AFG: Projects: Children: Environment
Mother Tekla's Ecology School
Personal Observations from the Executive Director: The devastating economic situation and its impact on the environment in Georgia has created the need to educate the next generation about preserving their natural environment. Mother Tekla is the Director of the Ecology School Project at the Center for Ecology under the Georgian Patriarchy. The school provides ecological education for poor urban children ages 10-15. These children, who have no other chance for a summer holiday, are able to have a full day (10 AM to 6 PM) program where they learn about and help to protect their environment with seminars, workshops and excursions. The school takes place in the middle of Tbilisi in the 100-year-old Bukia Garden recently donated by the government. Here the children have been cleaning the garden of trash and are learning to care for different plants. They study and travel with ecologists, botanists and zoologists, and are also given one meal a day.
AFG Accomplishments: AFG has:
- Provided funds for the renovation of the greenhouse and fountain in Bukia Garden.
- Provided funds for compensation of the ecology instructors, the purchase of teaching materials, one meal a day for the students and transportation for field trips to ecologically sensitive areas.
Current Needs: Mother Tekla’s Ecology School needs:
- Funds to provide for the construction of a small one-room wooden schoolhouse.
- Funds to purchase a minibus so that the children can go on field trips. Mother Tekla believes she could rent the minibus to tourists two days a week, which would provide income for the Ecology School.
- Funds to provide educational opportunities to a greater number of young Georgians.
