Womens Association for Rational Development

Yesterday we got a first meeting with WARD (Women´s Association for Rational Development) in Baku, where we probably will work some days of the week as well, when their projects for the autumn have started.

At WARD we met with Leyla Ismailova, volonteer and sister to the chairlady, who could tell us a bit about their work. She also showed us the maternity school, the education project for mothers-to-be, which Kvinna till Kvinna supports. It seemed like a great initiative, very much needed in a culture where pregnancy is seen as a reason to keep a girl at home for nine months. With knowledge you can do so much more.

Leyla at WARD, photo Hanna.

A first report from Baku

So, now we have been in Baku, Azerbaijan, for one week. A lot of time has been spent at the office of YUVA Humanitarian Center, our primary recieving organisation. YUVA is   For the chance to work of course, but maybe mostly because it has a fan. So hot and only June…

Photo Karolin

We´ve got some other things to do besides conquering the heat, though. One of our first tasks is to conduct some seminars at the Summer University that AIESEC Baku is organising for young participants from all over Europe. The seminars will be about human rights, European identity and gender. Interesting!

An IDP shelter in 20 years. We must do something!

Project Title:   TAV and IDP Shelter

“To Alleviate the effects of Vulnerabilities of IDPs in the collective center “Swimmimg-pool”

The district of Khobi where association Gaenati was implementing the project is situated in Samegrelo region. There are 4,000 IDPs residing in Khobi in 72 collective centers. Due to difficult socio-economic conditions and stale and often tense political negotiations in finding resolutions to the Abkhaz conflict-reasons for which those people are displaced. IDPs in collective centers especially suffer from the deprivation and poverty.
IDPs are living in the collective center since 1993. The building was built in 19970s, during the Soviet period, this building used to be a hotel of the famous swimming pool that time with rooms and sanitary fittings. After the conflict in Abkhazia, the hotel was destroyed and devastated, only the external walls remain. In 1993 when IDPs came to live they made a small repair, mainly in the rooms by their own miserable expenses.

Nevertheless, the swimming pool is one of the most destroyed collective center in Khobi Region. There are about 20 families living in extremely poor social and economic conditions. Most of them do not work. They receive 28 LAri assistance per month that is hardly enough for a daily bread.

The rooms are small and oftern five or some family members live together. They lacked the basic household items but GAenati through the project provided them with elementary items. For three years we provided them with the firewood, provided medical assistance that is in very bad condition at the center as since the project stopped they do not get any medicines or other medical assistance. The children lack school-kits, the text-books for school are very expensive. They need further assistance in field work to sustain their families. Many of them lease plot of lands where they harvest some farm products, but they need to hire a tractor to cultivate the plot, some diesel which is too expensive as well.

There are  20 families-45 IDps in the center.

GAENATI in Zugdidi, Georgien

Eka Machavariani

If you want more information just email

eka_machavariani@hotmail.com

or

Ove R Eriksson Eurasia Studes

http://www.osterlen.fhsk.se/index.php?page=458

Österlens folkhögskola

ove.eriksson@osterlen.fhsk.se

Irina Khevsuriani – Association Gaenati, Zugdidi, Georgia

My name is Irina (Tsitsino) Khevsuriani

I am from the West part of Georgia, Zugdidi, near the border of Abkhazia. I am 28 and I have been working for the NGO; (located in Zugdidi) since 2005, as an English teacher and a social worker, but my career at Gaenati started as an English teacher and the more activity I was involved in, the more was experienced and lots of intereset was born forth.

After couple years I was involved in KTK (Swedish Women’s International Organization or Kvinna till Kvinna as the name is in Swedish) Young women’s (South Caucasus) network project meeting In 2007, in Istanbul meeting.
Since that year I have been interested in women’s, children’s rights and their role in Society. Why? because I am interested in children’s safe future for their strengthening and women because they are part of human society who need to raise their voice in our society and breed strong generation and be safe as well.

My life radically changed after meeting, I became think much more deeply in life condition where the war reminds us.
In my opinion I am an active person who can put some contribution those women and children escpecially who are affected of the war .
Our Little organization Gaenati with KTK has been doing this great job. we are still working on SGBV project, on vocational trainings and social rehabilitation trainings for women and children, and this main challenge is to raise self-esteem of them and to pave them their future life.

