AFG: Projects: Children: Disabled
NGO New LifePersonal Observations from the Executive Director: I first visited Nata Rostomashvili and Mariam Dagundaridze, who I had met at a USAID program in Washington, at their school for mentally and physically disabled children in Telavi, Kakheti Region, Eastern Georgia, in 1998. They started the school in order to provide sensitive day care and education to disabled children in their region. The objective was to provide an alternative to institutionalizing children with disabilities. Prior to the startup of the school, one of their friends had been forced to place her disabled daughter in the state run Kaspi Orphanage. The mother had been taking food to her daughter once each week however, due to the civil war in 1992, she missed one trip. Two weeks later, she was horrified when she arrived at Kaspi to learn that her daughter had died of hunger and cold with no effort made to contact her.
New Life’s priorities are to give each child a general education, develop social skills, working skills, improve creative abilities and social adaptation skills so that they can participate fully in the community. They also provide assistance to parents of disabled children so that their children will not be institutionalized. Today New Life is giving “a new life” to over 50 disabled children at the school and over 200 who are being visited in their homes by volunteer teachers because the school is not large enough to accommodate them. On my most recent visit, I was thrilled to be greeted by the children in English taught by a Peace Corps volunteer. They sang and danced with me. This school is demonstrating to Georgians that both physically and mentally disabled children are educable.
Nata and Mariam took me into the square in the center of Telavi in 2003. I was quite proud to see that three small businesses (pizzeria, computer café and a flower shop) were all created by NGO New Life in their effort to be self-sustaining. This was done with funding initiated by AFG who was their first funder and who introduced them to Mercy Corps and other humanitarian organizations. Steve Power, the director of Mercy Corps, said that, “After my staff and I visit New Life, we come away crying.” He said they are just so moved by the kids who are charming, by the integrity and commitment of the New Life staff, and by the proud parents who are finding out just what their disabled kids can do.
AFG Accomplishments: AFG, a German organization and other humanitarian groups have been supporting the groundbreaking work with disabled children of NGO New Life since 1998. AFG has:
- Purchased a new school building
- Purchased a minibus and school supplies
- Provided some teacher salaries
- Provided funds including a generous $15,000 grant from a private donor to renovate the new school building. She had previously visited the school and was greatly moved by what she saw.
- Provided recommendations for use in grant applications to other humanitarian organizations
- Shipped computers, school supplies, clothes, books and educational toys in a container in 2003
Current Needs: In 2005, the attendance at New Life’s school was only 38 due to a shortage of funds. From 2001 to 2004, funds were available to support 55 students. NGO New Life needs:
- Funds for teacher salaries, transportation and one meal a day
- Equipment to start a ceramic shop for the children
- Funds to set up a self-sustaining project to produce and sell rose oil in Germany. The processing machine has already been contributed.
- Funds to set up a self-sustaining dairy to produce yogurt