Our first day in Kutaisi we met Nugzar who took us to Ianeti. We were really unsure about exactly how this would go, but we arrived to a warm welcome from our Georgian friends.
The students showed us the bee hives they manage. They started with five hives and have since increased to seven hives.
Next we visited the farm where they were finishing their greenhouse. On this land, which is cultivated by a student using a borrowed tractor, grew cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes. When asked what their favorite crop to grow was, the students responded “eggplant”. When asked what their most successful crop was, the Ianeti students answered “eggplant”. Being business savvy individuals, they plan to grow more eggplant next season. They also give some of the crops to vulnerables in the community. 
After we toured the school, we went inside to begin our presentation. However, we had arrived close to the end of the day and spent so much time outside, that when we went back inside the electricity had turned off. We delivered our PowerPoint presentation with just the small computer screen on which to look. However, before we began the slide show, we had an activity. The students were instructed to have everyone in their group participate in building the tallest tower using only the materials in the bag- which contained balloons, straws, and tape. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and was very competitive! At the end of the allotted time, we questioned them about their experience. They knew what we wanted them to gain from this activity- a realization that teamwork gets things done!
After all of our activities we answered their questions and mingled with Ann, Toena, Nazi, Mari, David, Solemi, Omari, and Bazo. Ann taught us to write our names in Georgian and many of these students spoke English very well. Unfortunately, we knew very little Georgian.
They all stayed well after school was over, so we were honored that they wanted to hear from us. Each of them had us sign a paper for them with our name and email address. The boys carried our very large and heavy supply bag to the car. Our first visit that Tuesday made us aware of the fun we were going to have and the rewarding experiences we would encounter along the way.
We visited Dvabzu Wednesday, which was Victory day and a holiday for the students. These students made us feel extra special by coming to school just to see us. They made us feel like celebrities!
We decided to do our balloon activity outside since it was such a nice day and we had more room. They students did awesome at catching on and coming up with some pretty good ideas for constructing the largest tower. They had an English teacher who spoke very good English, and she chose our winner for us. After the activity we toured their farm where they grow tomatoes, potatoes, and hazelnut trees. Dvabzu also has their greenhouse finished and were cultivating the ground while we were there.
We presented our show in the computer lab and many of the students spoke fairly good English. Little of what we said was translated for them so we hope they received all of our information.
We picked up a few more words from some of the students such as: beautiful, excuse me, and sorry. Many of these students want to be bankers when they grow up and some journalist, lawyers, and doctors. However, Teona wants to be a traditional Georgian dancer and she demonstrated their native dance which was very beautiful and artistic.
After visiting with the Dvabzu students, we joined the principal for a supra.
Thursday marked our third day in Kutaisi. Our school visit was to Kvaloni where we were greeted by over forty students!
They had a wonderful farm and greenhouse at this school. They grew cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, beans, cucumbers, and eggplant, pretty much everything!
The school did not have electricity so we had the students view the presentation on both of the computers; they really got a kick out of how well we treat our swine. The balloon activity went very well except that we had left our tape at our first school visit so we only had one roll left! These students really made great use of their resources and came up with some innovative ideas!
Kvaloni was very welcoming and the students and teachers were very kind to us!
Once the students left for home, we enjoyed a supra with the director of the local FFG.
Our last school visit was way up in the mountains. It took two and a half hours one way to get to Chala. Chala has a benefactor who just recently built them a new school. The school is very fancy- tile flooring, computer lab, and much more. We only had a few students because the other half was helping work the land in the neighborhood.
They really had a fun time with the balloons and scared everyone with numerous popping balloons!
After our slide show we asked them what they liked most about the show. They responded they thought the pictures of calves in little huts and pigs being washed were humorous.
Chala’s greenhouse would be finished in the next two days, and they plan to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and potatoes. They plan to sell their harvest for profit towards the local FFG.
School ended and we went inside to the lunch room where we joined many of the teachers for a supra. Mia the English teacher spoke great English and asked us for books in English and pictures of English writers for her students. The Chala students had us sign their balloons as mementos of our visit.
1 comment:
Sounds like y'all are getting along well with the schools and students. Did you get any pictures of the towers built by the students? Sounds like it was very intresting team building.
David
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