At a village school in the Imereti region teenagers dreamt of having an indoor gymnasium. But with limited funds being prioritised for things like a new toilet block, the reality of this happening was nonexistent.
Eight seniors from the school got together and, as a result of the leadership training they had recently received, they did some research and wrote a proposal. They live in an agricultural region where they worked the farms with their parents, but they had noticed that the greenhouses were not standing up to the snows, and the wear and tear of bad weather.
From their research and discussions with local farmers they designed a new style of greenhouse. It would be made with a metal frame, because the wood rots and breaks; it would have a thicker plastic skin, because the traditional ‘cellophane’ tore too easily; and a half-round roof, because the A-frame roofs broke under the weight of collecting snow, whilst the round roof allowed the snow to fall away.
Farmers had not seen the style before and many criticised. But the proposal was accepted, the green-house built and after a bumper crop of tomatoes the students are laughing as they plant a winter crop of herbs.
They haven’t got their gym yet, and at the rate they can grow crops it will be a long way off, but you should see the pride in their eyes and the smiles on their faces as they tell me their story. One of the girls tells me that; “other school’s teenagers laughed at them, and told them they were fools, but now they don’t”.
As one of the boys shows me around and explains the differences and benefits of this construction he compares it to the green house his dad has, and announces that he is going to help other people in the community transfer to this better, more efficient, more productive model.
