The Way from Desperation to Independent Life

Monday, March 5, 2007
Nino finds courage to speak about her past life. At the age of 35, she was in an unhappy marriage and 8 month pregnant when husband left her. Her family did not welcome her back and she was alone with no hope for future.

In Georgia at the moment there are about 5,000 children living in state institutions, of whom 87 % have at least one parent

In difficult moments Nino kept thought of committing suicide but then made a decision, at least her little daughter would live, this was her only thinking. She was standing at orphanage stairs hugging her daughter and saying good bye to her when she met Mzia Adeisvili, a social worker from World Vision.

“When I found her she was desperate and hopeless, I suggested to stay at Mother and Infant shelter with her child, and she could not believe that such chance existed,” says Mzia Adeishvili, from the Prevention of Infant Abandonment and Deinstitutionalization project of World Vision Georgia.

Nino certainly agreed to stay in the shelter with her daughter and lived there for 3 months. In the shelter she did not have to worry about how to feed or cloth little Mariam.

The Mother and Infant Shelter has existed since 2002, it specifically targets young mothers like Nino to prevent the abandonment of infants into institutions. The creation of this shelter was a first effort in Georgia towards deinstitutionalization of infants and prevention of further infant admissions to residential care.

In Georgia at the moment there are about 5,000 children living in state institutions, of whom 87 % have at least one parent, and the majority is children of single mothers.

Trough the support of the PIAD project, 356 babies at risk of abandonment now live at family environment.

“This kind of shelter is unique in Post soviet countries and is very effective for prevention of Infant abandonment. The mother and child live together for the first 3 months and after leaving the shelter we assist mother to overcome economic problems, and usually find jobs for them” says Marina Menteshashvili, Mother and Infant Shelter manager.

Nino is an artist by profession, she used to paint different bottles with traditional Georgian designs, after the birth of Mariam she quit the job, as she could not leave her with anyone and she was too small to go to kindergarten.

The only way to sustain Mariam and herself by working from home, at the shelter she was taught knitting and has received small grant for buying thread, now she knits children clothes and takes them to the market for selling. This way, she can be with her child and at the same time work in order to support them both.. After leaving the shelter her family reconciled with her. It took several months for her mother to forgive daughter, for marrying what she considered to be a inappropriate husband and to finally accept her little grand daughter.

“With the help of all these people my life has changed totally, I can not even think what would happen with me if I did not come to this shelter” says Nino.

Like Nino, many fates have been changed through this shelter, 71 small businesses have been started by project beneficiaries, and 62 mothers have been employed in various positions.

I can not even think what would happen with me if I did not come to this shelter

The fact that the project is successful has been admitted by the government. From January this year the mother and Infant Shelter is financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia. Though World Vision will continue supporting the shelter and assisting mothers with finding employment.

The way from total desperation to independent life was short for Nino, it only took three months from the day coming to shelter to going back home.