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| Some of the refugees who are planting an orchard with fruit trees provided by a TeleFood project |
Two microprojects funded by donations given by the public to TeleFood '97 are helping disadvantaged Armenians to plant fruit trees and vegetable gardens.
"We are very happy with TeleFood help. It is the first time in 10 years that we have something of our own," said Nicolai Gragian, one of hundreds of refugees of Armenian origin who fled unrest in the neighbouring country of Azerbaijan in the late 1980s. The refugees settled in a rural area 100 km from the Armenian capital of Yerevan, an area with 90 percent unemployment.
Mr Gragian, a father with four children, is one of about 500 refugees who have received fruit trees, packets of vegetable seeds and hand tools. The project has targeted disadvantaged families, the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
"We have a lot of plans for the future," he said. "We'd like to set up a fruit juice factory so we can process our fruit."
A second TeleFood project in Armenia has provided fruit trees, vegetable seeds, irrigation materials, fertilizer and tools to School N80, an elementary school in Yerevan with 600 children.
"We're faced with budget shortages," said Rita Arsenyan, director of the school. "Our teachers get paid US$10 a month. For them it is more of a hobby than a profession. We don't have the resources for food so either the students go home for lunch or they don't eat lunch. The idea of the garden is to provide school lunch food."
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