Anyway, if you still care for the Christmas spirit and all that, here's a nice story.
Once upon a time three psychologists spent some time in the Gremi community, preaching bases of inclusive education, as evidenced by this post. It was then and there that they decided to contribute something material and hence, a month later, I started a Candy and Cleaning drive. Basically, we asked the kind people of Tbilisi to bring desserts or detergents, etc. for the Gremi. God bless the FB!
Initially, I planned a low-key, not-too-much-fuss event. Wanted to exploit my hubby, ask him to drive us to Gremi, store several packages of candy in my apartment. But man, the news exploded and candy was raining upon our exaltated heads (I know that's not a word...but that's the feeling). For one week, people kept coming and coming, bringing all sorts of things, I barely had time to run back and forth, locking donations in our office's storage room, involving every co-worker, making it an official work activity. We sat down and actually counted how many Barambos, Milky Ways and Barnies we collected. Fairies, Bertas and Domestos were fully accounted for too. We smelled like Alpine freshness extra white meets dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts...and people kept coming and coming. The list grew quite large.
On the 25th, our office driver took me to Gremi, the goods were distributed, accounted lists signed by both parties and love exchanged (getting sappy).
The Gremi inhabitants had a little Christmas concert prepared and we watched participants sing, dance and recite poems. We felt so happy. As we watched them, we realized that all of that candy, that multitude of sweetness was now locked in the storage and we did not actually have anything to give the kids right now! So, one of us obtained a miser portion of the desserts and distributed it. Planning ahead would be useful. Sigh.
Anyway, I know it is super late, but I would like to thank everyone who donated those things and everyone who collected and transported them and everyone who thought this was a good idea. Of course, it was just one time and did not make a lasting impact and did not change the world or even Gremi's life for more than several months, but we have to start with little things, maybe we could make it a regular activity, donate to some other place next year?
And so, the kids received lost of laundry detergent and kilos of candy for clean clothing and positive reinforcement. And we felt like we did a good deed. The End.
P.S. Candy we gave out during the concert.
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