Today I went to a women’s gathering at the home of a fellow American whose husband works for the American Embassy. They live in Embassy housing (a neighborhood that has been built specifically for Embassy staff) close to the Beteli Center. I felt like I had just crossed the border into the US…this was like any typical suburban neighborhood you would see in America!
Once inside the house I was amazed at how warm it was. Was this central heating and air?? I could hardly believe it! I spend the majority of my time freezing every moment of the day because heat in this country is so rare to find. If people do have gas heaters they rarely turn them on because it’s so expensive for them. Unlike me, they are acclimated to cold temperatures and even have their windows open at different periods throughout the day claiming “it’s stuffy and they need fresh air.” Are they crazy??? I mean what in the world are they thinking? Fresh air is great and all, but not on a day when it’s 40 degrees outside! Have they lost their mind? It’s seriously not uncommon for me to be wearing multiple layers, a pashmina, a parka and gloves the entire day, even inside buildings, and I’m still shivering.
Ok, back to the women’s gathering… These women meet every Thursday (all Georgian except for one other lady and the leader) and are currently reading a book together and discuss their thoughts as they go along. Right now they are reading a book by a preacher from Argentina which in my honest opinion I feel is a little too difficult for non-native English speakers. There are too many vocabulary words that these women are not familiar with, and the ideas and concepts of faith this author talks about also seem a little foreign to the Georgians. I’m not sure how this book was chosen but if I were the leader I think I would have been more sensitive to the fact that English is not their native language and I would have chosen something manageable for their English level. I felt we spent more time explaining the meaning of words and overall concepts than we did on the book…it was like we were in English class! I think this gathering is great because it brings these women together but in my opinion it could be more fruitful if a different book was chosen. We met at 10am and didn’t finish until 1pm or a little after, and that was only with reading one chapter! So that should say something about how difficult this book was for them.
After the book discussion we had coffee, tea, orange juice and traditional Georgian snacks, khachapuri (cheese bread) and lobiani (a bean paste inside of a pastry). We socialized for about another hour while a couple of the Georgian women were finishing their laundry. The leader allows the group to do their laundry at her house since a lot of Georgians don’t have washing machines, let alone dryers. Finding a clothes dryer in this country is like finding gold! Thanks to the American Embassy the houses in this “American” neighborhood are outfitted with all the luxury items you could possibly think of! Instant hot water (no need for lighting a water heater!), a built-in water filter system for drinking, microwave, oven to bake things, all sorts of great kitchen items (knives, cutting boards, toaster, blender, etc), internet connection, hmmm….I could go on and on! 🙂 I think it’s great how the leader so freely opens up her house to others because I know it’s especially a blessing to the Georgian women.
At 2:30pm I was finally heading to World Vision where I would spend my last day with the IDP kids. I was a bit sad to think this would be my last time to see them but I was trying not to think too much about it. When I arrived it was play time so we I threw a ball around with a few of the kids, then the girls gathered in a circle and worked on a Georgian folk dance led by one of the students. They are having a talent show with the IDP kids from the five other World Vision schools in Tbilisi. It was fun watching this ten year old choreograph the dance! Around 4pm I gathered the kids to the front of the room to have a little farewell party for my last day with them. I had bought pretzel sticks (they love these) and cookies for the kids the night before.
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| From UNICEF’s & World Vision in Georgia |
They were all hugging and kissing on me and told me how much they would miss me and how I must come back to see them. I was so sad! I wish that I could follow their lives some how and see what ends up happening to them but I’m not sure if that is really possible.
When they finished their snack we played musical chairs…this is one of my favorite activities with them!
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After our time of playing together the kids broke into their age groups and worked on different activities. The younger kids drew pictures for my friends Anne & Chris Rolland as a thank you for the special gift they sent for them.
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| From UNICEF’s & World Vision in Georgia |
On one of my last nights in NYC, Anne & Chris gave me an envelope with a financial donation for the “refugee that needed or deserved it the most” and asked me to be the deliverer of this gift. I was so touched by their gesture. Since I have spent the most time with the IDP children at World Vision and have met most of their families, I felt they would be the best recipients. Especially the families of the younger children because a lot also had babies at home. Since the value of the Dollar has gone up and the exchange rate is 1.65 I was able to spread the money even further and I chose six families to split the money between (adding 20 Lari of my own money to make it equal for everyone). At the end of the day when I met with the individual parents I handed them a card written both in English and Georgian with the money inside. Keti (my host mom) also explained to the parents in Georgian what the card was about and who it was from. They were extremely grateful and hugged and kissed on me as they repeated “didi madaloba” (thank you very much). So to Anne and Chris, “DIDI MADALOBA!”. 🙂
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