Project Borjomi was initiated by Gill and Bob Eddins, former Peace Corps volunteers who were English teachers in Borjomi, a former Soviet spa town in the south of Georgia not far from the Armenian border. They are partnering with various local organizations to faciliate Project Borjomi. 
Borjomi, a town of approximately 13,000 people, is home to over 2,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from Abkhazia. These IDPs, who were displaced from a subtropical climate with warm beaches and palm trees, are now living in dilapidated concrete, soviet sanatoria in the mountains where temperatures in the winter reach as low as -12% F. Their living conditions are often appalling and most have little money for food or clothing, let alone school books for their children, which can cost a family over $100 per child per year. Hence it is often the case that IDP children are less successful in school and frequently present behavior problems. There are presently no Georgian NGOs helping the IDPs in Borjomi.
Gill and Bob recently conducted a camp for IDP children. One of the children’s assignments was to interview their parents about their homes and lives in Abkhazia. Gill and Bob have written a grant application endorsed by a Georgian NGO which will provide funds for the publishing of the interviews. They hope through the book to highlight the plight of these refugees who appear to have been forgotten.
A second project which grew out of the IDP camp was a Women’s Knitting Workshop. Knitting was a very popular activity, both with the children and their mothers. Gill and Bob hope to start a workshop which will use both Georgian and western knitting and felting techniques to provide reasonably priced souvenirs for the growing Georgian tourist industry. They also plan to sell the items produced to returned Peace Corps volunteers in the States. A local school has agreed to provide the venue for the project. Visit their site.
Gill and Bob have been collecting warm children’s clothing and children’s books from friends and thrift stores in England. They have a contact, Genette Dagtoglou, who can arrange free shipping of books to Tbilisi.
A summary of Project Borjomi activities:
* Teaching English two or three days a week in Borjomi schools
* Providing new blackboards and chairs for classrooms
* Helping a local NGO to create a web site
* Working with the local television station to create English programming
* Providing school books and warm clothing for IDP children
* Partnering with an NGO in a nearby town to provide free business training for IDP women
* Small business creation for IDP women
* Low interest micro-financing for small business
Ways you can help
$10 goes a long way:
* It can buy a set of school books for one subject (text, work, and test books)
* It can buy 4 warm winter jackets
* It can buy 4 balls of angora wool for the women’s workshop
* It can pay for a delivery from Tbilisi to Borjomi
$20 can go even further:
* It can buy a new chair for the English classroom
* It can provide a complete set of clothing for a newborn
* It can pay for the translation of knitting patterns
* It can pay for the installation of two blackboards
Please send checks to the Megobari Foundation referencing Project Borjomi. Details for mailing checks is included on the right panel of The Megobari Project's blog. If you would like your money to go to a particular project, please mark your check appropriately.
Borjomi, a town of approximately 13,000 people, is home to over 2,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from Abkhazia. These IDPs, who were displaced from a subtropical climate with warm beaches and palm trees, are now living in dilapidated concrete, soviet sanatoria in the mountains where temperatures in the winter reach as low as -12% F. Their living conditions are often appalling and most have little money for food or clothing, let alone school books for their children, which can cost a family over $100 per child per year. Hence it is often the case that IDP children are less successful in school and frequently present behavior problems. There are presently no Georgian NGOs helping the IDPs in Borjomi.
Gill and Bob recently conducted a camp for IDP children. One of the children’s assignments was to interview their parents about their homes and lives in Abkhazia. Gill and Bob have written a grant application endorsed by a Georgian NGO which will provide funds for the publishing of the interviews. They hope through the book to highlight the plight of these refugees who appear to have been forgotten.
A second project which grew out of the IDP camp was a Women’s Knitting Workshop. Knitting was a very popular activity, both with the children and their mothers. Gill and Bob hope to start a workshop which will use both Georgian and western knitting and felting techniques to provide reasonably priced souvenirs for the growing Georgian tourist industry. They also plan to sell the items produced to returned Peace Corps volunteers in the States. A local school has agreed to provide the venue for the project. Visit their site.
Gill and Bob have been collecting warm children’s clothing and children’s books from friends and thrift stores in England. They have a contact, Genette Dagtoglou, who can arrange free shipping of books to Tbilisi.
A summary of Project Borjomi activities:
* Teaching English two or three days a week in Borjomi schools
* Providing new blackboards and chairs for classrooms
* Helping a local NGO to create a web site
* Working with the local television station to create English programming
* Providing school books and warm clothing for IDP children
* Partnering with an NGO in a nearby town to provide free business training for IDP women
* Small business creation for IDP women
* Low interest micro-financing for small business
Ways you can help
$10 goes a long way:
* It can buy a set of school books for one subject (text, work, and test books)
* It can buy 4 warm winter jackets
* It can buy 4 balls of angora wool for the women’s workshop
* It can pay for a delivery from Tbilisi to Borjomi
$20 can go even further:* It can buy a new chair for the English classroom
* It can provide a complete set of clothing for a newborn
* It can pay for the translation of knitting patterns
* It can pay for the installation of two blackboards
Please send checks to the Megobari Foundation referencing Project Borjomi. Details for mailing checks is included on the right panel of The Megobari Project's blog. If you would like your money to go to a particular project, please mark your check appropriately.
Gill and Bob can be reached by email at gillandbob@earthlink.net. They also have blog describing their life in Georgia: gillandbobingeorgia@blogspot.com.
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