Sapovnela (Wildflower) -
     Day Centre for Street Children in Rustavi 

Rustavi, formerly known as an industrial centre, is now suffering high level of unemployment. Most of the residents of the town of workers are now living in extreme poverty. Children from such families make their ends meet trough random incomes, panhandling and sometimes pick pocketing.
In 2006,
a transition
Centre
Sapovnela was set up for street and at-risk group children with the resources of the mobile team working in the town. The Centre provides daily assistance to 30 children. Its major goal is to ensure the social rehabilitation and integration of the children.
The Centre is functioning within the framework of the Rebuilding Lives Project supported by Save the Children/USAID

Basic Services

The day Centre is provided with free services by a local bath house and a hairdresser’s parlor. The children of the Centre also have access to the dentist providing free treatment.
Emergency medical assistance is provided to the children in the Tbilisi Children’s Hospital #2. One of the children underwent a difficult operation.

Education Activities

The Centre offers scheduled classes in school subjects for the children attending school. The children of three age groups do lessons with their teachers and thus try to fill the knowledge gaps. The major objective of the Centre and the mobile team is to involve the children, including those begging, in schooling.
The Centre arranges quizzes, discussion and interactive activities by using encyclopedia-type references and programmes. The children, not attending schools, are provided basic literacy education and prepared for the inclusion in schooling.

Sport

The courtyard of the Centre often serves as a venue to various games and tournaments. The energetic, restless and independent children enjoy playing football, badminton and other games, especially in the places of gathering of street children.
They spend a lot of time on playing together with their psychologist, teacher and an assistant who is former street kid. The atmosphere around them is always joyful.

Painting

The Sapovnela children and the children under the care of the mobile team model and create their first works thus learning perception of the colourful world around them. Such activities enhance their fine motor and develop their creative skills.

Handicraft

A volunteer teacher assists the children in making beadworks. These refined pieces reveal the zealous work of the teacher and the children, the imagination of the small creators and their strive for beauty.

Events

The residents of the Centre took part in the New Year’s celebration held at
the Children’s
Palace. They attended the performances of the Beghurebi Centre operated by the organization.

Above all we remembered our participation in the children's festival 'Let's Begin Together' - the event dedicated to the International Children's Day, June 01,2005, Vake Park, Tbilisi initiated by Save the Children and funded by USAID.

Volunteers/ Relations with Other Organisations

The Rustavi Municipality is one of the supporters of the Centre. It has allocated a minibus for the children and provided tickets for the events dedicated to the New Year. The children also receive support from the town schools. The latter collect clothes for the children. The Centre benefits from the free services provided by a bath house, a hairdresser’s parlor, a dental clinic, etc.

Psychological Support

The Centre’s psychologists set diagnoses, ensure intervention and correction activities. They also work as part of the mobile team in places of children’s gathering. In addition, they provide guidance in the integration of street and at- risk group children in schooling.
The main goal of the psychological unit of the Centre is to eradicate substance abuse among children, a highly dangerous disease. The problem has deep roots and calls for the comprehensive approach and the involvement of the public and respective bodies.

Social and Legal Services

The individual assessment manager of the Centre studies families, social and other conditions of the children, provides legal counseling to their families and assists in obtaining needed documents, managing relations with schools, etc.