As some of you may already know, I am currently living in Zugdidi, Georgia (ex-USSR) where, alongside co-ordinating ‘Friends of Alalay’ from afar, I am working with a Georgian organisation called Charity Humanitarian Centre Abkhazeti (CHCA). CHCA works with internally displaced people (IDPs) who have had to leave their past lives and homes behind in Abkhazia (a now break-away region of the country) and now live in other regions, where they are often marginalized and suffer from severe economic and social problems.
Last week I was invited by a colleague to visit another project he runs which also works with IDPs. It is located in a poor settlement community called Potskho-Etseri, made up of predominantly people from Abkhazia.
We shared biscuits and drink with the families, and I spoke with them about their lives, families and current situation. Afterwards, I was privileged to be asked to give a brief talk about my work with Alalay to a group of assembled adults. It was humbling to be given the opportunity to speak with people who lack so much themselves, yet could empathise and understand the situation in Bolivia, feeling themselves much better off in comparison as they at least have (some kind of) a roof over their heads.
I was thrilled at the offer of playing with some of the children from the community. We ran around, sang, jumped, smiled and laughed together – it was almost like being back with ‘my children’ in Santa Cruz.
I hope that soon I will be able to visit Potskho-Etseri again – perhaps even to run some informal English classes! If anyone would like to find out any more about the situation in the settlement, please just get in touch with me.
