OROROTZ - CRADLE PROJECT

A healthy start for Armenia’s infants

The Armenian Ministry of Social Security, the Ministry of Health, and various NGOs estimate that there are currently over five thousand families in Armenia with children under the age of one living in conditions of extreme poverty. The Ororotz, or “Cradle” Project, was founded in May 2002 in order to aid rural Armenian families in the care of their newest members.

Ororotz’s ultimate goal is to promote healthy, warm, and nourished children growing up in stable families. The project is designed to help families minimize the cost of caring for their children, which often drives fathers to emigrate in search of work or pushes desperate parents to place their children in orphanages.

Ororotz supports newborn children in impoverished regions by providing their families with pediatric care, medical and nutritional supplies and awareness programs to ensure healthy development in the critical first year of life.

The program includes proper prenatal care for mothers along with child care education in local clinics, hospitals, and community institutions. Families enrolled in the program will receive:

• Free inoculations for their babies
• Four pediatric visits per year
• Deliveries of “Survival Kits”

The Survival Kits are designed to complement the four maturation stages of a baby’s first year. The kits will include essentials from baby powder, bed linens and bottles to hygiene products, blankets and baby clothing. Funding a full year of an infant’s essential needs through a Survival Kit costs $150. $900 will fund Survival Kits for six infants, for one year. No overhead is taken from the funds donated to Ororotz and every dollar results in direct aid to safeguarding the livelihood of Armenia’s most precious resources.

Ororotz is the first program to pool the resources of the Armenian Ministry of Social Security, the Ministry of Health, as well as various NGOs, business people and Diasporan donors to address early childhood care throughout Armenia.

Ororotz launched in the spring of 2003. Financing needs for the first year of the program were $860,000 and $750,000 for each year thereafter.

Every Armenian infant’s first breath is a defining moment in our national destiny. Your support can ensure that Armenia’s neediest babies make it beyond cradle and into a life of possibility.