Darbnik, Armenia — May 14, 2010 — IRD/Armenia today opened a newly refurbished school in this village of 1,350 people. The only school for the village, it serves 154 students in 11 grades. Ninety percent of Darbnik’s residents are refugees from the conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

Between late February and early May 2010, IRD built three bathrooms (for staff, boys, and girls) and installed a central heating system in the entire building. The building had originally been built in 1966 and hadn’t been updated since. It had neither running water nor a heating system. According to the school principal, children who lived close to the school would run home to use the bathroom during class breaks while the others had to use the pit latrine outside the school. The lack of a heating system forced the school to close during cold winter periods.

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) funded the project at $19,000. The Latter-Day Saints Charities purchased construction materials worth $4,000. Private donors Carolann and George Najarian contributed $4,000. And the Darbnik village community itself provided one million drams ($2,500). The total value of the project came to $29,500.

The Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy Joseph Pennington; Director of Humanitarian Programs, Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. DOS Gerald Oberndorfer; the head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Armenia office Bushra Halepota; and international and local authorities attended the ceremony. Also included were other DOS Humanitarian Program partners: Counterpart, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation, and Hellenicare.

“It is impressive how much has been accomplished in just three months’ time,” said Pennington. “This is indeed a special project which shows how much can be achieved together. I would like to thank all our partners for their great work and commitment to improve the lives of people.”