If you are going to eat khachapuri, then if it is the real deal it will be made with cheese from the Imereti region of Georgia. (It's a flatish bread stuffed with melting cheese.) But that's not what I was in Imereit for, although I had been treated to khachapuri within 12 hours of being in the country.
About three hours west of Tbilisi near the city of Kutaisi, (in the Imereti region) the schools were built years ago in the Soviet era, and the world has forgotten them. Veyr recently one of them received permission to build a toilet block, and despite the fact that it is a concrete box, it is the flashest building in town.
One of the most urgent needs in these communities, as identified by the people, is that the youth have nothing to do, and very few of them have any hope of improvement. These are farming communities, most have small family plots that only just scrape by. But the parents, like any parents, want their kids to have the opportunity to do something different - to be better than them.
For the past 7 months our team has been working with the kids in eight of these schools; officially to build their capacity - but actually what has happened is that they have become self aware, confident and socially responsible.
Together with the schools our team has built Youth Councils in the schools. About 10-15 teenagers have elected a Leader, a PR, Finance and Social Networking lead. Once this group was established they each elected, from the School staff, a Mentor that would work with them; mediate for, and advocate on their behalf.
All eight schools went away to summer camps were they learnt debating skills (and competed against each other), they completed a first aid certificate, and they learnt local level advocacy skills. At the end of the camp each of the Youth Councils were required to identify at least one project that they would undertake to improve their community.
All of the Councils chose to address the garbage problem in their school and community: today after advocating for change the school has large bins, the community has public bins and the councils have agreed to add these bins to the council collection and to pay the costs.
I had the opportunity to visit a new classroom that has been repaired and painted (pink) by the kids. A teacher has been employed and, the school I visited, had five disabled kids enrolled, (and a ramp built for access). There was a large tree painted on the wall, with branches that held the dreams of these kids. It's a small beginning - but a huge step for the young people.
About three hours west of Tbilisi near the city of Kutaisi, (in the Imereti region) the schools were built years ago in the Soviet era, and the world has forgotten them. Veyr recently one of them received permission to build a toilet block, and despite the fact that it is a concrete box, it is the flashest building in town.
One of the most urgent needs in these communities, as identified by the people, is that the youth have nothing to do, and very few of them have any hope of improvement. These are farming communities, most have small family plots that only just scrape by. But the parents, like any parents, want their kids to have the opportunity to do something different - to be better than them.
For the past 7 months our team has been working with the kids in eight of these schools; officially to build their capacity - but actually what has happened is that they have become self aware, confident and socially responsible.
All eight schools went away to summer camps were they learnt debating skills (and competed against each other), they completed a first aid certificate, and they learnt local level advocacy skills. At the end of the camp each of the Youth Councils were required to identify at least one project that they would undertake to improve their community.
All of the Councils chose to address the garbage problem in their school and community: today after advocating for change the school has large bins, the community has public bins and the councils have agreed to add these bins to the council collection and to pay the costs.
Three schools also chose to address the issue of disability exclusion in their schools. They recognised that the disabled kids in their communities were excluded from school and community life. Through their Mentor they asked for training on disability inclusion, and inclsive education. Then they went to work on the Ministry of Education, the School Director and the community. They held their own awareness campaign, and spread the message they had come to understand, that "we should not ignore the disabled kids because we think it is too hard, it isn't, they are brave and can do things we can't".
I had the opportunity to visit a new classroom that has been repaired and painted (pink) by the kids. A teacher has been employed and, the school I visited, had five disabled kids enrolled, (and a ramp built for access). There was a large tree painted on the wall, with branches that held the dreams of these kids. It's a small beginning - but a huge step for the young people.
With confidence they reported their involvement in the project and a few of them outlined their dreams for the future. Most of them will go to University: we will have a few teachers, a couple of lawyers, one or two journalists, a few IT experts and one or two agricultural scientists who want to research farming methods to improve crop yields in their community.
This project is transforming the lives of young people in Imereti and they in turn are reforming society. That's exciting to be (a very small) part of.
