A country that doesn’t officially exist

I’m writing tonight from Abkhazia, the region in the northwestern part of Georgia that suffered a brutal civil war between Russia and Georgia in the early 1990’s, and declared independence in 2008.  The issue with its independence is that it’s only recognized by three countries – Russia, Nicaragua and Nauru. 

Education, health and national infrastructure in the country is dysfunctional at best, and more than 250,000 people who were displaced in the war have yet to return.  Poverty here is endemic, and economic opportunities extremely limited.  What was once one of the most prosperous regions of the former Soviet Union is now an economic basket case, and the community remains deeply divided over the issues that caused the conflict and seccession from Georgia in the first place.  The political climate also remains highly uncertain, with ongoing sabre-rattling by both Russia and Georgia over politics and presence in the region. 

Yesterday we visited Gali, a small town of a few thousand people near the Georgian border that bore some of the harshest impacts of the civil war.  I encountered poverty on a scale I haven’t personally seen before – street after street of burned out and abandoned houses, severely pot holed roads, no shops, extremely poor infrastructure, and a general sense of despair.  I also encountered some extraordinary resilience among people who have lost everything.  World Vision has been operating in Abkhazia for the last 5 years, and has a small but highly dedicated and capable team of local staff.

In Gali, World Vision is involved with a range of programs, one of which has been a partnership with the local community, UNICEF and the European Union for the construction of centre for children with disabilities.  We visited the centre, and I have to confess I was moved to tears by what I saw there.  Children from the ages of 2-15 with a range of disabilities come to the centre to receive a range of support services, including basic physiotherapy, speech therapy, special learning support and general medical services.  These are all services we would take for granted in the west, but are virtually non-existent in Abkhazia.  The centre provides support for up to 100 children from Gali and the surrounding villages.  A drop in a bucket in terms of overall need, but atleast a start.  Within the centre the local Orthodox church has also built a small altar where families can come to pray or light a candle for their children.   What is the future for these children and their families?

It was deeply moving to meet these children and their parents.  To glimpse their lives and huge challenges, but also their capacity to hope.  Why is it that life is so incredibly difficult for some?  

But even in the midst of this situation there is humour.  We also visited a small village where World Vision has been working for the past 5 years on community mobilization.  Part of this project has involved the community selection and delivery of a number of small business grants.  These are designed to serve broader community needs, whilst also providing a foundation for some economic livelihood for individuals within the village.  One lady successfully obtained a grant to purchase a portable refridgerator to store a recently deceased person (funerals and related rituals are a big deal in Abkhazia, and after someone dies, the body sometimes remains in the house for up to 10 days).  The idea of this lady's business is that she will rent the body refridgeration equipment to a family who have recently lost a loved one.  She explained to us with that the only problem with her business is that as soon as she got the equipment, people in the village stopped dying!  Then there was the story of another village member who is an amputee (from a land mine accident), who has been able to open a business repairing shoes(!). Both stories shared with by the community members with humour, amidst the ruins of the lives they once knew.

The ruins of an old citrus and tea plantation, which
was once a collective farm under Stalin's Soviet Union

The situation in Abkhazia is complex, and roots of the conflict and present situation can be traced back many hundreds, if not thousands of years.  For a region that was once known as ‘the soul of God’, the present day situation is truly tragic.




Km after km of wrecked houses, abandoned by displaced families

  


An old ferris wheel, frozen since the war 20 years ago