August 25, 2008

Several organizations, including World Vision and Project HOPE have been serving on the frontlines in Russia. They are actively aiding many people who have been involved in the Georgia conflict by engaging in humanitarian efforts and providing medical supplies.

In regard to most recent efforts, as reported by Dwayne Mamo, Communications Manager, World Vision Georgia on Aug. 21, “World Vision is calling for a ceasefire to be honored by both sides and to allow humanitarian access to those who remain in need. Just recently we have been able to deliver emergency supplies to the previously inaccessible city of Gori, but South Ossetia remains too dangerous for humanitarian agencies to access.”

In describing the situation there, he said, “We have seen thousands of people, especially women and children, fleeing the violence in South Ossetia and Gori, and coming here to Tbilisi. Unfortunately, a lot of families have been separated. In some cases, fathers and sons stayed behind while the mothers and young children sought safety. Now many of these people don't know where their loved ones are or if they are okay.”

World Vision in Georgia is responding to the urgent needs of displaced people by distributing food in cooperation with the World Food Program. Mamo said the organization is also distributing non-food-items such as hygiene kits, as well as providing medical supplies to Tbilisi’s main hospital.

“Our recent delivery to Gori consisted of 10-day food rations for 1,000 people. World Vision plans to help close to 48,000 displaced people in over 300 collection centers in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. To date, we have provided food to over 10,500 displaced persons and non-food items to over 6,000. World Vision is currently working in partnership with the UN and other agencies carrying out needs assessments in all the centers in Tbilisi, with a special focus on the needs of children,” Mamo said.

World Vision teams in the Russian Federation are also helping those who have fled to North Ossetia. World Vision is providing medical supplies such as bandages, crutches, pain relievers, syringes and antibiotics to the wounded through partners. They are also planning to open Child Friendly Spaces where affected children can come and interact with other children and re-establish a sense of normalcy in their lives.

“As a Christian humanitarian agency, World Vision's goal is to respond when there is human suffering. As a result of this conflict, many people have experienced terrible things and have been left with very few resources of their own. World Vision is able to help provide some of those resources. We want to do all that we can to help these people,” said Mamo.

Yet, there are still difficult days ahead in regard to the immediate future of those who have been involved in the conflict.

“I can tell you that these families, these women and children, will need a lot of help to rebuild their lives. Houses have been razed, children have seen neighbors killed, families have been torn apart. These experiences leave emotional scars that last a lifetime. For many, the immediate outlook is bleak,” Mamo said.

He continued, “Taking part in the distributions myself, I have personally seen the effect that World Vision's relief work is having. We are meeting the immediate, physical needs of thousands of people. You have to remember, many of them fled their homes and left everything behind, so they lack even basic supplies. We are able to provide some of those supplies for them and hopefully sustain them and help them get back on their feet. And I've also seen the emotional impact of our work. In a crisis like this where people have witnessed a lot of violence, the simple fact that we care about them and are working to help them lets them know that they are loved.”

World Vision has been in Georgia since 1994, and currently has 155 permanent staff in Georgia working on a variety of relief, rehabilitation and development initiatives. Additionally, they have worked in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation since 1995, including peacebuilding and economic recovery projects in North Ossetia. The organization has also worked in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Orenburg.

Project HOPE, an international organization with a fifty-year history of helping make health care better for people around the globe by effectively and efficiently providing medical supplies and medicines, is also involved in the relief efforts.

The U.S. Department of State coordinated the humanitarian aid drop to the Republic of Georgia, and asked Project HOPE and other non-governmental organizations (NGO) to help by sending medicines to help the injured and wounded.

Project HOPE has worked with the U.S. State Department on many occasions in the past and the State Department asked if their organization could also help in this situation. The medicine supplied will help prevent illness or infection due to the conflict.

“Project HOPE has sent over $400,000 in antibiotics to Georgia, nearly 4,000 bottles of liquid antibiotics. Bristol-Myers Squibb donated the medicine to Project HOPE as part of an inventory to be made available when a humanitarian crisis arose,” said Marisol Euceda, media representative for Project HOPE.

The medication will help prevent some of the infections that people could contract in a war-like environment. This shipment arrived to Georgia on Aug. 13.

“Just before the conflict in Georgia commenced a humanitarian assistance shipment of more than $1.4 million of medicines and medical supplies donated by Project HOPE, working in conjunction with the American Friends of Georgia, had been delivered to Georgia. Access to the supplies was then cut off and Project HOPE and the American Friends of Georgia are exploring ways to reach the shipment and may redirect the supplies to assist in conflict relief efforts. It is unclear if the shipment is safe or if it was looted since it was in town occupied by Russian soldiers,” Euceda said.

Since 1992, Project HOPE has provided more than $63 million of humanitarian assistance to the people of Georgia. Nearly one year ago, Project HOPE provided more than $8 million of medicines and medical supplies as part of a Department of State airlift. The medicines and supplies were distributed to five hospitals in the Tbilisi area.

Another organization, Medical Teams International, in partnership with Project HOPE was also in the process of preparing an additional shipment of supplies, when they were informed late in the week that shipments have been put on hold.

On Aug. 18, Medical Teams International had announced that the organization was preparing more than $100,000 in medical supplies to airship to families caught in the conflict between Russia and the former soviet republic of Georgia. On Aug. 21, Project HOPE informed Medical Teams International that the State Department flights to Georgia are now on our hold.

According to reports, Georgia has been flooded with medicines and medical supplies from European countries and the Georgian Ministry of Health is trying to keep with inventorying and distributing the products before more flights come in.

“The shipment has been put on hold, so the supplies haven’t left our warehouse,” said Barbara Agnew, media representative for Medical Teams International. “We will keep the antibiotics, pain relievers and other emergency supplies in our warehouse until we hear an update from Project HOPE.”

Georgia, which borders Russia, is a former Soviet republic. It declared its independence in 1991 after the collapse of communism.

The conflict began when Georgia launched a military strike on the province of South Ossetia, as an aim to reclaim it after 16 years of semi-independence. In response, Russia sent in troops and armored tanks.

Fighting broke out Aug. 8 between Russia and the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

Prior to that time, relations between Moscow and Georgia were tense because Moscow continually tries to reassert influence over its bordering nations, while Georgia has aligned itself with the West.

Since the fighting began, The United States, NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called for a halt in hostilities and urged Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia to seek a more peaceful resolution.

CNN reported on Aug. 22, that Russian troops are in the final phase of their withdrawal from Georgian territory. A Russian military spokesman said it would be completed by late Friday,

Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Russian troops are in full compliance with the cease-fire agreement. He confirmed that Russia's military had suspended cooperation with NATO because of the rift over its actions in Georgia.

According to reports, the number of casualties has not been yet been released. There are conflicting reports in regard to the actual number of deaths.