Interessant oder uninteressant - mein Zwischenbericht

GLEN - INTERIM REPORT

Project-ID: 3306400206
Project: „Social Integration“
Country: Georgia

Arriving in Tbilisi and meeting the partner organisation

I arrived on the 27th of September, a couple of days later than my tandem-partner Justs.
Mr. Levan Lortkipanidse, our partner of the association „Relation L.S.L Centre“, came with Justs to the bus station to pick me up. Justs had already warned me about the ominous plans of Mr. Lortikipanidse and his tight programme. Actually, I took this information up very positively, because I felt very enthusiastic about work with children and theatre methods. When I arrived, Mr. Lortkipanidse was very eager to tell us that we will have a lot to do and that there is no time to lose.
On the next day we went to his office which belongs to his father. While smoking and sipping coffee he started to explain me how his organisation looks and functions like. He works individually and tries to get money from some organisations for his „projects“, what he calls „fundraising“. Currently he is trying to set up an own homepage and to establish his organisation as a professional one. That was the very moment when he started to talk about our project: he exspected us to translate this homepage and to participate in the presentation of it, to give interviews for a Georgian newspapers in October, to do some fundraising activities for children of an orphanage in Akhalgori etc. I will not continue describing what kind of actions he suggested, because this had all nothing to do with the project we had applied for.
We told him that we were surprised, since we came here with a completely other idea of the project. We also expressed that we would prefer to work on a longtime project and not on several short ones. He seemed to be surprised, too.
He was wondering what we were told by our organisation (he means GLEN). Didn‘t he get the e-mail of Sintija Smite who had proposed the project? No, he hadn‘t. It is not possible to reach him by e-mail. Justs and I had had no chance to write him an e-mail from our country, so we had called him. Since the line had been so bad, we had talked only for short.
We realized that the project we had applied for is of no relevance at that time. There were no concrete actions with children and theatre activities planned. Mr. Lortikpanidse said that Justs and I could invent a project, but that we had to help him also to establish his NGO. Furthermore he suggested to introduce us to some people who work in theatre, what I found at least very nice of him.
It was impossible to us to invent ad hoc a new project for Levan Lortkipanidse, on the first hand we had just arrived in a still unknown country, on the second hand we still didn‘t know everything about the organisation and him.
So we agreed on trying to translate the homepage, although we were a bit disappointed about this start.
My first impression of this man was, that he is incredibly talkactive and almost not to interrupt. I had some doubts on the first day of „work“, because he presented us his time schedule, on which every day, until October the 17th or 19th was apparently exactly planned. The schedule was completely in contradicion to the suggested working hours - after two o‘clock in the afternoon. Since his father worked in the office we ought to wait until it was free.
It took some days until we got the Russian text for the website considered to be translated into English. On the days between we had been either in his office, smoking cigarettes and sipping coffee, or just on our own, discovering interesting and charming Tbilisi. I had met a person who works for „S.O.S. Children Village“ as specialist for Human Ressources. It had been an interesting talk and I assumed that Mr. Lortkipanidse, trying to professionalize his NGO, could be interested in a talk with him, but he wasn‘t.
First I had thought, well, this man just tries to go his own way, but after one week and especially when we got the website text I was sure that I cannot appreciate such an organisation and such a „project“.
The text was written in a very inaccurate Russian. Furthermore, the content and the structure of the text did not correspond with the real circumstances of Mr. Lortkipanidse‘s organisation. I told Justs, that I think about leaving this organisation, because I did not like Mr. Lortkipanidse‘s attitude to work. I simply wanted to work more on that what I had applied for. Justs told me that he was ready to do the translation for Levan and to support him.
Mr. Lortkipanidse is basically an actor. We saw him in a play for children. He is completely crazy about children and loves them very much. I asked me all the time why he wants to lead an own organisation and why he doesn‘t try as „actor“ to use his facilities in cooperation with a more professional NGO.
Once we were in the office of HRIC (Human Rights Information Centre), an NGO which had also started by zero. There are many employees of several professions. We had a nice talk with some of them and even they suggested Mr. Lortkipanidse to cooperate with others or to take part in other projects. He totally refused and said that he has to go his own way.

