Acf-georgia Photo Essay, Need Magazine, Issue 6 2009

need | issue 6 2009

the humanitarian magazine

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life after leprosy ted prize winner james nachtwey

10 lost boys saving lives

5 steps to feed the world georgians return home after conflict

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we are not out to save the world but to tell the stories of those who are.

home | destroyed in a week Relief keeps Georgians alive after the destruction of war.

When Georgia gained independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, its vibrant agricultureand tourism-based economy disintegrated. Two regional ethnic groups, the Abkhazians and the Ossetians, sought to create independent states within Georgia’s borders. The resulting bloody civil war ended in a relative stalemate a year later after the conflict had

home | destroyed in a week adam hanson photographers: jonathan alpeyrie jeffrey austin writer:

displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Most of Georgia’s citizens became subsistence farmers. Aid organizations such as Action Against Hunger, Mercy Corps and United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) worked to help impoverished Georgians improve their agricultural practices, build infrastructure and meet their health care needs.

In August 2008 war again broke out between the Georgian government and separatist factions. Russian forces engaged in the conflict, citing “Georgian belligerence against Russian citizens.” Over 130,000 more Georgians fled as Russian troops advanced towards them. Mortar shells and bombs pounded into city buildings and entire villages burned to the ground. Although the war lasted just over a week, there was more than $1 billion USD of damage, according to Georgian officials. Currently, aid organizations working in Georgia must rush to ensure that those who fled empty-handed as their homes were destroyed can survive the long winter.

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fifteen-year-old otar bazandarashvili (left) stands inside what is left of his family’s home near gori, georgia. the house was destroyed when russian forces moved into the city. he is staying with nika (right), his 8-year-old neighbor. otar’s family received $15,000 usd from the georgian government to reconstruct their home. photo | jeffrey austin

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Aliona Nukradze raised her two children on a small cattle farm in the village of Charebi. In the villages around her, armed Ossetian separatists occasionally clashed with Georgian government forces, but Nukradze was hopeful that these disagreements would eventually be worked out peacefully. In the first days of August 2008, the conflict escalated dramatically and people in Nukradze’s village feared for their lives. She says, “We began to notice that the situation got more and more tense, so many of our fellow villagers left their homes to

two georgian army tanks were hit during a clash between ambushing ossetian troops and advancing georgian army soldiers. dozens of soldiers were killed in the fighting. the wreckage blocks a major thoroughfare in gori, impeding transportation. photo | jonathan alpeyrie

hide in an old abandoned house in the forest. On the eighth of August, that very house was bombed. ... It was the first time I was face-to-face with death. After the bombing we were forced to run deeper into the forest with just the clothes on our backs. Several of our countrymen were killed, some were wounded. We spent three days in the forest without any food. We made our way to Gori, but only two days later Gori was also occupied by Russian troops.” a group of men from the capital of south ossetia climb on the wreck of a georgian tank to celebrate a military victory. it was destroyed a few days earlier in heavy fighting. photo | jonathan alpeyrie

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a russian infantry soldier gives some of his unit’s food to passing gori citizens. his unit is guarding an important bridge which is the only way in and out of the east part of the town. georgians were usually well-treated inside gori by russian soldiers, who share the same religion — an important factor for these men who invaded an old ally. photo | jonathan alpeyrie

Russian forces quickly pushed the Georgian military

the fighting nor the peace talks solved the underlying

out of the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and

separatist issues. Ossestians and Abkhazians still demand

then occupied areas in and around Gori. The major

independence; Georgia refuses to allow these regions to

conflict was over in a matter of days; a ceasefire was

split off and Russia unilaterally recognizes Abkhazia and

signed on August 15, with Russia pledging to remove

South Ossetia as sovereign nations.

its troops from Georgian territory. However, neither

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priests and local volunteers distribute bread a week after the russian invasion. food became scarce during the blockade. photo | jonathan alpeyrie

Nukradze and more than 130,000 others in Georgia

too dangerous and they must stay in the IDP camps,

fled their homes during the fighting. These internally

temporary shelters or abandoned buildings where

displaced people (IDPs) flooded into aid camps around

they have sought refuge. Now that winter has arrived,

the major cities of Gori, Kutaisi and Tbilisi. Most of

families that fled in August without food, money or

Gori’s population left when the Russians arrived; only

warm clothes are at risk of death in temporary shelters

the elderly, unable to flee, were left behind. By the end

that may not have heat. In response to this crisis, Action

of August, a ceasefire was signed, and Russian troops

Against Hunger, Mercy Corps and UMCOR, along with

withdrew from most regions of the country. Some

a massive shelter project by the Georgian government,

IDPs were able to go back to their homes, but others

are saving lives.

will only find rubble. For many, their villages are still

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an orthodox priest distributes the little food he can offer. during the russian invasion most of gori’s citizens fled; only the elderly were left behind. photo | jonathan alpeyrie

two georgians from gori wait anxiously inside their garage while the city is bombed. armed raiders roam the city threatening residents and looting. photo | jonathan alpeyrie

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Georgian citizens trapped by this border strife can feel that the situation is hopeless. Having fled from meager farms and small villages during harvest season, nearly all have lost the ability to support themselves. Many of those who were displaced lived in and around the disputed areas of Georgia, complicating return to their homes. Separatist factions still lay claim to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and there have been reports of largescale looting and burning of Georgian murad loculashvili stands next to a picture of his late wife, who was killed in the bombing. he, his daughter and two young grandchildren fled to a police building in gori that has been converted into a temporary shelter. photo | jeffrey austin

villages in these regions. IDPs had to choose between staying in shelters where they are totally reliant on aid for food, water, warmth and clothes and attempting to return to homes and crops that may be gone. In addition, traveling home means passing through blockades of soldiers in an uneasy ceasefire, avoiding bands of raiders and negotiating fields of land mines and unexploded ordinance. “We left without belongings; my children do not have clothes and they have been sick since then,” says Pikria Tortladze, who fled with her family from their home near the South Ossetian “border.” “We are lost; we do not know what

nuna nginashvili, 72, explains that the only things she was able to save from her home before it was destroyed were a photo of herself when she was young and an icon of mary and jesus. she says that the icon gives her hope. photo | jeffrey austin

