The Tragedy in Georgia (the country)

As you may know, the Republic of Georgia is a country very close to my heart, where I have many dear friends. I traveled there in the summer of 2007 to visit with partners for work, and fell head over heels in love with this country, where the traditions of food, dance, culture, history, and the gorgeous Caucasus mountains overwhelmed me.

It would be hard NOT to know about Russia & Georgia's ongoing problems by now, but I thought it may be nice to share some news I have from friends there who run NGOs that work with children. Here are a few notes I've received: (sent a few days ago)

I was so glad to receive your message. I know how much you care for our country and Georgian friends. We really had terrible days with bombing and killing people. Many people are dead and nearly every building in several small towns is destroyed….. Especially in Gori. Nearly all the city is destroyed. I have talked with some of the parents of children we met in Gori and I was glad to hear they are safe, refugees but safe…..Hoping to meet you in Georgia, with love and kisses

----

Dear Katy, we are safe now, but it was awful what we had. yesterday and to day people are going in Gori, but we will have big amount of refuges yet, cos just Gori is clear. our office is fine, but as i know for this moment we lost just one children after gori bobming. our office is open from today.

we try find all our children, i hope they will be in Gori very soon. i also will be in Gori in the evening. and we will work as usual. this is very important for us.
---
Dear Katy,

I don't want to make you sad. That's why I tell you that we are ok. We survived, and this is important. now trying to find our children and their families. what I know so far, one of our beneficiary was dead while the bombing. others do not have parents any more or their houses are totally destroyed. Our building is not touched but some people live in tents in the central park. At first everyone were confused. Now people are returning and hope no more thread is waiting us. I returned to Gori yesterday night. I was in Turkey while the fighting and could not return here till now. people say that some areas are mined. I will tell you more news later. Thanks for your attention. Hope you and your husband are fine, having good time together.