After
the singing, I asked for a show of hands of guests who
would welcome one of our Telavi children to sit with them.
Hands went up everywhere. There is a group of Pepperdine
graduate students here for a visit and they attended tonight,
all seven of them including their professor, Angela Hawken.
One of them, Callie, took a nasty tumble yesterday and she
needed a little stitchery last night from a good western
doctor here. Turns out she is all right, but I think she’s
a lot sorer than she lets on. Anyway, the first child we
placed was Madonna, whom we asked to take special care of
Callie. Instant bonding. Instant magic.
All of the other kids found willing guests and families
to sit with, too. In fact, we had more generous volunteers
than children. One of the girls sat with one of our Georgian
guest families and hit it off immediately with their same-age
daughter. How well did they hit it off? At the end of the
show the Tbilisi girl took off her gold earrings and gave
them to the Telavi girl. Gold earrings. Magic.
Then
it was on to the auction. Ambassador Miles donated the
beautiful, inscribed coffee-table book America On My Mind.
Speaker of parliament and previous interim president Nino
Burjanadze donated a terrific photo, signed and framed,
of old Tbilisi, an area near the embassy that I know quite
well. Finance minister Noghaideli donated the Cartier pen
that he used to sign the first post-revolution budget. We
had wine, pottery, drinking horns, a CCRFund calendar, Deputy
Speaker Machavariani donated a beautiful silk tie … lots
and lots of stuff. We just did the books. Our tickets sales
came close to paying our expenses -- and we traveled first
class for this event -- and with the auction we netted about
$900. It was just great.
After the auction we took a break for refreshments. To our
great surprise and pleasure, the Marriott had baked us a
huge cake with decorated frosting showing little angels with
halos, lighting candles. Magic. I got a good picture of the
cake before Amiran cut it and served maybe 125+ people. Amiran
was one of our hardest workers tonight.
Then
the main event of the evening, a performance of “Pippi
Longstocking”, in Georgian, by the Berekrebi children’s
theater group. The play was lovely and the children, well,
what can you say? They couldn’t have been any cuter
or finer actors and actresses. Of course, the Telavi children
just knew this was a special performance just for them. Well,
who I am to tell them any different?
Then
it ended, all too soon. The little actors, ages maybe 8-13
like our kids, got a standing ovation, and then they came
and sat with us and wanted to meet and talk to the Telavi
children. Sure, no problem, kids are kids and they all got
along famously. I did a TV interview and it has already played
at least once tonight, plus 3-4 each radio and newspaper
interviews. We have always received generous press coverage
here – remember the circus day? – and tonight
was no exception.
Only 16 children could come in today, plus the five staff.
When they went home they took with them 176 lbs. of muesli-nut
mix for their kitchen. They love their muesli out there and
this was an unexpected and kind donation from the Salvation
Army. Nice people.
We’ll be going back out to Telavi before I leave,
as soon as Angela and I can coordinate our schedules. She
and her students have brought a lot of things for the kids – meds,
toys, warm things, hackey sacks (no, I don’t know either) – and
they want to spend some time with them. We can sure arrange
that.
We
also went out to Telavi on Nov. 7, but I haven’t
written about it before now. I just didn’t know what
to say. Here’s why.
Remember
Madonna, the girl who took such good care of Callie? She
and I are special friends. Real special. She was left at
the home a few years ago and she is in eighth grade, I
think. Her mother grew so despondent without Madonna that
she returned to the home and asked if she could cook for
the children in exchange for her meals and a pallet in the
kitchen to sleep on, so she could be near her daughter. No,
it doesn’t bear thinking about, does it?
Madonna
is a very bright girl. She went from no English at all
to speaking in sentences in about a month. She studies
constantly. When we visited I always seek her out and talk
to her. The last visit, here’s what she had to say,
as close to an exact quote as I can remember. It is easy
to remember, actually. I’ll never, ever forget it.
“Chuck,
my mother works in the kitchen. I have no father. I have
no brother. I have no sister. Chuck, I love you. You are
my father now.”
This
is the first time I have been able to bring myself to write
that. It choked me up when it happened and it does again
now as I am writing this. What do you say when something
like that happens to you? I don’t remember saying anything.
I just looked at her and wiped my eyes. That’s why
you haven’t heard about the visit before now.
When
we started CCRFund, I’m sure I had a set of ideas
about what might happen. We would be the givers, someone
else would be the receivers. Simple, right? Except that I
got it exactly backwards. Sure, we give a little. But I didn’t
imagine that these children would give so much more back
to me and us. I know that I have received for more from what
we’re doing than I could ever hope to give. What a
great thing to have happened. Magic.
We visited Dzegvi last week-end. They have had a lot of
bad problems out there, but hopefully the worst is over.
The director and his brother and the doctor all quit and
no one can quite explain why. The good news is that Mother
Miriam and the new doctor have taken some real control for
the first time and are guiding the home in a much healthier
and positive direction.
For
instance, the Dzegvi children all catch a bus at 7:30 every
morning and ride into Tbilisi and attend school all day.
It is a huge improvement and the kids are thriving under
it. They are getting their garbage picked up regularly,
and that is big. Their water supply is improved, too, and
they are getting some steam heat now that winter is here.
They do need major work on what passes for their indoor
toilets, though. It’s awfully cold, bathing outdoors
at a hose bib in winter.
Mother Miriam also has some good ideas for generating some
income, especially from the gardens. They are close to doing
just that next spring if the water holds out. We want to
help.
That’s
about it for now. If you can find the time to write, please
do. If you have the ability and the inclination, this is
a good time to consider a donation to CCRFund while you
can still get a 2004 deduction, if that is important to
you.
Thank you, love, and God bless you all,
Chuck
Tbilisi, Georgia
December 5, 2004
