Care for 20 homeless people in Tbilisi, Georgia

It is wonderful when we are able to bring the different parts of our community together: the front-line workers immersed in the daily reality of providing care, and the wider community of supporters, many spread around the world.  Recently, a group of supporters from the UK visited our shelter in Tbilisi.  They certainly enjoyed the strong Georgian tradition of hospitality, meeting the young people and families who benefit from their generosity, and discussing our plans for the future.

If you have been following our reports, you will know that extending our shelter into the loft space has been an extended project of ours.  Along the way we have met many obstacles, but we are at last the end is in sight.  Our immediate goal is furnishing two rooms so that new residents can move in.  Already a local donor has given us a sofa and a toddler bed.  You can see a picture below.

An opportunity has also presented itself in the form of a small garage very close to our shelter.  Our vision is for this to become home to a bike-maintenance workshop.  We hope to employ four young people and provide professional training for 5-7 more young people each year learning how to fix bicycles.  It is so important for us to give our residents and the others we care for a path to a secure future.  We have felt for sometime that it would be good to have a new training option to replace our printer cartridge business, which was so damaged by the pandemic.

The visit from the UK supporters was very well timed.  The wonderful George Guest, a London-based fundraiser who was very committed to our work, left a legacy which will cover the cost of purchasing the garage.  Our UK friends have not just brought a promise of funds, but also interesting international connections which may help us source second-hand bikes to renovate and resell.

Our care doesn't end when our residents leave our shelter.  We often continue to help with food parcels until a former resident can find their feet in their new life.  Sometimes more significant help is needed.

Inga had moved to the Akhaltsikhe region for work. About a year ago, Inga was a passenger in a car travelling to a neighbouring city when they were hit by a trailer moving on the opposite side of the central highway.  The car overturned and fell off the side of the road.  The driver of the trailer thought that everyone in the car was dead and fled the scene.  Fortunately, Inga and the driver survived, but Inga sustained multiple injuries.

The local police found out that the trailer's driver was a representative of a Turkish company.  Without any investigation, they decided that both parties were at fault.  The site inspection was the only evidence gathered and, because of bad weather, its findings were not completely reliable.  The investigation was not objective, because the police did not want to bring a case against a Turkish citizen.  It was also discovered that the driver had left the country.

As soon as we heard Inga's story, we immediately got involved.  Any delay would have endangered her, since she needed surgery urgently.  Because both parties were deemed to be at fault, the insurance only paid out for one of the operations that Inga needed.

Unfortunately, we are not well known in this region of Georgia.  We were refused any additional investigations by the local authorities and had to apply to the General Prosecutor's Office to get a technical examination of the car and of the traces left by the accident.  The results of these investigations showed that the trailer driver was soley at fault for the accident.

We then worked with the border police too identify the driver and the company.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs helped us to track down the company.

Since the court case would last for months, we turned to several companies for help.  Fortunately, the insurance company has covered the cost of Inga's four operations and her treatment.  The Turkish company paid for three months of rehabilitation.  Inga returned from Turkey almost a year after the accident.   She continues her slow recovery.

On a more celebratory note, our young gymnastics star, Christina, has won an international competition in Azerbaizhan.  Her mother could not accompany her this time as the trip to Baku was costly, but Kristina still won despite the fact that she was alone in a new country.  The jury and other athletes stood up and applauded her after her performance.  It was four years ago that GlobalGiving donors helped Christina get on the Georgian team, despite her family being homeless and penniless.  We remain very grateful to everyone who has supported her talent.