I saw the UN Women training program on social media and shared it with my team member, Ani Bukia. Fortunately, it turned out that both of us were selected from our organization and got involved in the project. Even though I didn’t have much to do with the technology field before, I became interested in social media marketing. During that time, our organization established a small enterprise for dried fruits, where IDP women are employed, and I thought that the knowledge we’d gain would be helpful for the further development of our enterprise. Although I’ve been through a lot of training before, this program was a big challenge for me because it was a completely new field for me. After completing the training, I can’t say that I can program, but the knowledge and experience I’ve gained, especially in social media marketing helps me a lot in my job. In addition, this program has contacted me with very important people, for example, Nana Dikhaminjia, Lili Pulariani, and many others with whom I’m still friends. Nana and Lili share their knowledge about modern technologies and cybersecurity with the volunteers from our organization. Now I see more necessity and I’m also trying to make sure the rural youth don’t miss the technical knowledge and innovations. Even today, there still are stereotypical ideas that technology needs math and that this field is not for girls. We try to raise awareness about it in young people. I myself was a victim of these stereotypes since I always heard in my childhood that women should study humanitarian subjects, but during the training, I saw many young women and I believed that if I really wanted to, I would be able to gain knowledge in this field. I remember Lili Pulariani’s presentation, which greatly inspired me and I believed that nothing’s impossible. More than 120 women participated in the program and today most of us use this knowledge in different directions.

Under the Covid pandemic, almost every field needs to use technologies. Many people around me have already started selling different things on Facebook, but most of them don’t have basic knowledge of marketing and branding. Therefore, according to my observation, their posts have a low response rate and this also affects their sales.

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Among all training I’ve gone through over the years, so far the most productive was the training by UN Women. I remember exactly, how I filled out the application at the last minute and sent it at 4 AM. To be honest, at that time I didn’t have high expectations that I would get some special kind of knowledge there, but in a very short time, I learned exactly what I needed. This course turned out to be very successful for me because I can say that it brought me back to the profession that I couldn’t learn at the university. Out of 124 selected women within the program, I got into the top 40 and with this program, I passed an internship in the Georgian logistics company „STYX” in the field of social media marketing and web programming.

By the way, my mother-in-law taught me how to sew and I turned my hobby into a business – in 2017, “Enterprise Georgia” financed us and I bought sewing machines. When I started producing home textiles, I soon realized that social media played an important role in increasing sales, and additionally, if you have a website, you can cover not only your city but the region and even the whole country. After these trainings, I created my own business website and set up a Facebook page as well. As a result, my sales increased by 30%, which means a lot for a small business. I strive to and I try my best to share my knowledge with women and young people to let them use it for growing in the social media area and growing their family businesses. By the way, I made a web page for one of my neighbors, who owns a clothing store, and as she says, it saved her business.

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It gave me a lot of strength to realize that society perceived me as inferior because of my education. I searched on the internet and found a college ‘’Spectrum’’. I contacted the director of the college – Mate Takidze, struggled to get there, and finally, I was accepted on the faculty of Secretary-Reviewer. I was accepted there as they would any other, and although they didn’t then have the opportunity for students to live there, I was given a room to live in, with its own adapted toilet (the entire building is fully adapted for people with disabilities), and a bathroom. They saw my desire and how I desperately needed all this for my future participation in society. Therefore, I have to say that the director of the college Mate Takidze and his colleagues played a huge role in my success to be a part of society. I had the best classmates, they cared a lot about me and I love all of them. I was so eager that I attended all meetings and events.

Since I received an education, started my job, and have other successes, I feel respect and appreciation from the people in Lentekhi from where I left earlier. Three years later, I arrived for the first time in Lentekhi and the only adapted place was the new parks. Imagine, even the municipality building isn’t adapted and it turns out that this place is completely inaccessible for people with disabilities. There is such a ramp in the new hospital that if someone doesn’t meet you downstairs and catch you, you will break something. Without the help of someone, climbing the ramp is unbelievable and you can’t really call it an adaptation. There are still no services for people with disabilities and I want to do my best so that no one has to break the same wall that I had to.

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At this point, the left ear is almost useless, I can only hear about 10%. The right one is still okay and hopefully, it will last a few more years. Unfortunately, regression continues, and, what’s the most horrible – restoring the hearing won’t be possible, nor will medicine be able to stop the hearing impairment. I hope there will be something new in the future that will help me with it.

