At Archist we are passionate not only about business architecture, but also about education. We have made it our purpose to support empowering underprivileged children around the world with limited or no access to proper education for a better and brighter future for all.
That's why we donate a percentage of our revenue to foundations and not-for-profit organizations with the mission to systematically address this global challenge. We also offer special business architecture training, mentoring, and consulting to further support the missions and strategic initiatives of these organizations. Learn more about how we give back.
In July 2022, we travelled to Kyrgyzstan, which is a small yet very beautiful country in central Asia, and visited one of the orphanages in the country. There are over 130 boys and girls ranging from 6 to 16 years old staying at the orphanage. Some of the children have physical or neurological/cognitive disabilities and some are left by their parents due to family or financial challenges.
The orphanage is very organized and the children are extremely talented and create lots of amazing artworks.
We met with the staff, and the director of the orphanage kindly gave us a tour of the orphanage. We had an extensive conversation with the director and spoke about the challenges that they are facing, while sharing some fruits and stationaries that we brought for the children on behalf of Archist.
With a warm handshake and a couple of precious gifts from the children we left the orphanage but we are thinking of other ways to further support them, perhaps a small computer lab to teach some computer skills to the children and provide remote education to address the shortage in skilled professionals that the children need support from.
Growing up, Navid (Archist's founder and managing director) has seen firsthand children selling gums on the street while trying to finish their homework in the middle of the winter or selling little fortune-telling cards to support their families. Back then, as a child he appreciated having a privilege of living in a warm home and not being financially worried about his family. Now he feels more and more responsible to give back and support these children in a more systemic and sustainable fashion, so that in the long haul they are able to manage their lives and families themselves with their talents and hard work.
P.S. Kyrgyz families are usually large with many children and architecture has understood that perhaps more so than the adults it needs to address the needs of their little (but majority) stakeholders at home. That's why one of the unique characteristics of some homes is the light switches that are at children's height throughout the homes.