In addition we are interested in IDP kids rehabilitation, in 2008 together with Swedish Intern Maria Westergren we organized free English, Math and Georgian classes for IDP kids, to avoid them from the street, to integrate them into local society, to raise their education level which is very important point for strong society.

The project was done successfully, and its final reason was the project by Maria “Traffic Safety”. This project Idea woke up since Maria and we Gaenati staff members tried to get children to their destination after their classes and we saw how children were uncarefully during the crossing the road. No kind of safety. So the project workshops spread and it was not only for IDP Kids it was also for locals, too.
The project “Hilarious Summer” I was their as a counselor, the main goal of this project was to integrate Kids to society. It got me great experience, I found easier, to work as a teacher after being as a counselor in summer camp (funded by UNHCR), because in my opinion it needs to be softly with IDP kids to make them comfort and to know how to get in touch easily with them. The result of this project gave the children to think more about improving of their education level and to think of their future much more progressively.

I am experienced in SGBV project. I was there as a social worker. I found myself in various aspects.

Thanks to KTK we have connection with Österlons Folk High school (Tomelilla, South part of Sweden) in internship program and Gaenati is one of the contact organization of the stated school.
I am one of the first intern from my organization.

Nowadays at Gaenati is based YC (Youth club) where I am a volunteer and together with our Swedish interns we work in certain issues which is connected to enhance our Youth.
The project “Drug and Alcohol” done by Swedish interns Sofia Boman and Njomza Krasnigi, I was involved in it as a translator. In the workshops how to apply for job, how to write the blog about various kinds of topics and how to write CV (curriculum vitae), which was fulfilled for our women beneficiaries, I was as an assistent. They were also involved in Summer “Camp Kid Fun” on Gaeanti basis . This project was continued by Kia Bergkvist and Helena Johansson in 2009. Their contribution for Gaenati was very huge, for example, conversation English lessons for women, P.E. classes, “HIV” trainings, CV writing, where I was one of the active participant and got experience being as a translator.

YC based on Gaenati basis has a huge opportunity to be involved in project writing, business planning and to make some art sketches to take part in painting competition, because our kids are full of creativeness and some of them are winners of reflecting their paintings on leaflets or brochures. Their activeness and creativeness give us to be quite awake of getting them new skills.
Our society is depressed, there are huge number of problems. The main problem is the war trauma and the weak country, but strong society and the reason of we exist, as NGO Gaenati, for strong, healthy and educative generation for strong country.

Finally I would like to mention; I have found myself to go ahead through the education and get experience on field working and actually to work on specific issues.
Thank you!

Hope we meet somewhere…

Irina
From Zugdidi
March 2010

About NGO GAENATI, Zugdidi, Georgia

GAENATI

Old Georgian word and it means “The House of Knowledge”

• Non-governmental organization/ language learning centre
• Founded in 2002
• Target group women/children (Youth Club-integrated group)Camp Kid Fun/Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs),

• staff 18 (women)

LOCATION

• Zugdidi, in the West part of Georgia near the border of Abkhazia.

GOAL

• To improve living conditions for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs),
educate women and children as well as strengthen women’s, children’s
and human rights, their role in the political, social and economical life
in the Samegrelo and high mountainous region.
• To raise healthy and educative future generation
• To enhance YOU-th movement in our region

ACTIVITIES/GAENATI OFFERS;

Training centre: Courses in:
• English
• German
• Russian
• Computer

PROJECTS:

• Accountancy
• Psychological rehabilitation trainings
• Business administration
• The driving courses
• Legal advice.
• Training on various kind of issues
• English, Guitar, Dance Carpeting & Sewing Training
• Free classes for IDP children
• Health, Environment, Gender & Self-Esteem Training
• Trainings on HIV/Aids, TB & Hygiene
• SGBV (Sexual and Gender based violence )

GAENATI FRIENDS:

• KTK (Swedish Women’s International Organization or Kvinna till Kvinna)
• Swedish Interns (Österlens Folk High School)
• UNHCR(United of the High Commissioner for Refugees)
• EUMM
• International Friends

Welcome to Gothenburg to this Convent

A world- Whos recourses? . A convent about Security and Democracy  read more   http://ufsverige.org/konvent/

Come and meet us. We have people from Baku Azerbaijan and from Georgien Zugdidi, doing a presentation on security and democracy in the conflict areas as Abkazia also talking about IDP,s. situation in the areas. There will also be presentation from the last war august 2008.

