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IsraAID members coalition feeds thousands of internal displaced people in Georgia
Georgia, Sep 2008
IsraAID members coalition feeds thousands of internal displaced people in Georgia
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IsraAID - The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid - a coalition of Israeli and Jewish humanitarian organizations dedicated to helping those in need in developing countries by offering relief aid and long term sustainable development programs - has recently established a project to provide hot meals to thousands of Georgian refugees in and around Gori, the regional capital of central Georgia.
Tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians were displaced from their homes in South Ossetia and in the so-called "buffer zone" in the fighting last month between Russian and Georgian forces.
Five thousand refugees are concentrated in a camp established by the Red Cross in Gori while another estimated 60,000 have been lodged around the city in temporary facilities located in schools, kindergartens and other public buildings.
The operation in Gori is being implemented by Israel Flying Aid (IFA) - an IsraAID member organization and supported by various donors such as B'nai B'rith International and other private and institutional partners.
On the first day of operations, IFA director and Israeli Chef Ilan Roberg in partnership with local Chefs prepared 2,000 individually-packaged meals with the help of ten IFA volunteers from Israel and 15 locally-hired paid staff, some of whom are refugees who lost loved ones in the recent conflict.
The IsraAID/IFA team reached Gori on September 5 and served its first meal three days later after setting up camp in a wedding hall under renovation at the entrance to Gori.
200 refugees were fed on site while the remaining 1,800 servings were distributed by truck to ten concentrations of refugees around the city and its outskirts until 11 p.m. At the request of the authorities in Gori, the output reached its capacity on Tuesday when 3,000 hot meals were prepared and distributed to those in need. The IsraAID/IFA team also included two counselors who worked with refugee children to relieve post trauma.
B'nai B'rith World Center director Alan Schneider a board member of IsraAID, who traveled with the team and helped distribute the meals, reported that the encounters with the refugees were moving and heartfelt.
The refugees were genuinely grateful to receive the Israeli aid, some saying that they fully expected Israel and the Jewish world would come to their assistance due to the millennium-long close and friendly relationship between the two peoples.
Some told that their homes in South Ossetia and the Russian-declared "buffer zone" were either destroyed or occupied by Russian troops and their possessions looted. They were very apprehensive about what they will find if and when they will be permitted to return to their homes. Some refugees reported that they were lacking basic necessities such as soap and cloths.
A delegating of Israeli members of Knesset led by Georgian-born Avraham Michaeli (Shas), Chairman of the Israel-Georgia Parliamentary Friendship League, visited the IsraAID/IFA kitchen on Tuesday, Sept. 9 and expressed great appreciation to the Israeli team and other local partners who made the operation possible. Other members of the mission included Deputy Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud), Leon Litinetsky (Labor) and Othniel Schneller (Kadima).
For more information please contact Shachar Zahavi at: szahavi@hotmail.com
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