Caritas Europa President Msgr Michael Landau, CE ExBo member Alistair Dutton, and Humanitarian Officer CE Charel Krieps arrived in Yerevan on the 2nd of August as part of their trip to Armenia to learn more about Caritas operations in the country and how they are assisting displaced and another conflict-affected family.
As part of their arrival, they met with the Archbishop of Armenian Catholics of Armenia, Georgia, Russia, and Eastern Europe and the President of “Armenian Caritas” His Excellency Archbishop Raphael Minassian. Afterward, they met with the EU delegation in Armenia – Mr. Jan Plesinger, Deputy Head of Delegation, to discuss the refugee crisis and recent efforts that have been put in place to help assist those in need.
That afternoon visited a refugee center- the student dormitory of Yerevan’s University of Architecture and learn more about the experiences of individuals who have suffered from the Karabakh conflict, and oversee the support provided to them by Armenia Caritas. Currently, 20 families – 82 people have settled in the dormitory. Although they came from different parts of Karabakh, saw war, lost a relative, got a disability, they want to live with dignity. Armenian Caritas has been supporting the displaced persons and the host communities. From October 2020 until January 2021, Armenian Caritas helped more than 6,700 families. Since then, Caritas has been providing food and non-food items, medical supplies, clothes, funds for utilities and rent, and psychosocial support to more than 1,300 households
Karo and Narine Azryans are from Shushi. They moved to Yerevan, leaving everything in Karabakh – house, furniture, clothes. During the first Karabakh war, Karo lost his left leg in the nineties, and during the last war he had a heart attack and had heart surgery. 2 sons out of 4 children are soldiers defending the homeland. We had to leave our house and what we had created over the years and moved to Yerevan. “There are a lot of problems from medicine to employment, but we are glad that next to us is Armenian Caritas, an organization that has supported us with many issues,” says Naine.
In the other room of the dormitory is Mrs. Evgine, who lost her husband and a son in the first war in Karabakh, and her grandson in the second war; The other two sons became disabled due to the war. In the 1990s, she also took up arms and defended his homeland. Now only the memories of those days are left and a few medals that he proudly shows to the guests, the rest of the medals, along with the house, remained with the enemy.
Caritas Europa President Msgr Michael Landau, CE ExBo member Alistair Dutton, and Humanitarian Officer CE Charel Krieps listened to all their stories and problems with love. In gratitude for the caring work done by Caritas, the people of Karabakh entertained the guests with delicious Armenian fruits, assuring that if one day they return to their native homes, they will receive more hospitality in Karabakh

The second day Msgr Michael Landau, Alistair Dutton and Charel Krieps attended morning mass at the Gyumri Armenian Catholic Church, afterwards meeting with the director of Armenia Caritas, Gagik Tarasyan at the Gyumri head office to discuss current operations and learn more about recent Caritas activities. Whilst at the head office they took time to meet with current project managers, to become better acquainted with past and future initiatives, Armenian Caritas response to the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. This initiative aims to assist displaced and other conflict-affected families by providing psycho-social support, rental subsidies and capacity building in the form of vocational training, soft skills training and business support among other things. visited to some programmes which are being implemented, such as a visit to Little Prince day care center of Gyumri, a scheme which aims to contribute to the social protection of disadvantaged children by providing educational and life skills training. Target group of the center is 101 beneficiary children from 10 to 19 years old 72 families
21 children with special needs, of which 9 having disability status since childhood.
27 children from the community have participated in Training groups, different Events, and Yard Camp. The children of the center greeted the guests with salt and bread as a symbol of hospitality. The beneficiary children then showed the center’s clubs and entertained the guests with their songs and pictures.

In addition they also went to the Emily Aregak Center where they met with local beneficiaries In the early 2000s, a small group of occupational therapists saw the challenges that children with disabilities and their families struggled with in Gyumri. Faced with social isolation, stigma, poverty, few therapy options and little awareness of their rights, families affected by disability are some of the most vulnerable in Armenia.
At that time, there were very few services available for this population. Many parents felt ashamed to bring their children into public places. With inclusive education efforts in nascent stages, many children simply spent their days at home on the couch. Others languished with speech and mobility problems which could have been assuaged through early therapeutic intervention.
Together, Aregak’s founding members devised the idea of a daycare center that would not only provide therapy and care for children but also support for families. The project began as a joint initiative of the NGOs Caritas Vorarlberg/Diocese of Feldkirch and Armenian Caritas. The mission of the fund is to foster the full and equal inclusion of young people with disabilities and their families into society through therapy, socialization, training and advocacy. Now 180 beneficiaries visit Aregak, 135 of them from 2-18 yo.
In addition to visiting projects that are supported by Caritas, they also went on home visits to war affected families, within the ’’Livelihood and Shelter support to Conflict-Affected Population in Armenia’’ .
As a gratitude to all the actions Armenian Caritas does, Msgr Michael Landau awarded St. Elizabeth Medal to the Executive Director of Armenian Caritas Gagik Tarasyan.