Bari Mama: There’s a Mother Out There for Every Child

Two mothers with children staying at Bari Doon, physical therapist in back

Bari Mama is a non-profit organization which supports disabled, underprivileged and abandoned children and their mothers. The following is an interview between co-founder Marina Adulyan and Weekly contributor Hovsep Daghdigian. 

Hovsep Daghdigian: Please tell us about yourself and share some insight into Bari Mama. 

Marina Adulyan: Bari Mama was launched in 2014 initially as an informal online network of mothers and established itself as a non-profit in 2015, founded by Marine Adulyan, a professor of Greek Studies of YSU, and Inessa Muradyan, Governance Programs and Business Development Manager at the British Council. This was triggered by a case of a newborn abandoned by his biological family due to a physical disability (three missing limbs). Support was immediately provided to the newborn, and work initiated with the family. Similar cases were discovered in due course (one to two cases weekly on average), and the need for a support organization was identified. The first baby with the missing limbs was returned to its biological family within a year. Since then, over 100 children have been either reunited with their families or prevented from entry into an institution.

H.D.: Please describe some of Bari Mama’s programs.

M.A.: Bari Doon (Bari Tnak) started in 2015 as an inclusive children’s daycare facility providing development and entertainment programs both for children with disabilities and for other children who attended in return for a donation. There were various events including crafts, theatre performances and competitions. Proceeds from the donations went to the NGO’s main mission of providing psychological, medical and material support to the families of children with disabilities who faced the risk of being abandoned. 

Another successful activity of Bari Tnak is Santa House, an annual Christmas project run on the premises of Bari Tnak. It features an elves factory for crafting ornaments and handmade presents, a Santa’s workshop, etc. 

During the past three years Bari Tnak faced a number of challenges which needed to be addressed. Our maintenance and overhead costs were too high, mostly due to rent. Because we were dependent on using the premises of our partners, we had to change locations frequently. We needed more space for therapies and had to rely on our partners for facilities again. 

It became clear that in many cases mothers want to keep their children, however they are pressured by the families (husbands, in-laws, etc), and due to financial dependency have no way of staying with their children. Space was not available to cater for the needs of mothers with newborn children, who often needed special equipment, furniture or medical intervention.  

Thus the idea of building our own Bari Tnak multi-functional facility was developed. This is a complex of two buildings located in the town of Jrvezh. One building is primarily for the mothers of children with disabilities. The second building is for older children with disabilities who are leaving the orphanages and need a place to live. 

Land for the Bari Tnak facility was bought for us by a local para-diplomacy NGO. The first building was built through a social enterprise support project funded by AGBU and the EU. Also other private donations, in kind contributions from sponsors, donations from construction companies, as well as fundraising campaigns funded the project. 

Second building under construction next to Bari Doon

Construction of the second building has started with the funds raised by Serj and Angela Tankians. However a significant amount is still required to complete the building. 

Bari Tnak is a social enterprise, which intends to use several commercial components to support its sustainability as a social initiative. The social components include shelters for mothers who feel pressure or experience violence from their families for attempting to keep their children with disabilities. Shelters provide therapy, free rehabilitation services and psychological support for parents and children. Various social programs for the sustainability of these parents/families includes vocational training and work placement within Bari Tnak or with corporate sponsors.

Shelter for those over 18 years of age who are leaving orphanages and have no place to go is provided. There is a long waiting list for government-provided social housing. Orphanage graduates are offered vocational training to enable them to find work and become self-sufficient. A work placement program helps provide work at the Bari Tnak cafe/souvenir shop and provides work referrals to partners/sponsors. 

Our commercial fundraising components of activities include providing rental facilities for social gatherings and corporate events. The second building which is currently under construction will feature a café, craft production facilities and a souvenir gift shop. 

Currently women find out about us through word of mouth or through those doctors/nurses who informally cooperate with us. 

At the moment there are four mothers with children with disabilities like Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy housed in Bari Tnak. This number will grow once the formal project with the Ministry of Health is launched and information is officially provided to parents and families of children with disabilities.  

The government was always supportive of our activities and efforts but didn’t provide any other support. Recently, however, we signed an MOU with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social and Labor Issues, as well as with UNICEF in order to formalize our services and support, as well as to provide training to medical personnel and to introduce a psychological support facility in the postnatal departments.  

The staff of Bari Mama serves mostly on a voluntary basis. The only paid staff members are the therapists and project coordinators, hired temporarily through specific partner funded projects

Children at Bari Amar Camp

H.D.: Tell us about the program which takes children on a vacation to Lake Sevan.

M.A.: Bari Amar Camp is another annual project that Bari Mama has been implementing during the last three years. Every summer we take children with disabilities from the orphanages, as well as other underprivileged children who are beneficiaries of our partner institutions, on an inclusive camping holiday near Lake Sevan. The locations of our partners were used. Then the Ministry of Environmental Protection granted us a private shoreline at Lake Sevan where we are currently trying to establish facilities for a convenient, accessible and secure camping site. 

The camp has been a great opportunity for taking the children out of their gloomy routine at the orphanage where, due to mobility restraints. Some of them don’t even have a chance of going for a walk outside the building. For some children who have parents but still reside in the orphanage, mostly due to economic issues, it has been a good bonding exercise, resulting in some cases in the reunification of families with the establishment of some support mechanisms. 

The children are seven to 18 years old. They are usually accompanied by their institutional representatives, or sometimes their parents. Our volunteers and therapists also work with the children throughout their stay. Normally each group visits the camp for seven to 10 days, and we run two or three groups every year depending on the funds raised and the weather conditions. 

Currently we are building a container house, which we raised funds for through a local sponsor, the Chronimet Mining Company. In the meantime, children are staying in tents and sleeping bags which is an inconvenient solution for the cold and windy Sevan nights. Ideally we are looking to build a more comfortable site with fixed housing and basic conveniences. These could also be rented for a fee by tourists during times when there are no children there. This would serve as an additional source of funding for the NGO and for the camp’s sustainability. 

J.D.: How can Diasporan Armenians help?

M.A.: They can donate clothes, food or money via Paypal: meripoghosyan@gmail.com or contact us at http://barimama.org/am/ or on Facebook. Every dollar counts.

J.D.: What personal message would you like to tell the Diaspora?

M.A.: Join us and help close all the orphanages. Let children stay with their families.

Hovsep Daghdigian

Hovsep Daghdigian

Joseph “Hovsep” Daghdigian is originally from Lowell, MA. His grandparents were from Kharpet in Western Armenia. He is active in the Merrimack Valley community and a former chairman of the AYF CE. Dagdigian is a retired electrical and software engineer with a MS in computer engineering. Dagdigian spends three to five months per year in Armenia and Artsakh exploring sites with his friend Vova Tshagharyan. His adventures are described in his “Unseen Armenia” series of articles. He, with Anahid Yeremian, co-founded the Support Committee for Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division (SCACRD) in 2000 to support the scientists and students at the Cosmic Ray Division of the Yerevan Physics Institute (now the A. Alikhanyan National Laboratory). He lives in Harvard, MA with his wife Lisa.
Hovsep Daghdigian

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