News

  An informal youth education center opened in the third largest city of Georgia, Rustavi, this Friday, prompted by the joint initiative of Lithuanian companies and volunteers. Abandoned premises of a former kindergarten have been converted into a playroom, a classroom of art and an animation studio. Seventeen children already take painting lessons in the renovated building.

”A year ago we went to the Rustavi municipality with an idea to launch an informal education center for street children, and the city’s response was very positive. However, the premises they had provided to us had no windows, no doors – nothing, just bare walls," recounts a volunteer from Lithuania Rasa Kuzmaitė.

The call for help was picked up by Lithuanian company ACME Georgia, their partners in Georgia Zakhari Ltd, as well as Honorary Consul of Lithuania Boris Gamrekeli.

The Lithuanian Embassy has also contributed with a small donation of 360 Lari (about 200 dollars).

"Today we see how a sincere initiative of Lithuanian volunteers has bound together people from different fields and of various professions, to become yet another link connecting Lithuania and Georgia," says Lithuanian Ambassador to Georgia Jonas Paslauskas.

"I wonder whether there can be stronger links than those initiated between ordinary people, without any political or commercial overtone," says the Ambassador.

The informal youth education center in Rustavi is just one of the projects supported by the Lithuanian Embassy under its development cooperation program. A couple of weeks ago, a renovated movie theater, also sponsored by Lithuania, was opened in the Georgian seaside town of Kobuleti.

The Embassy is planning to open several more reconstructed buildings in various regions of Georgia in the near future.