Field report Tbilisi, Georgia

After two years on the road, the four-member Georgian SOS Playbus team recaps few moments from their work which reassured them not only in the importance of their core task, but also in several positive "side-effects" of their work.

Playbus Ain't All Play
By learning through playing, the SOS Playbus helps children develop skills, acquire knowledge and build relationships... most of the time! Also, the Playbus educators are looked up to as role models, advice givers; and are even the moving force of the community. They shared a couple of their stories:

Passing the Wisdom
One rainy day we were doing some pending office work. Out of the blue, two boys from the SOS Children's Village Tbilisi walked in the room. Children are welcome in our room, especially in bad weather when we can't do anything outside. They hang around asking seemingly casual things.

Few minutes later, we noticed that the boys looked worried, but trying to hide it. They started asking how we would smartly deal with children who aren't fair players. They claimed some school friends had such problem. It turned out it was their problem and they wanted to solve it without fights or accusations.

They came to us because, as they said, we were experts in this. We talked, gave them some advices and shared practical experiences from activities in which they participated. Week later they told us they managed to solve the problem. The boys were very happy and we were very proud with them. With ourselves too.

Bringing People Together... and Outdoors

The SOS Playbus team often travels to the suburbs of Tbilisi. There, in between the massive blocks of buildings, children don't have much room for playing. Instead they stay indoors, alone, with the remote control or the joystick "growing" out to their hand. The picture is pretty much the same with the adults.

We were doing our activities as usual in one of the suburbs. Near the end, one parent approached us and expressed her big gratitude. She explained how she moved in that district recently and didn't know anyone. The SOS Playbus activities gave her a chance to meet neighbours and make friends.

Another time in the same district, one boy admitted that he used to spend hours and hours at his computer playing games. When we came to his neighbourhood, he became attracted to our games and less interested in these mostly violent computer games. He made many friends and even when we're not around, he enjoys in the sunlight and friendship.

SOS Children has been working in Georgia since 1989 and supports children and families local to the SOS Children's Villages at Kutaisi and Tbilisi. Our work at Tbilisi provides practical support to over 300 children, while the SOS Playbus enables more than 3,000 children to learn skills and build relationships.

You can support children at Tbilisi by considering child sponsorship.