A grandma's wish

The capital city Tbilisi is lacking the effective social service. In spite of implementation of various assistance programs in previous years the number of abandoned children in the region is very large. The deinstitutionalization program aimed at prevention of child abandonment has not been yet implemented adequately. Today, in Tbilisi region 800 children are brought up at the public children’s homes.

Besides, the number of homeless and street children is large there are resident vulnerable families and there are many Internally Displaced People (IDPs). The severe financial and social conditions were especially hard for those families. So there are many children who can be attributed to the risk-group of abandoned ones.

Here is just one of the many families which are supported by SOS Children through our Family Strengthening Programme.
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At the far end of Tbilisi, on the fifth floor of an old building with no elevator, with broken windows and dirty hallways, lives grandma Maria and her two little grandsons.

Reaching Maria's one-room flat is a challenge even for the fit. Yet this 71-year-old grandma of two boys makes it up and down every day. She has to, she has no choice.

Crushed world
Four years ago, Maria had a house in the centre of Tbilisi. Widowed, she lived with her son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons. She spent her days quietly spoiling her grandchildren like only grandmothers know.

Then one day it all crashed to pieces. Maria's daughter-in-law abandoned her husband and two sons without ever looking back. Desperate and angry, Maria's son turned to alcohol. He would often come back home drunk and violent picking fights with his mother, the neighbours or just anybody.

Because of his alcohol problem, Maria's son lost his job and developed psychosomatic problems. When he was finally hospitalized, Maria had to take mortgage on the house to pay his medical bill. Unable to make payments, less than a year later the bank possessed the house leaving grandma and the little boys homeless.

Struggle to survive
Maria applied for shelter with the social services and was granted a one-room flat in the suburbs. She still lives there in awful conditions. Dirty toilets and showers are shared with the other tenants on the floor. Inside her flat, Maria has only three small chairs, a small wobbly table, an old lumpy double bed, a stove and two cabinets. Out of this, one bag of clothes and linens and a few family photos, grandma made a home.

To run a household, one needs income. Maria's pension and social welfare combined sum up to 70 US dollars. Most of it is spent for her son's medications, who, after being discharged, moved in the same shelter. What's left is spent for the basic needs of the grandsons. The boys don't have any toys. Instead they play with plastic bottles and lids.

Strength comes her way

Maria was identified and immediately became beneficiary of the family strengthening programme of SOS Children's Villages Georgia at the beginning of 2007. The urgency became far greater as she was already considering options for institutionalising her grandsons.

Maria was sure the children would be better off in the greyness of an orphanage than with their old grandma who can't feed them. "What did I have to offer them?" says grandma with tears in her eyes. "Sleeping hungry in a dirty damp room with fleas? Children shouldn't grow up like that." The support from SOS Children's Villages eased the situation and convinced Maria to change her mind.

Once a month Darejan, the social worker of the programme, brings packages of food and cleaning supplies. She also comes once a week for individual counselling. With Darejan's help, Maria chose a school for her older grandson who will be a first-grader this fall. SOS Children's Villages will also provide school stationery and, if needed, tutoring.

"The school has a nice playground," Maria looks at the dark corridor where the blue-eyed five-year-old and his seven-year-old brother play with a neighbouring boy. "They don't have many places to play. Inside it's dangerous," Maria talks about the broken windows next to the stairways on the upper floors. "Outside is no better," she looks at the old playground cramped with garbage and construction debris.

Still, Maria makes the tough journey up and down those stairs every day so her grandsons can play football. "It takes me about thirty minutes to make it down the stairs," she says. "Going up is far longer. But, until my legs carry me I'll be walking. I'll do anything for my grandsons."

Struggling with high blood pressure herself, Maria already made plans for the inevitable. "When I die, my grandsons will go to live with my daughter. Her husband is disabled and they live poorly too, but SOS Children's Villages gave us all new hope for the future. My family has to stay together. I wish for nothing more."

The SOS Family Strengthening Project -Tbilisi started in February 2007 and by December 2007 supported 101 children identified as being most in need. For 2008 the programme aims to reach over 200 children who face being abandoned by their families.