Care for 20 homeless people in Tbilisi, Georgia

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.

It was a great joy to be able to bring Nino Chubabria, director of our organisation to the UK to meet a number of our loyal supporters.  We very much appreciate the global ties that our shelter has been able to build up, and the generous support you have given us.  Be assured of our gratitude, even if we weren't able to meet you in person.

We have used a portion of your donations to establish a kitchen garden next to our shelter.  This year, we had a particularly good tomato harvest.  Some of our younger volunteers have been helping us make sauce which we can bottle and preserve to use through the winter.  A neighbour has also given us several chickens of a particularly good variety.  Jemal, our key project worker, has been building a new chicken coop with help from residents.  We look forward to having a larger supply of eggs.

Our other news is rather less positive.  Once again, we have been affected by unreliable workmen as we work to complete our extension.  We had to fire the latest because he had a drink problem.  Khvicha, one of our residents, is now doing the work.  However, he has to fit the work in around his main job on construction sites in the city.  When complete, the extension will give us three new rooms, two for permanent residents, and one to use as a living room cum emergency accommodation.

We are also now trying to tackle the serious problem of online gambling, which is taking hold across Georgia.  Our residents are not imune, and several of them are gambling in a way which causes us concern.  There is one local organisation which helps problem gamblers, but it is a commercial enterprise, not a charity.  We are actively talking to a UK-based charity and trying to work out the best way to get the appropriate type of help to our residents.

As you can see, it is not always an easy business helping our residents back on their feet.  However, we leave you with another snippet of more positive news.  A local church has agreed to put our enamel jewellery on display, and this has helped us find new customers.  Our sales had been falling, so we are delighted to find new places to sell the jewellery, since this means we can provide more work to residents and other young people in need.  If you live in the UK, you can buy jewellery made in our workshop from the St Gregory's online shop (link below).  These beautifully made earrings, pendants and rings make unique gifts and help us provide skilled and interesting work.

Links:

• Opportunity to buy our jewellery - ships to UK only