School

I changed four schools, but I couldn’t find my place – I was bullied everywhere: at first because of my nationality, name and last name, then also because I grew up without a father. I was even beaten by boys from my class, they laughed at me and spread rumors. When my hearing got worse, I couldn’t even understand teachers’ questions and I was embarrassed when they repeated what they said, at which point my classmates couldn’t stop laughing. Back then all of it was very emotional for me. When the lesson was over, I would cry on recessions alone – no one can understand how you feel when you’re in such a situation, even though you have the greatest desire to hear everything they hear and live exactly like them. Even my teachers used to say something that would break my heart. Later, I moved to another (and last) school, where my classmates and teachers welcomed me warmly. I told the teachers on the first day that I had hearing problems and I hoped that they would give my classmates the right information about me, since, with me there, it would be a slightly different environment. Finally, relationships with them didn’t work out – it was very common for them to smile in my face and spread rumors behind the back.

At the school where I study now, I only have a close relationship with one person, who has become my ears and my eyes – when I don’t understand something, she writes for me and that’s how I communicate with the rest of the school. For other classmates, I’m a regular classmate. When I need any help with the school affairs, then I have to face the annoyed and irritated faces of my classmates. Teachers know that I have a problem and they really try to help me, however, the environment is not in an order that would make me feel complete.

Unfortunately, in Georgian schools, there is no adapted learning format for people with disabilities. I mostly communicate by writing and when it comes to the lesson explanation process, it’s hard for me to be involved. All deaf people are different, some of them can understand words, but aren’t able to understand sounds and vice versa. In my case, it would be a full-fledged environment if there was an option to communicate in written form, or in the form of presentations, with slides. Teachers are focused on other pupils and it is very heartbreaking for me. When the teacher knows that there is a pupil in the class who needs special attention, and she spends all her time with others, and, in fact, explains the lesson only to them and doesn’t care about you, it makes you sad and it also kills any motivation. However, I don’t mean that the teacher should pay attention only to the person with special needs. No – the more attention is paid to this person, the more that person will feel awkward; it’s better to just provide at least an environment of support. For example, a sign language teacher, or using the written form; and, as there are special teachers in lower grades, there should also be one for those in upper grades for pupils who have hearing and other problems.

I have a great relationship with the director of my school. Sometimes, we just sit in his office and talk, discuss general topics, and write ”memoirs” for each other. I love talking to him more than I do with my classmates, I can’t find any things in common with them. I haven’t gone to school regularly for the last two years, since I don’t understand the explained lessons anyway. Therefore, I study the subjects on my own. If there’s something unclear, I use the internet, books, and competent people. I missed school very often because it no longer made sense for me to go there when I could actually take care of myself at home, and plus, I could be busy with other things too. Despite everything, I still manage to study well and I try my best to find all useful information.

Even with so many problems, I still love school. Or rather, I love small talk in the corridors during lessons, and I love talking to the teachers during lessons or recessions.

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Sopiko:

The school years were the hardest for both of us. I was involved in my daughter’s development, my husband and parents also stood by me. In the process of raising and developing Tamuna, everyone at home was equally involved – my mother taught her foreign and Georgian languages, my father – physics. However, at some point, everyone got tired, couldn’t see the perspective, and didn’t believe in further development. I continued to work with Tamuna alone, not losing faith. My husband thought that I was delusional and overly optimistic about Tamuna’s development. In fact, Tamuna had potential from school age, and that potential needed to be developed.

Tamuna received her pre-school education in a specialized kindergarten in Tbilisi. After the assessment, I was told that she would even be able to directly go to the second grade of normal school. At that time inclusive education was introduced in several schools and Tamuna was transferred to the 6th German Gymnasium. It was difficult for us to drive her there – we lived in Temka and we had to go to Vera every day. However, inclusive teaching turned out to be a facade – inclusion only meant the fact that children with special needs sat in the classroom with typically developed children. They didn’t know the methodology that would make it easier for Tamuna to understand the difficult program. She didn’t have a special teacher and caring for her development still fell on me. I continued working with Tamuna again and did the work that’s usually the state’s responsibility. This obligation is also defined by law. In search of a full-fledged inclusive education, we switched four schools. Recently I even tried a paid school.

For me, it was very hard to face the stigma, on one hand from the school administration and on the other – from the parents. I remember once the director of the private school called me and asked me strictly to take Tamuna’s documents and transfer her to another school because the parents protested Tamuna learning alongside their children as if Tamuna was hindering the development of their children. It was very insulting to me, but I couldn’t fight against the director’s power and I had to find another school again.

