Israeli groups bring relief to Gori

IsraAID among organizers aiding displaced locals in war-torn Georgia.

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
israaid 224.88 (photo credit: )
israaid 224.88
(photo credit: )
Israeli aid organizations have established several operations in the war-torn areas of Georgia seeking to aid tens of thousands of locals displaced by the fighting with Russia last month. Among the aid organizers is IsraAID, an umbrella organization of dozens of Israeli humanitarian groups. A member group, Israel Flying Aid, has opened a soup kitchen in the town of Gori that produces 3,000 cooked meals a day. Gori entered the international spotlight in mid-August as Russian tanks captured the town. It is now home to an estimated 65,000 refugees, approximately half of whom are ethnic Georgians who fled South Ossetia once the fighting began, while the rest either saw their homes destroyed in the fighting in Gori or abandoned homes in the "buffer zone" - a swath of land north of the town which Russian forces continue to occupy. The Israel Flying Aid kitchen is based in a refugee camp in Gori, which houses 5,000 of the displaced people, the remainder being scattered throughout the city. "The refugees are being housed in kindergartens, schools and unused or abandoned public buildings," said Alan Schneider, director of B'nai B'rith's World Center in Jerusalem, who returned from Gori last week. "The debris is still being removed, and we saw buildings that had been bombed from the air. Some were already being rebuilt." The housing problem is expected to grow worse with the start of the school year in Gori. Those who fled the buffer zone area will remain in Gori at least until mid-October, when, according to a deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian troops are expected to redeploy from that area to South Ossetia. The kitchen is run by Israeli chef Ilan Roberg, aided by 10 volunteers and 15 of the displaced Georgians, who are paid for their help in preparing the food. The group has also distributed hundreds of large packages of dry foodstuffs throughout the city. Some members of the team are working on post-trauma programs in the camp. The goal of the aid, says Shachar Zehavi, director of IsraAID, is "to show that Israeli civilian aid can get anywhere and help anyone in need, and that the Jewish people and Israel are among the first to help." According to Schneider, the refugees the group has met lack basic facilities "like showers, hot water. They sleep on makeshift cots. Some told us their homes were destroyed or that the Russians were housing troops in their homes. They fear for their possessions." Another Israeli aid group, I Relief, has been in the Gori camp for weeks. Its team includes seven experts in trauma treatment, art therapy, medicine and education. They have spent their time training local educators and social workers, conducting trauma programs for war-weary locals and distributing aid in cooperation with Jewish Agency and JDC emissaries. The Israeli aid is almost entirely private, but official Israel has also taken small steps to help Georgia. Two weeks ago an official Knesset delegation visited the Israeli aid projects in Gori. The four-member delegation was headed by MK Avraham Michaeli (Shas), who chairs the Israel-Georgia parliamentary friendship group and is himself a Georgian oleh. Michaeli was instrumental in bringing 19 wounded Georgian soldiers to Israel for treatment in Israeli hospitals. The other members of the delegation represented all three major parties: MKs Yuli Edelstein (Likud), Otniel Schneller (Kadima) and Leon Litinetski (Labor). Much work is still to be done, according to the Israeli relief workers. B'nai B'rith is currently examining ways to help resolve the housing problem, while I Relief has asked for donations to sustain and expand its work in Gori. While some other international groups were present the majority of aid groups appeared to be absent, said Schneider. "I didn't see there what you see in other disaster situations, such as Chad or Sri Lanka - a plethora of international organizations and lots of different national flags flying." He speculated that aid organizations think "this will end soon, when the Russians leave and the bulk of the people will go back to their villages." Until that happens, however, thousands of daily meals and supplies, along with post-trauma support and other aid is on the ground in Georgia, courtesy of enterprising Israelis.