Children, children, and children again… The Association shows special concern for children, be it its contribution to reviving the tradition of breast feeding or arranging large-scale celebrations for them. The Association is helping regularly the little inhabitants of the Tbilisi Orphanage with clothes and food products (milk powder, medicines, bedclothes, dete rgents etc.).One of the most important undertakings accomplished through the active involvement of Nanuli Shevardnadze helped the Dzegvi (Mtskheta region) rest-home to escape sale. It was given to the deprived children who had been roaming Tbilisi streets, living in yards, woods and the churchyards, where they looked for shelter, until they were given this new opportunity. It was also through the efforts of the Association that the Kojori children’s former TB sanatorium “Alioni” escaped privatization through auctioning and the little ones have maintained the opportunity to use it as a rehabilitation center for pulmonary and respiratory diseases. Educational workshops in the children’s homes… The result is imposing: the apprentices of the Tbilisi N1 and N2 children’s homes, of Telavi, Martkopi, Akhalgori, and Senaki orphanages, pupils of the boarding schools for deaf and dumb, the blind children and children with defective articulation were given the opportunity to acquire professional skills to produce ceramic goods, sculpture, and embroidery. It is worth noting that the income accumulated from sales of the goods produced by the children in these workshops returns to the children’s homes to cover their needs. All this is significant because it facilitates integration of handicapped children and children with deficient abilities into a healthy way of life.
The children are resting; they are at recreation and are celebrating…
The Association has made it a tradition to congratulate the children living in orphanages and studying at boarding schools, the students of secondary schools and the little patients placed in various medical institutions, on the occasions of Christmas and the New Year, as well as on the Children’s International Day (June 1) and the beginning of the school year. On such holidays members of the Association present them with various sweets and candies; in addition, they frequently offer a surprise and come to visit them together with Santa Claus. The duty of organizing celebrations for children was assigned to Nana Bichiashvili, Vice President of the Association. The children’s program of recreation and rest in the summer as well as the winter holidays was distinguished by perfect regularity, which has never been broken. Apart from inviting them to the theatres, exhibitions and concert halls, in 2001 a summer camp “Chiragdani” was opened for blind children in the Ponichala district of the Krtsanisi region. Numerous outings and excursions have been offered to the children elsewhere during all these years.
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