Street children perform fairytale and take steps towards better life
The streets of Georgia’s second largest city, Kutaisi, are home to more than 100 children. Here, World Vision’s LIFE project helps children improve their psycho-social wellbeing and begin to slowly become part of the community.
A normal day for the children and youth is filled with heavy burdens that even adults should not have to bear. That is why arts and crafts groups are a key part of the LIFE project, with children participating in football, embroidery, and theatre groups, among other activities.
Nana Idadze a social worker in the LIFE project works with many different children in the region and is in contact with many families. She notes that many family members say their low socio-economic condition is the main factor that forces their children to leave home and find the means to survive by working in the streets.
“Many of these children’s parents are unemployed and as a result are hopeless,” Idadze said. “If some of the parents do work, their small income does not cover the minimum of their family’s needs.”
On 30 October, a handful of the more than 100 children who participate in the project performed the play “Pinocchio.” Some 60 people, many of them children involved in the project, packed into the small local theatre, The Second Floor, to watch the performance. Kote Revishvili, the theatre’s director, helped with rehearsals and production.
“We performed the Pinocchio fairytale because it is about a magical world where everybody, including us, wishes to go,” he said. “I wanted to show the children that their knowledge is the key for stepping into a new magical life.”
Ilia, 14, and his sister, Zina, 13, are both enrolled in the project. Zina is one of the main characters in the play and dreams of becoming an actress, while Ilia wishes to study computers. Both of them go to school, but they are not able to undertake their studies properly because their family is poor and they don’t have the luxury of spending all the necessary time on schooling.
“My godmother involved me in the [LIFE] project”, Zina said. “From the very first day I loved the warm atmosphere here. I learnt embroidery and painting and I would like to participate in an English language course if it will be offered.”
Ilia, Zina’s brother, is a playful and energetic boy who felt a little down that he could not participate in the performance because he was busy working all summer.
“The performance rehearsals went through the summer and in this season I do not have too much free time,” he said. “I work in the bazaar and sell vegetables. Sometimes I also do some physical work to earn some money.”
Even though Ilia was not able to act in the play, the project staff and activities have had a huge impact on him. The World Vision social worker says that initially Ilia stood outside his peer group as a mischievous, sometimes antagonistic boy.
“Ilia has been involved in our project for seven months already,” Nana says, “His character and attitude towards other children has considerably changed for the better since he has made many acquaintances here.”
After the performance five local journalists working on social issues related to "street kids" were rewarded for the best articles about street working and living children within the LIFE project. The articles were published in regional newspapers.
Eliso Karosanidze, a writer and reporter of the local broadcasting company “Rioni TV”, was one of the recognised journalists.
“This publication was a continuation of my stories about children who spend their time in the streets working or begging. “Pointing a finger at them and speaking wickedness will not make their lives better. All they ask for is love and empathy”, she said.
World Vision Georgia’s LIFE project assists more than 200 children who are living and working on the streets of Kutaisi and Batumi, a major city on the Black Sea coast. The project (formerly known as Laboratories of Learning) is a three-year project that began in October 2007 that aims to increase the awareness and understanding of issues that affect children living and working on streets, resulting in creating more effective prevention and care models for these at-risk children. World Vision staff assists these children and their families through three main efforts: economic empowerment, improvement of psycho-social status, and improvement of access to formal and informal education opportunities.
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A normal day for the children and youth is filled with heavy burdens that even adults should not have to bear. That is why arts and crafts groups are a key part of the LIFE project, with children participating in football, embroidery, and theatre groups, among other activities.
Nana Idadze a social worker in the LIFE project works with many different children in the region and is in contact with many families. She notes that many family members say their low socio-economic condition is the main factor that forces their children to leave home and find the means to survive by working in the streets.
“Many of these children’s parents are unemployed and as a result are hopeless,” Idadze said. “If some of the parents do work, their small income does not cover the minimum of their family’s needs.”
On 30 October, a handful of the more than 100 children who participate in the project performed the play “Pinocchio.” Some 60 people, many of them children involved in the project, packed into the small local theatre, The Second Floor, to watch the performance. Kote Revishvili, the theatre’s director, helped with rehearsals and production.
“We performed the Pinocchio fairytale because it is about a magical world where everybody, including us, wishes to go,” he said. “I wanted to show the children that their knowledge is the key for stepping into a new magical life.”
Ilia, 14, and his sister, Zina, 13, are both enrolled in the project. Zina is one of the main characters in the play and dreams of becoming an actress, while Ilia wishes to study computers. Both of them go to school, but they are not able to undertake their studies properly because their family is poor and they don’t have the luxury of spending all the necessary time on schooling.
“My godmother involved me in the [LIFE] project”, Zina said. “From the very first day I loved the warm atmosphere here. I learnt embroidery and painting and I would like to participate in an English language course if it will be offered.”
Ilia, Zina’s brother, is a playful and energetic boy who felt a little down that he could not participate in the performance because he was busy working all summer.
“The performance rehearsals went through the summer and in this season I do not have too much free time,” he said. “I work in the bazaar and sell vegetables. Sometimes I also do some physical work to earn some money.”
Even though Ilia was not able to act in the play, the project staff and activities have had a huge impact on him. The World Vision social worker says that initially Ilia stood outside his peer group as a mischievous, sometimes antagonistic boy.
“Ilia has been involved in our project for seven months already,” Nana says, “His character and attitude towards other children has considerably changed for the better since he has made many acquaintances here.”
After the performance five local journalists working on social issues related to "street kids" were rewarded for the best articles about street working and living children within the LIFE project. The articles were published in regional newspapers.
Eliso Karosanidze, a writer and reporter of the local broadcasting company “Rioni TV”, was one of the recognised journalists.
“This publication was a continuation of my stories about children who spend their time in the streets working or begging. “Pointing a finger at them and speaking wickedness will not make their lives better. All they ask for is love and empathy”, she said.
World Vision Georgia’s LIFE project assists more than 200 children who are living and working on the streets of Kutaisi and Batumi, a major city on the Black Sea coast. The project (formerly known as Laboratories of Learning) is a three-year project that began in October 2007 that aims to increase the awareness and understanding of issues that affect children living and working on streets, resulting in creating more effective prevention and care models for these at-risk children. World Vision staff assists these children and their families through three main efforts: economic empowerment, improvement of psycho-social status, and improvement of access to formal and informal education opportunities.
-Ends-
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