“Back to Nature” Summer Camp - 2025
The “Back to Nature” project launched this year on July 19, thanks to the financial support of “Chene France”.
The project aims to organize a summer camp for children from vulnerable families of Shirak Marz. This yearly project is implemented in Yeghnajur village with the support of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The camp accommodates children in two shifts, each lasting seven days. The Shirak Diocese Cultural Center recruits the children. This year, 55 children, recruited from various settlements in Shirak Marz, spent their summer vacation at the camp. From them, 13 were sponsored by Ola Simon Osttveit, the Norwegian benefactor of the Shirak Diocese.
As every year, the children spent their days at the camp with great intensity, participating in active games and hikes, as well as classes such as first aid, military training, religion, foreign languages, environmental protection, sports, and others. The children were especially impressed by the seminar on “Fishing in Armenia” held by Hovhannes Khnusyan, the president of the “Aghavnabaze” hunting association.
This year, the camp leaders were also joined by volunteers Nane Aprikyan, Mikael Muradyan, and French-Armenian Rosie Manaryan. They also enriched the children’s daily lives: Nane with drawing, Rosie with football and French, and Mikael with horse riding lessons, which have now become regular for the children of the camp.
The camp days were made more interesting by hikes to St. Sargis Church, Vishapakar, and elsewhere. During one of the excursions, the children launched their previously prepared “dream boats” into the Yeghnajur River.
Keeping with the tradition of the "Back to Nature" summer camp, both shifts ended with a farewell bonfire, around which the children sang, danced, and shared their unforgettable impressions and memories from the camp.