Sopiko:

As it turned out, we were finally lucky enough to meet professional people. Tamuna’s dance teacher, Ana, has acquired knowledge about inclusive education in Germany. With her help, Tamuna found her own interest and vision for the future. This is also Tamuna’s merit – she is a person who is a constant search.

Unfortunately, the state lacks a unified vision. Inclusive education is only written on paper and in fact, neither schools nor vocational schools have knowledge about the inclusive approach. They treat everyone equally and don’t consider the special needs and interests of the individuals.

Unfortunately, the state doesn’t notice mothers like me either. When you have a child with a disability, family, and profession, like in my case, you are constantly forced to make a choice – either you have to completely refuse your personal life and raise a child, or your child has to miss out on something because the system doesn’t guarantee such children further development. Because all I thought about was Tamuna, I had problems with my other children. Life would be much easier if I had an assistant. In western countries, parents of children with disabilities receive a monthly guardian’s salary – the amount is used to either hire a professional assistant or is paid as a salary to the family member who works with a child. This is a great benefit for the family and the individual work with the child is also much more productive. Until the age of 5, the therapies were free, after that it becomes the parent’s responsibility to take care of the development and it took a lot of time from me. As a result, I was always forced to make a choice.

It’s also important to introduce parent’s education systematically. In most cases, parents inadvertently hurt their children themselves because they don’t know how to deal with a particular problem. I personally, because of my lack of knowledge, delayed Tamuna’s therapeutic intervention. I couldn’t recognize the dangers and symptoms from the beginning. Therefore, a parent needs help from the very first months of parenthood – what to do, which way is better, how to behave.

Employment of people with disabilities is also part of the systemic problem – when the state doesn’t take care of the child’s proper development from the very beginning, in adulthood these people have difficulty socializing and developing skills. In addition, there is an ingrained stigma in society that people with disabilities can’t do anything independently. For society, such people are outsiders; for them, they are a deadweight and not a resource. However, the state can use this resource, so that people like Tamuna aren’t constantly fed with a pension, but have their own, fair income.“

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It’s very important for me that young women living in the mountains don’t only do so-called ‘’female professions’’, but to try their luck in other professions as well. When the enrolling period begins, I go door-to-door and convince women that they have a right and an opportunity to work in ”male professions”. Such jobs are in demand and highly paid and women must master these fields. I’m glad to have one woman in the electrical mechanic’s group, and she has already been employed with our help by a local company. I myself have gone through a lot of struggle and I want to make it easier for the women who are coming after me, to avoid them the same hardship.

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I met Giorgi in Tbilisi, at a party. He was born and raised in Svaneti, he was a successful athlete and a champion multiple times. I was 19 years old when we got married. I had only seen the Svan tower in the Ethnographic Museum before. I didn’t know where I was going but the truth is I didn’t care. We had a great relationship based on love and mutual respect. So, I was ready to move anywhere with him. However, In the first months, we lived in Tbilisi in a rented flat, so that I could cook after my studies and work.

When I was pregnant on my first child, we went to Mestia for vacation. I had to take a leave in the university due to pregnancy and I also took maternity leave from work. I found out, there was a reorganization in the bank in Mestia and I decided that I had to try my luck – a completely insane idea. In fact, on day one my life was completely changed. On the same day as the interview, I was invited to a two-week internship, I also passed training in Tbilisi and was leading the cashier’s office of one of the bank branches in Mestia. Giorgi helped me a lot and he was proud of me that I worked and studied at the same time. I was a very sociable and fun person. Adhering to the entire dress code and etiquette, I addressed clients with ‘’Mrs. And Mr.’’ I was told once, that nobody addressed them like that before. There were long lines and they wanted to get the service from me. Therefore, my attitude played a huge role and everybody loved me there. Everyone here knew and loved Giorgi, moreover, he was very handsome and people couldn’t imagine who could be with him. I remember even telling him, that soon he would be presented as Elene’s husband. Once, he was in one village and they introduced him exactly like that – you’re the husband of our Eleniko.

This is how I and Svaneti started to get closer.

After Mariam’s birth, I returned to Tbilisi to continue my studies. I also worked in night shifts. At this time, I found out that I was pregnant with my second child. It was very difficult for me, but Giorgi encouraged me a lot and stood by my side. Giorgi shattered stereotypical notions about Svanian men, he was very supportive and told me I could give up everything if I felt I was tired.
When Taso was born, we wanted to baptize her in Svaneti. It was June 24th, we flew from Tbilisi, this was my first flight. I thought I was the happiest person – I overcame the health problems caused by complicated childbirth and now my whole family would be together, resting in Svaneti. I was so calm and felt so good that day, I didn’t even think anything could disturb this feeling of happiness. In the evening, Giorgi went to see his friends. Despite the car crash not being that serious, out of 6 passengers, only Giorgi died. He was 24 years old.

