The children’s houses

 

The children live in group houses all built thanks to the financial support of donors to the Institution. Currently there are 4 coeducational houses, each of which accommodate 12-16 children, with each house supervised by a nun who takes care of a number of children of varying ages like a mother, living with them as a family following christian beliefs. Each house has an independent kitchen to ensure an atmosphere which is like living with parents at home. A separate house is provided to accommodate boys who have reached adolescence.
Our plans are to build at least 5 additional houses so as to minimize occupancy in each house to 7-8. Some of these houses will constitute a neighbourhood and the neighbourhoods an entire village with squares, parks, playgrounds, an infirmary and a school. In that way, our children will have the opportunity to live in humane conditions, which will correctly prepare them for the future. Unfortunately, the Institution cannot afford to construct more houses than that. Therefore, future construction of additional houses is left in the hands of donors, as recently happened when a generous lady undertook to pay the entire cost of construction and labour of a new house. In order to improve the standard of living and education of the children, the Lyreio Children’s Institution, relying on the financial support of its donors has begun construction of a library which will contain rooms for reading, entertainment and social events, a lecture hall, a computer lab, a painting and handicraft workshop as well as a foreign language tuition centre.   There also exists an urgent need to construct an infirmary and a gym as well as reconstruction of the building containing guest quarters and cells for some nuns. In that way the great dream of our children for their own ‘Orthodox Village’ will be materialized, a dream that began to be realized until it was destroyed by the catastrophic fire of 1995.