxes of Domino's Pizzas and Pepsi were delivered to school… and yum, yum!

Friday 13th of July, the children headed to Dream Park in Yassouh el Malak where all of them had a blast going on all the rides! After they had lots and lots of fun, it was time to head to Burger King in Kaslik where the children had their favorite meals, and received toys, crowns, and balloons, and returned home super happy with their face painted.

The regular fun classes continued Monday through Wednesday, and on Thursday the 20th of July, the wonderful pajama day took place, where all the children came to "Arevig 2006" wearing their pajamas, to spend a cozy day at school, eating popcorn and watching a movie, just like home.
For safety reasons, and since we could not take the "Arevig" children out on fieldtrips and for swimming, we brought the swimming pool to them. Consequently, a big swimming pool was placed in the school's playground, where the next couple of Fridays, the children had pool parties, along with their favorite meals being ordered and delivered to them, like chicken sandwiches, frankfurters, pizzas and McDonald's burgers.

As for the Thursday celebrations, the following were the activities that took place:

Thursday 27th of July, included the July birthdays, where a big birthday party took place, and where the children in addition to singing the birthday tunes, having cake and jus, they took part in the Karaoke event, where they sang following the lyrics on screen and later danced and danced some more.

Thursday 3rd of August, 2006 was a colorful day in "Arevig 2006": it was a Carnival. The children looked so very different. We had Zorro, a Spanish lady, a prince, an actress from the thirties, a postman, Dora, Mini, Snow-White, Spiderman, an Italian police officer, a chef, a cowboy, a fairy princess and many other characters. And the celebration began!

The Salad day took place on Thursday 10th of August, 2006. The long tables were set outside in the playground under the trees, and the children went around the tables and got busy with making their own salads. The children started cutting and preparing all the vegetables and other ingredients, they added the appropriate dressings and made two kinds of salads which they ended up eating with big appetites. Of course, all the while, the children were calling each other by putting the title of "Chef" before their names, and we ended having, "Chef Nareg" and Chef "Joey".
Monday 14th of August, 2006, 8 o'clock in the morning, the big break took place in Lebanon: the seize fire finally came, which meant that once again the outdoor fieldtrips will resume! Consequently, the celebration of August birthdays took place on Thursday 17th of August, 2006, where during the birthday party and after eating birthday cakes and jus, all the children from the youngest to the oldest showed their singing, and dancing talents.

As for Friday 18th of August, the "Arevig 2006" children, after having colorful delicious donuts for breakfast, went to the fun water land of Splash Mountain in Mansourieh, where they swam, did water tricks, and went up to the big water slides, and slid right down in the waters, by making big splashes. The children had so much fun, that they did not realize that it was already time to go back home! Very happy and tired, as the children headed home, they were already asking when the next field trip was!

Consequently, the next field trip came very soon, and on Wednesday 23rd of August, the children headed to Dino City in Ajaltoun, the prehistoric park - museum. The children spent an educational and interesting day, as they were introduced to our planet Earth and how life started billions of years ago. First they visited the science museum, then the dinosaurs and the prehistoric man park, where they stopped in front of the giant creatures astonished, and received explanations. After having lunch in this prehistoric environment, they spend some fun time playing with the playground toys there, and on their way home, it was quite interesting the many curious questions that they were asking.

As the summer day camp was coming to an end and according to the children "it was too short"! Friday the 25th of August marked the last day of "Arevig 2006" and where a Field Day took place. All the participating children's parents and relatives were invited to spend an "Arevig 2006" farewell day. Consequently, each parent went into their children's classrooms and participated in the arts and crafts project there. Next, the parents enjoyed looking at the children's beautiful drawings, paintings, and other manual works that were exhibited, while being served cookies and refreshments. Then it was time for the performance, where the children presented the dances, songs and drama sketches that they had prepared; and at the end of the performance, each child received a certificate of participation. Next, the parents participated in the organized outdoor games and the competition was fun since the groups were parents versus children.

Then, it was time for the goodbyes. Teachers and children, who had already become like family, said their tearful goodbyes, promising that they will see each other next year.

Considering the surprisingly destructive situation that Lebanon went through, "Arevig 2006" Summer Day Camp which was organized by Cadmus Project, continued with its activities with great dedication and responsibility, and achieved its purpose by making the children happy, and keeping them away from the devastating news.

Furthermore, "Arevig 2006" was able to attain its goal to spread the notions of culture and education among future generations.

Our work would have been much more difficult, if it were not for dedicated nuns of St. Hripsimiantz, who showed much interest in our summer camp, and whose prayers kept us away from all harm and to have a successful summer camp. As for St. Hripsimiantz College under whose patronage "Arevig 2006" took place, proved to be once again dedicated towards its mission and that it is one of the best Armenian-Lebanese schools in Lebanon, and the children's favorite place not only during the scholastic year but also during the summer vacation.

Good bye, until we meet again.