I died with him and then I raised up again. In the beginning, there were months, where I didn’t sleep at all. I had so many emotions, that I felt incredible loneliness and emptiness. I felt his death too and I woke up as another person. A person is always alone with her feelings. Sometimes you can’t express in words, nor does talking with other people help, when literally your soul hurts. I overcame this. On the 24th of June, 8 years have passed and I didn’t live a single day without Giorgi. I still feel like he is with me. This feeling left me in Svaneti.

For my studies, I returned to Tbilisi for 2 years. I left my kids with Giorgi’s parents and came to see them once every month. I put the whole of my energy and pain in my studies and work and it helped me a lot to go through it.
In 2014, after finishing my master’s degree, I returned to Svaneti and I’ve been here since then. Shortly, after my return, I was taken to the Mestia Municipality as the mayor’s assistant. I was very active in youth affairs, which turned out well. Suddenly, I was promoted as Head of Sports and Youth Affairs department. After Giorgi was gone, I lost all my energy and joy and was brought back with the help of my children and the youth of Svaneti.

Nowadays, I’m in almost every project that is being implemented in Svaneti. I’m the coordinator of the local action group in the EU program. Also, with the support of the US Embassy, I’ve been teaching English to socially vulnerable young people and students of Vocational college for 4 years now. At the same time, I’m working on my doctoral thesis – the concept of development of mountainous regions based on the example of Upper Svaneti.

I’m a very active citizen and most importantly – I’m deeply in love with Svaneti.‘’

Author: Maiko Chitaia
Photo: Geda Darchia
Translation: Mariam Kajrishvili

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I was studying at the Faculty of Philology, and suddenly a vacancy appeared in our village: I had to teach Georgian language lessons in one-on-one classes. This is where my story as a teacher began. At first, I didn’t take this profession seriously. I couldn’t see myself in this field. After some time, I fell so much in love with working with young people, that I can’t even imagine myself anywhere else.

My work in not limited only to teaching the subject. Being a teacher in the village is not easy. This place, where nothing happens, doubles the responsibility towards children. I soon realized that I had to start changing and reinforcing moral values in children. For that, I founded a small civic club with the vision to change young people’s attitudes towards many things. We first started with environmental topics. It was back in 2013 and no one cared about this issue at all. We started talking about the natural landfill problem and what’s important, other people followed us. I saw that involvement in this issue should have been done by uniting the entire population. That was the reason we set up a youth NGO and won a grant. After that, we started working on landfills, bought trash bins and an unprecedented thing happened: for the first time, we got the cooperation between civil and public sectors. We signed a memorandum with the local government and they allocated a landfill to our village. This car didn’t have a crane and the kids and I loaded garbage with our own hands. This is how the behavior of our villagers has changed in terms of environmental protection.

For young people in Svaneti, it’s difficult to find their purpose in life. Due to a faulty education system, many children are left without quality education. Due to the social background, you can’t force a child to go to school and study. As a result, young people are left without hope. Nowadays, there is a shortage of professional staff in rural schools. The school has to help young people realize themselves, it’s very important for the school to help them develop their life skills, such as learning how to learn, effective self-presentation skills so that they can focus on personal development on their own.

One of the major disadvantages of our schools is that schools today are mainly giving factual knowledge. The importance of non-formal education in the development process of a child’s personality is very important. There are children who don’t want to study but are great in other various activities. Sometimes you will notice such a talent in them that you’ll wonder why they aren’t active during the lesson. It actually depends on the teacher – how he will find the key to open up the child and how he’ll bring their skills to the surface. There are no children without talent. But there are teachers who don’t know how to communicate with a child. For me it’s not important if the child can recite homework in one breath, but for him to see interesting details behind the words and discover something new. Often, giving the child opportunities to think freely is the greatest motivation. I’ve often been told that it is awkward for them to come to class unprepared.

I remember we studied Vazha-Pshavela’s poems. I offered one of the students, who could easily memorize poems, to build a model of a Khevsurian house with stones. He did the task very well. Moreover, he found out that he was interested in handcrafting and had a talent for it too. I advised him to go the professional route and as it happened, he really did, and now he’s an extraordinary artist. He is practically the only one in the region that makes Svanetian wooden items and musical instruments. If I hadn’t pushed him at the right time, he might not even have discovered this ability in himself.

