Soon
the director and his staff – his name is Omar
Peikrishvili and his kind lady assistant is Dodo Zedelashvili
-- came out to welcome us, wading through the crowd of little
ones. I have learned that it isn’t easy to pass out
gum while three or four children are holding your hands.
So I left the gum to others this time and spoke to the director
and the children for a while.
Then
we went inside the “dorm” to the common
room where Levan installed the TV last trip. Yes, it’s
still there. This trip we brought shoes, shirts, underwear,
pants, towels and basic necessaries. The way we do this is
that our friend Amiran calls the director a few days before
our visit and gets some lists of needs and we try to fill
them. We can’t always do it, but we’ve done pretty
well so far. This time the director asked for the things
I just mentioned and said that food and meds were in adequate
supply and, at any rate, they were expecting some food and
a little cash from the government soon.
Unfortunately,
neither the food nor the cash ever materialized. The director
is buying food out of his own pocket, a fairly common thing
for him to do, and they should have enough staples to get
by for a while. We are going to visit again on May 8, when
Edythe will be with us, and we already plan to bring meds
(we got a new list, they don’t last long) and
food, plus some kitchen and table utensils. The 60 sets that
we brought out earlier just weren’t enough for 175
hungry kids.
Levan
and Lio and Ioana and Amiran passed out the shoes and clothes,
calling each child up by name and fitting shoes and so
forth. This is a good way on several levels, I think. The
children get some hands-on attention and there is almost
no “leakage” of items outside the home. We haven’t
experienced that problem there, but we keep it in mind.
Then Amiran passed out small birthday cards to the children
whose birthdays are in April. This is just one small contribution
that Amiran has made. Not only is he my professional counterpart
and close friend, he is actively involved in everything we
do for the children. He arranged for us to bring a lot of
books with us this trip. Boy, do the kids ever love those
books. Some were story books, some were games and puzzles,
some were instructional English-Georgian and others were
blank books for drawing and writing practice. They truly
hunger for those books.
At
one point I noticed that the director, Omar, was sitting
and crying, with his face in his hands. My Russian is poor
and my Georgian is non-existent, so I had to ask Ioana
what was the matter. “He is crying because he is so happy.
He lost his son some years ago, and he just said ‘On
the soul of my son, this is the kindest act I have ever seen.’” What
do you say when someone tells you that? What we think of
as simple acts of kindness, he thinks of, well, like that.
It is humbling, indeed.
One 12-year-old is particularly shy. Her name is Fati (short
for Fatima) and she is Chechen. We play a little game where
I hide my face and peek at her and she peeks back from behind
whatever friend is near her. She finds it screamingly funny.
Eventually I get through to her and she comes and over and
holds my hand. Once yesterday, I had a child on my right
knee while holding hands with another on my right hand and
three other children holding on to various parts of my left
hand. Did I ever mention that they are starved for contact?
They are.
Omar
had told us that one child is scheduled for major surgery
this week. There is a particularly awful parasite here, and
common in the developing world, called ecchinococcus (also
echinococcus). I won’t bore you with the ugly details.
You can googleize the word if you really want to know.
Anyway, the poor child will have part of her liver removed,
the part that the worm has infected and grown into a cyst.
It is, perhaps, not the absolute worst place for such a cyst,
but it is quite bad enough. Add in the fact that health care,
as we think of that term in the west, is rudimentary here,
and almost non-existent for the extreme poor such as these
children, and this becomes a very worrisome event.
Fati
was sitting on my left knee when Omar walked over. Through
Levan he said “This is the girl who will have
the operation.” Oh, no. My heart sunk. It is hard enough
to put a face to such a hardship, but to learn of it when
she is there, so close by, is numbing. Coincidentally enough,
our friend and colleague Ioana had a similar operation only
a month ago, the result of a poor diagnosis. She kindly and
lovingly took Fati in hand and led her away for a smiling,
quiet talk. I think it helped a lot. We will be kept closely
informed of all developments. If any of you are interested,
I will pass them along. I’m pretty sure that you would
like Fati. Yes, a doll is planned.
No
other health problems to report, thankfully. The combination
measles and flu epidemics that seemed to sweep many Georgian
children’s homes last month thankfully have subsided.
There were no deaths at either Telavi or Dzegvi. The worst
of the winter is past and better weather and better times
lie ahead in the months to come.
This
time the director invited us into his office for a bite
to eat when we were through. That hadn’t happened
before and I told him that he really shouldn’t be spending
his precious money on food for us. In his proud Georgian
way he explained that we are no longer just visitors. No?
No. “When you are buying underwear for the children,
you are family.” OK, that’s as good an explanation
as any. We sat down to a table of bread, delicious local
ham, sausages, fruit and sweets. It was as lavish, in its
own way, as any banquet I have ever intended. There were,
of course, traditional Georgian toasts and thanks and expressions
of undying friendship. If only you, any of you, could have
been there.
The trip back was relatively uneventful and we arrived in
Tbilisi in the early evening. I thank each of you for your
concern, your kindness and your donations. I think that what
we are doing would please you. I know that you would enjoy
making one of these visits with us. If you ever come, or
come back, to Georgia, it would give me great pleasure to
introduce you to the children that you are helping.
Love to all,
Chuck