Our new projects

After a bit more than one week I met Tornike Guruli who worked in the Goethe-Institut of Tbilisi. It was actually David Wagner who had contacted him, since he had known him for a while and was also in need of some good advise for his project. He recommended me to visit a school German class on the Nutsubidse plateau in Saburtalo (in the outskirts of Tbilisi) on the 3th of October, on the day of German Unity.
The reason was actually the following: one German teacher, Nelly Lomtadse, had founded a German fanclub „Deutscher Fanclub“ for those who wish to participate in some activities next to German lessons. They had already once performed some little short plays in German and wanted to continue with theatre plays.
So we went there to meet Nelly Lomtadse and her students. On that day all the students and pupils were there. We were cordially and enthusiastically welcomed. First, Tornike held a short speech about the German Unity, then the children sang German songs. We had coffee and tea and a nice chats with the children and teachers. Justs and I talked with Nelly Lomtadse and asked her, if she was interested in a theatre workshop with her „fanclub“. She definitely was and asked us to come one week later again to watch the last short plays they had once rehearsed.
So this is the story how our new project began.
On the next week we took our friends along and watched the students‘ short and exhilarating performance. They had some few requisites and dresses. They were about aged 16. They were very keen on participating in a theatre workshop. This group of six students was surprisingly motivated and wished to rehearse a „real“ theatre play.
We reached an agreement to meet twice weekly, on Thuesday and Friday, to work together between two and five o‘clock.
We started on the third week. We started with some „energizers“ and easy theatre excercises. Apparently they all liked them and we were lucky that we could always invent some new ones.
After the third week we met Jugas, a lithuanian friend of Mindaugas, who works in Rustawi in a daycare centre for socially disadvantaged children, called „Sapovnela“. Since he also had come via an organisation to Georgia to work as a volunteer, he suggested us to join him and to do some activities with children.
„Sapovnela“ is an USAID-funded daycare center for street and at-risk children.
It offers a wide spectrum of services available for vulnerable children and their families. The organisation „Rebuilding Lives Project“ (RLP) tries to socially integrate vulnerable children and families into society. The team at the new center is working towards strengthening family ties and promoting the reunification of parents and children.
The three-year „Rebuilding Lives Project“ (RLP), funded by the“Displaced Children and Orphan’s Fund“ (DCOF) of USAID, aims at strengthening and expanding local capacities to promote the physical, cognitive, emotional and psychosocial well-being of street and at-risk children. The project focuses on activities that offer community and family-based care for the most vulnerable children in the cities of Tbilisi, Rustavi, Gori and Chiatura.
„Sapovnela“ was opened last year. The director Nana Koridse is supposed to be leader of a team of five or six people. Some are psychologists, some school teachers.
Most of the children have a difficult and problematic social background. It is not very easy to make them do something. I decided to go twice weekly to Rustawi, on Wednesday and Thursday.
The previous idea was to do some theatre activities with them. They cannot or are not used to concentrate on anything for longer.
Usually you reach mostly the girls with suggestions concerning theatre and they would be interested. The problem is simply that you cannot work with them somewhere in silence and peace because other children would come in permanently and disturb. Moreover are there only three rooms, two large ones and one small. There are about forty children and you must group them, if you want to make theatre.
I talked to teachers, they were interested in ideas about theatre activites but stayed passive. They followed their own programmes if they had. Just doing something spontaneously is almost impossible. If you want to do something you first have to approach teachers and children and explain what and where exactly you want to do something. It is important that teachers are present, too. There are often some boys and girls who start some severe fights, which you cannot ignore.
We decided so to find some activities in which almolosest all children could take part. Once Jugas, Justs and I organised an afternoon in the shabby courtyard, to embellish it for a while. We collected with the children stones, leaves, old material, wood etc. and made with these things some arrangements. We had bought chalk also and the girls started to draw houses, filled them with stones, wood etc. Also the boys caught interest and took part in drawing and building.
There are of course other days, on which you cannot start anything. If there is an aggressive and fighting atmosphere you can just concentrate on smaller groups or individuals, do some homework with them etc.

Theatre methods for disadvantaged children

After all these weeks in Rustawi, I don‘t lose hope that it is possible to do some theatre work with the children.
With the smaller girls I made a little shadow theatre. Nana, the drawing teacher, supported me in this and let us work in her little drawing room. In the end we could watch some fairytales like Little Red Riding Hood.
In November I visited the organisation „Art Hall - Found of disable and diabetic adolescents rehabilitation“ of the very popular actor Goga Pipinashvili. He leads theatre workshops for physically handicapped children (diabetes). I talked with him first in his office and attended his evening lesson. He is a real authority for the children, very strict but still admired by the children. He teaches about twenty children with the help of a long bamboo stick.
Afterwards I discussed with Gio, the theatre manager. Since they have performances every Thursday, he proposed to invite all the children from Rustawi to the theatre. I asked him to visit Rustawi, too. It would be nice to visit these children in their own environment and to talk with them about theatre.
We agreed on this and I suggested this to the director Nana Koridse. She was pleased and said it would be a good experience for the children to see children of their own age playing theatre.

The last weeks

Next week we are going together with the director and probably some teachers to an official evening of the organisation „Art Hall“. There is also going to be a theatre play performed by children. This shall or could be kind of approach to theatre for the organisation R.L.P.
Currently we are very absorbed because these are the last weeks here in Georgia already and we are involved in our projects until the last days. On the 17th of December will be the performance of „The Caucasian Chalk Circle“ with the German students in the 21th school in the centre. We had already twice rehearsal on stage during a weekend.
There is still one weekend we are going to have rehearsal there. We must still organise some details for the stage and the lighting. Programmes and some posters have to be printed and I am going to write an article for a German magazine called „Verband der Deutschlehrer“. In Rustawi we are going to make face masks with the children and a larger version of the shadow theatre.

Review

It has never been boring. I have met interesting and open people involved by theatre and the local art scene. I had the possibility to see many theatres and theatre plays.
I am impressed by people coming back from abroad to reestablish cultural life in their hometown Tbilisi. Furthermore was it politically a very emotional and turbulent time. We had many long talks with people about the happenings of November the 7th and the possible political outcomes in next January 2008.
I also enjoyed the work with children and love their ideas and fantastic and intelligent questions. Rustawi is a place with that you have to confront yourself. It is not a merry place, it is a rough piece of grey steel-concrete reality. There were days on which I got sad. I saw how brutally children can treat each other sometimes. Once I had to prevent them from killing an animal.
But I find there aren‘t any good reasons to condamn whole towns nor people who need optimism and hope. To talk about Rustawi as a „horrible“ and „depressing“ place surely won‘t help anybody. It was a good experience for me to be confronted with a place nobody would choose for a weekend trip. Maybe I am considered to be very romantic if I say that we found some real beauty and some really good people there. At least I have started to like Rustawi in its very own way.
After more than two months I am very glad to have changed the project and the organisation and that I did that what I had wanted to. I have once a week Georgian lessons and have picked up some essential words and expressions for everyday life. I am writing a blog in German which is to find under www.sakartvelo-experiences.blogspot.com .