There were years when we had to dream about books in school. Children didn’t have modern literature, high-quality prints, there weren’t any literacy-promoting activities. In the village, there was practically no place for literature. I organized donations and formed a literature club. The interest wasn’t big, so I decided to use the synthesis of learning and work – we painted the walls with the children, arranged the interior place, and gradually they began to feel the belonging to the club. I see day by day, how with the help of non-formal education, children change their thinking, and the ways their civic and social responsibilities are developing.

I’m glad that I was able to change their attitudes and values. With these values, these children think not only of themselves but also of the well-being of the community in which they live.

I think that the role of the teacher is also to give the children the right direction in their future employment. Professional studies are not very popular in our people, mostly because parents have a negative attitude to it. Because of that, I started an awareness campaign. I started a social enterprise, where young people are able to master their skills. At this point, my future plan is to set up an innovation center where young people can take programming and robotics courses. I have set a quota – out of 70 students, there will be 35 girls, including young people with disabilities.

In 2017, I became a finalist for the National Teacher Award; this gave me great motivation. Also, it was an opportunity for me to evaluate and re-evaluate my past path. This recognition convinced me that I was on the right path and that I was not only a teacher of Georgian literature to young people but also the one who thinks like them.

I’m constantly evolving. I try to find out the modern best practices and share them with teachers who don’t have access to them. Obviously, all of this is not easy for me. I have 4 children. When I come home from work, I have to do house chores and, in fact, I’m still working when I need to be resting. Our salary is so low, that many teachers work only on absolute enthusiasm. I still think that the teacher needs to understand the responsibilities that they owe to generations.’’

Author: Maiko Chitaia
Photo: Geda Darchia
Translation: Mariam Kajrishvili

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The people of Gali remain in a very critical condition. They are waiting for food and primary supplies. At the end of the story, an account number will be printed to which anyone can transfer money that will be used to send the food to the children and the elderly that live across the Enguri.

26 years old

I’m one of the IDP women from Abkhazia. I currently live in the district of Gali. I’m ethnically Georgian, but we are getting such aggression from the Georgian side, that you can’t even imagine how it feels. I feel so uncertain – I don’t belong either here, nor there; I feel homeless and abandoned.

The law has no power here, not to mention justice. We can’t get fair treatment and as always, we are the most vulnerable people in the whole Georgia. At least, before quarantine, they were sending us food from the other side, but now, I don’t even know how long the stockpiled food will last for my baby, who has been born in exile.

The borders were closed shortly after the virus has been announced. You can only cross the border if there’s an official order in your name that says you have symptoms typical for the coronavirus. Nobody needs infected people here and moreover, nobody can take care of them.

While we barely got the local side to agree to let food, basic necessities, and medical supplies through, the Georgian border guards didn’t allow our relatives to bring it over. Children are our main concern. The rest will do their best to avoid hunger. People have nothing left: poor farms and measly government welfare – 45 GEL monthly. Additionally, during the quarantine, everything is in deficit and even if it weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to afford it. There is almost nothing we can buy, even with money. There is also the elderly who ran out of essential medicine. We’re in a hopeless situation and we’re waiting for international organizations to help us with humanitarian products.

Not everyone knows the real situation here. The so-called occupiers are still trying to force us to leave our homes. They are denying us ways to live. We just exist here, nothing more.

Our compatriots are taunting us, from the other side of those cursed barbed wires, that Russia should take care of us.

In fact, our families, our parents didn’t leave this place. They couldn’t leave the houses and they used the very small chance to remain in their own homes, even under threat of gunfire. They’re trying to survive every day and we, their children, are supporting them. Georgians living in Abkhazia are symbolic and I’m very sad, that they call us traitors because of that.

I remember, when I was a student, we routinely crossed the border silently to Zugdidi. We were constantly finding all possible ways to study. Once, I had to cross the border without being noticed. I had to cross two rivers. Along with having to swim, I didn’t even know how deep the water was. I remember motivating myself after each step in the water, that it wouldn’t be deep and I would be able to go to the end. I did that! My pregnant sister was walking with me, showing the way, and she got stuck in barbed wire. She barely survived. After I did that, I ran with all my strength. I had mixed feelings – I was running from Georgia to Georgia. We, like the rest of Georgia, feel that Abkhazia is part of Georgia. The only difference is that not only do we live here, but we’re also the most vulnerable Georgians.

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