Day Two- February 2, 2007

We woke at about noon on our first day and arranged our gifts into smaller bags to take with us each day on our visits. For our first day, we were scheduled for two visits. We were to visit the Tbilisi Orphanage House and Boarding School for Musically Talented Children and the Tbilisi Orphanage House and Boarding School for Blind Children. As we drove to our first appointment, it became obvious that some big changes had occurred in Tbilisi since our last visit in 1996, when we were here for 3 weeks to adopt our two daughters. It looked as if the new President and his staff were making positive progress in improving the lives of the Georgian people. We would find out though during the course of our stay, however, that there is still great need for many of Georgia’s children.

We were greeted at our first orphanage destination by the director of the Tbilisi Orphanage House and Boarding School for Music. He gave us a passionate speech about his funding shortages and how he was very worried about his children and teachers. There were about 40 teachers and staff for approximately 125 children, of which 100 lived at the school. The teachers earned a monthly salary of approximately $35.00 per month. For most of them, that was their only source of income, and many seemed concerned about their job security. We met many of the children and they were all absolutely beautiful. They serenaded us with music by singing songs and playing musical instruments. We were all very impressed with their musical talent.

The classrooms at the School for Music were cold, old and sparse. Even indoors, many of the children were dressed in heavy coats, scarves, and hats. The central heating for their buildings had not worked for many years, so all of the corridors were dark and very cold. The classrooms each had a small metal wood stove that was their only source of heat. Because of the poor quality of these wood stoves, the classrooms usually smelled of smoke, which visibly hung in the air. We would soon find out that these conditions were typical for most of the places that we would visit in the upcoming week. The director pleaded for additional funding for their teachers, for donations of musical instruments like violins, and for much needed repairs to their heating system. They also need money for many other repairs to their buildings. We found that most of the buildings in the places we visited were large, old Soviet style concrete buildings that were in very poor states of repair. In most places, many of the windows were either broken or missing all together and the bedrooms and bathrooms were in terrible shape. Several of the teachers spoke to us about their concern for the children and how the only hope for them was to earn a musical scholarship to a university. The children were also in need of clothing and personal items such as shoes, recreational equipment, etc. We stopped in at a few of the classrooms as we were leaving and gave the children some donated athletic balls and boxes of chalk to play with. There were plenty of smiles all around as we left for our next appointment.

We arrived at our second destination, the Orphanage House and Boarding School for Blind Children, at approximately 5:00 pm. It was starting to get dark outside and it was very cold. Inside the orphanage, it was just as cold as it was outside, and Susan and I were both shivering as we were walking up the stairs and down the hall to the director’s office. In fact, it was so cold inside I could see my breath. As before, Susan and I were taken by the children and their beauty. Never once during any of our visits did we hear or see any children complaining about their plight. Their beauty and strength shone through, in spite of their poor circumstances.

The director of the School for Blind Children was a wonderful lady who obviously loved her children and students very much. She was very proud of what they were able to do for the students considering their lack of resources. They had a mix of students, some who lived there full time and some who had families to go home to every evening. She told us that there were many blind children in Georgia that did not come to the school (even though this was Georgia’s only school for blind children) because the conditions at the school were so bad. Their needs were many. She told us about their need for Braille writers and Braille typewriters as well as other educational equipment. They were currently using Braille writers that had been donated to them, but they were the wrong kind for their needs. They were low quality plastic and used a type of paper that was very expensive and difficult to get. She showed us a metal version that worked much better and used common paper, and explained how important it was to get many more of that type. Tangrams, harmonicas, and other musical instruments would also be good items for children to have. She also told us about her idea to get training for her children in massage, so that they could be capable of earning a living once they left the school. In the bedrooms, the mattresses were old and had a strong musty smell to them. We were told that blind children have an increased sense of smell and the smell of the mattresses really bothered them.

As we saw previously, the building's central heat system was not working and their only source of heat was small wood stoves and an occasional small electric heater. Overall, the building was in poor shape and only a few of the dozens of rooms had any heat at all. Two of the blind students there sang a couple of traditional Georgian songs for us. It was very beautiful and moving. We then gave each child there a small container of Lego toys. It was a joy to see the look on their faces as they felt the Lego’s with their fingers and imagined what to do with them. By now it was about 7:30 pm and Susan and I headed back to our hotel. Even though we were both physically exhausted from our travel and our first day in Georgia, neither one of got much sleep that night. Our excitement in seeing the children and everything that we were learning, in combination with the 9-hour time difference, kept us awake for most of the night.