Georgia (Zemo Bodbe Residential School for disadvantaged children).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to see more images from the Zemo Bodbe Residential School .

Click here to watch "Who will hear this child", a song about the school and its children (5.4mb WMV file). Click here for words only (pdf 22kb).

Zemo Bodbe - detailed Project Outline (pdf 64kb).

Wiki Georgia entry - information and background about Georgia.

More information about Georgia from the British Georgian Society.

 

About Georgia

Georgia is a country about half the size of England, with a population of some 4.6 million. It is sandwiched between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and borders the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Armenia and NE Turkey. Iran and Iraq are near neighbours to the east, with Greece, Bulgaria and Romania to the West.

Georgia achieved independence from the Russian Federation in 1992. It has over 3,000 years of history, and culturally, historically and politically is considered to be part of Europe. The break from Russia has been costly economically, because Russia was its main market under the USSR, and much of its production has suffered under the break up (as for other ex Soviet states). But hardship is nothing new to Georgians. They have been invaded and fought over by most of their neighbours during their history. The people are remarkably resilient against a background of international and local tension.

The Zemo Bodbe School

The Zemo Bodbe School was first visited by a group from the Diocese of Wakefield led by Bishop Stephen Platten in October 2005 as part of a fact finding visit inspired by the longstanding friendship between the Bishop of Wakefield and Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, Bishop of the Georgian Baptist Church based in the capital, Tbilisi. Situated in the middle of nowhere, the school houses about 50 children from the ages of 5 to 16 who have either lost their parents or been abandoned by them. The school offers a safe environment but is terribly run down so conditions are harsh. We were deeply moved by what we saw and resolved to refurbish the school.

Negotiations are proceeding with the Georgian government to improve the gas and mains water supplies to the school. Once this has been done, we are ready to start work on the refurbishment project. We have about £30,000 in the fund presently, which is sufficient to make the buildings watertight and repair the missing or rotten windows. Thereafter we have a full schedule of works to refurbish the school and dramatically improve the environment for the children, for which we need to raise some £150,000 for the buildings and another £100,000 for equipment.

Once the buildings have been improved the capacity of the school will rise to 200 children. The aim is to turn the school into a National Centre for Vocational Training so that, as part of their education, the children learn practical skills that will help them gain employment when they leave. Additionally, the aim is to rehabilitate each child back into society as soon as is practicable, so that no child will spend a full eleven years at the school but more children will come to benefit from a radically improved curriculum at the school.