Poverty and war in the post-socialist country of Georgia hit orphans and children from impoverished families particularly hard. Together with our local partner "LifeChance", we opened the first children's and youth center in Tbilisi in 2017, where orphans can find a place to go and shelter. The building, which was made available by the Orthodox Church for 20 years and which we have partially renovated, provides temporary accommodation for orphans, as they have to leave state institutions on their 18th birthday and are left on the streets without a decent education. Most of the children and young people are traumatized by their difficult childhoods and receive personal care and attention for the first time from the highly committed team of employees through the community and relationship work.
Tbilisi Children and Youth Center
Every day, 20 children and young people come to the center, with whom we undertake many different activities. In our newly renovated training kitchen, for example, they prepare food together with the supervisors and learn about cooking, baking, healthy eating and food culture. In addition, they receive general life training and learn how to handle money, general health education, self-organization and their rights and responsibilities. To give the young people a new perspective, they can learn about their skills and abilities in various creative areas such as painting, clay, glass and floristry. Agapedia has also set up a ceramics workshop on the premises, where the orphans learn to clay or work with glass. Most of the children and young people also receive tutoring in various subjects so that they can all graduate from school. To prepare them for later training or a job, the orphans can complete internships in various companies in Tbilisi so that they can gain confidence in their own abilities and explore their interests. The aim is to find the young people a job and their own accommodation so that they can start an independent life in Georgia.
Contact on site
Lela Ekhvaia