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a family lives in an idp center in a vacant building in the town of zugdidi. they were displaced by the war 17 years ago. twenty-nine other families live in this building with no electricity, no water and outside toilets. photo | jeffrey austin

to do. We want to come back home, but for now, it is

the situation, most of these IDPs have no supplies such

impossible.” According the Georgian government, of the

as toilet paper, soap and feminine hygiene products.

131,000 people displaced in the August conflict, over

These people desperately need the food, clean water

30,000 remain in temporary shelters.

and hygiene kits provided by Action Against Hunger. In Tbilisi, the organization distributes these supplies to

IDPs take shelter in schools, government facilities and

1,500 families in 45 IDP centers. It also helps build and

abandoned buildings. In many cases these buildings

restore existing water and sanitation facilities in shelters

were not built to accommodate so many people. Up

around Gori. Without sanitary precautions, diseases

to 40 families may share a single toilet. Compounding

would spread easily in the cramped and cold conditions.

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umcor distributes hygiene kits and pharmaceuticals at this soup kitchen for vulnerable adults in tbilisi. photo | jeffrey austin

todua vika (background) is 22 weeks pregnant. she is receiving a prenatal checkup and baby clothes provided by umcor at a women’s clinic for refugees and idp’s from abkhazia in tbilisi. six doctors and nurses see 25 to 30 patients a day for gynecological treatment. photo | jeffrey austin

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With any armed conflict comes the wounded. Many who fled were without medical care for months. Medical supplies provided by UMCOR save the lives of the sick or injured at 70 medical facilities in Georgia where 200,000 people have received UMCOR-distributed pharmaceuticals. For IDPs who left the lives they knew, life goes on. At gynecological clinics UMCOR medical supplies and equipment help mothers bring new babies into the world, and infant formula and school kits help families continue to grow.

Aid must come quickly to each of the thousands of displaced mothers, fathers and children. The cold winter makes staying in a tent or temporary shelter unviable. Since the conflict ended, the Georgian government has embarked on a massive effort to build 7,000 winterized homes for IDPs. Nukradze and her family have been relocated to a government-built home 12 miles outside Gori. They have received winter clothes and bed linens from Mercy Corps. The organization has helped more than 19,000 IDPs in 16 collective centers around Gori get the warm clothes, beds, mattresses, blankets and linens they need to stave off the cold. two young girls stand outside their new temporary shelter in tbilisi. they do not know if they will ever be able to return to their home in a village in south ossetia. photo | jeffrey austin

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Health, warmth and shelter can mean so much to those who lost everything. The aid provided by Action Against Hunger, UMCOR and Mercy Corps, along with the Georgian government, can make shelters into homes where life can move forward. Furthermore, because these relief organizations were present before the conflict, helping Georgian farmers learn to grow stable crops and repairing crumbling infrastructure, they can provide assistance that goes beyond the immediate needs. Nino Giorgadze, Mercy Corps communications officer in Georgia, says that the local community thanked aid organizations for “provid[ing] a sense of hope for the future and the knowledge that we’ll be there to help them put their lives and communities back together.”

women sort seed potatoes in an action against hunger potato cooperative. this kind of aid will help rural georgians build a lasting future after the conflict. photo | jeffrey austin

a former school building houses 39 idps from the gori area. mercy corps staff member vasil butkhuzi (left), meets with them to assess their needs for the winterization program. photo | jeffrey austin

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a woman taking shelter in an abandoned building in zugdidi lets some daylight into her dark room. photo | jeffrey austin

action against hunger - usa 247 west 37th street, 10th floor new york, ny 10018 usa 212.967.7800 or 877.777.1420 [email protected] www.actionagainsthunger.org mercy corps dept. w po box 2669 portland, or 97208 usa 800.292.3355 or 888.256.1900 www.mercycorps.org

united methodist committee on relief (umcor) 475 riverside drive, room 330 new york, ny 10115 usa 800.554.8583 [email protected] www.umcor.org

Photo gallery available online at www.needmagazine.com/gallery

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the humanitarian magazine

full contents | issue 6 2009

generosity | pulse of life we are not out to save the world

Cardiac surgeons form worldwide partnerships to mend children’s hearts.

work | shoveling out haiti Local and foreign volunteers collaborate after devastating storms.

but to tell the stories of those who are.

home | destroyed in a week Relief keeps Georgians alive after the destruction of war.

health | lost boys return Children chosen two decades ago return to heal Sudan.

kids | relearning trust Trafficked girls gain a new family of sisters in freedom.

future | revealing ability Simple solutions promote accessibility.

one | outcasts find acceptance Community brings a sense of belonging to those affected by leprosy.

focus | nourishment Food grown locally alleviates the global food crisis.

dialogue | james nachtwey Renowned photographer shares his wish for the world. Subscribe for one year (4 issues) of NEED at www.needmagazine.com, or send a check or money order for $27 USD payable to NEED Communications. NEED Communications, Inc. 2303 Kennedy Street NE, Suite 502, Minneapolis, MN 55413 612.379.4025 | f: 612.379.4033 www.needmagazine.com | [email protected]

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