• Österlens folkhögskola) – NGO – Tomelilla, Sweden
• Yuva – Humanitarian Center – Baku, Azerbaijan
• Association Gaenati – Zugdidi, Georgia
• We will be in Room 204

Is there anyway back for IDP,s?

Is there a way back for the people who now live outside Abkhazia for example in Zugdidi?

Read this

RFE/RL) — Russia and the Georgian rebel region of Abkhazia today signed a deal allowing Moscow to establish a military base on its soil, further raising tensions with Georgia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Abkhaz separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh witnessed the signing of the deal by their defense ministers, following talks at the Kremlin in Moscow today.

Russia’s Interfax news agency says the agreement will allow Russia to use and update the infrastructure of an existing military base, as well as to form a joint group of forces. Interfax said the land base has its headquarters located in the port town of Gudauta, just north of the capital, Sukhumi, and already has 1,700 servicemen. read more  http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Gains_Military_Base_In_Abkhazia/1960545.html

“Association Gaenati” representative arriving Sweden (Feb, 2010)

Hello

Irina Khevsuriniani - Association Gaenati

Irina Khevsuriani – Association Gaenati

My name is Irina Khevsuriani, on my way to Sweden.

I am from the West part of Georgia, Zugdidi, near border of Abkhazia. I am  28 and I have been working for the NGO; , located in Zugdidi since 2005, as an English teacher and a social worker, but my career at Gaenati started as an English teacher and the more activity I was involved the more was experienced and lots of intereset was born forth.

After couple years I was involved in KTK (Swedish Women’s International Organization or Kvinna till Kvinna as the name is in Swedish) Young women’s (South Caucasus) network project meeting In 2007 in Istanbul meeting.
Since that year I have been interested in women’s, children rights and their role in Society. I think that war is made the trauma and this reason it makes women to show her strength deeper, to Strive For Her Life.

My life radically changed after meeting, I became think much more deeply in life condition where war reminds us.
In my opinion I am an active person who can put some contribution those women and children who are affected after war and reason of their life condition they need rehabilitation. Our Little organization Gaenati with KTK has been doing this great job. we are still working with SGBW project, vocational trainings and social rehabilitation training for women, and this main challenge is to raise self-esteem of women and to pave them future life, because woman is the main resource in society, especially after war. It it is very important to know  her rights to protect herself and think about future.

In addition we are interested in IDP kids rehabilitation, in 2008 with Swedish Intern Maria Westgren we organized free English, Math and Georgian classes for IDP kids, to avoid them from the street and that project was done successfully, and its final reason was “traffic safety” project for kids but not only for IDPs, for locals too.

Our organization was working with UNHCR and those projects which  were oriented to support IDPs were successfully done, for example foundation of YC in Villege Koki, Koki is the rural area of Zugdidi and this village is the closest to Abkhazia, the YC of Koki is still functioning.

The project “Hilarious Summer” I was their counselor, it got me great experience, I found easier, to work as a teacher after being as a counselor in summer camp funded by UNHCR, because in my opinion it needs to be softly with IDP kids to make them comfort.

I am experienced in SGBV project I was there as a social worker and for me stated job beside teacher qualified me a little bit as a psychologist. I found myself in various aspects.

Nowadays at Gaenati is based YC where I am a volunteer and we are working with our Swedish interns of various kinds of topics. During Sofia Boman and Njomza Krasnigi we implemented the project about “Drug and Alcohol” in this project I was a translator. They were also involved in Summer “Camp Kid Fun” this project was continued by Kia Bergkvist and Helena Johansson in 2009. Their contribution for Gaenati was very huge, for example, conversation English lessons for women, P.E. “HIV” trainings, where I was one of the active participant and got experience being as a translator.

YC based on Gaenati basic has huge opportunity to be involved in project writing and to make some art sketches to take part in painting competition, because our kids are full of creativeness and some of them are winners of reflecting their paintings in leaflets or brochures.

Children are interested in writing projects and have their little projects, they attend in business trainings.

Our society is depressed and we try to make comfort children and we try to raise healthy and educative future.

Hope we meet somewhere…

Irina

From Zugdidi

February 2010

New Blog for Internships in Caucasus

This is Blog is for the participants of the Internship program with Forum Syd, Sida and Österlens Folk High School