14
EDUCATION
GEORGIA TODAY
FEBRUARY 2016
Helping the IDPs: One Student’s Story BY TINATIN MESKHI
E
very child has the right to be protected from harm. These rights are among the ones set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Agencies such as UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) are committed, in Georgia and world-wide, to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children- victims of war, disaster, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation, and those with disabilities. In Georgia in the early 1990s, the wars in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions resulted in the displacement of over half a million people. More displacement happened in 2008 after the August War with Russia. The majority of ethnic Georgians who left Abkhazia and then Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, have not been able to go back. The Ministry for Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia (MRA) says there were 256,528 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Georgia as of 31st December 2010, of which 65,412 were under the age of 18. Most IDPs come from Abkhazia and over 60% live in the cities of Tbilisi, Zugdidi and Kutaisi. Internally Displaced Children are now living in very bad conditions. After the 2008 war, the Government of Georgia quickly realized that returning the IDPs might not
be possible in the near future and that they needed to do something to help the IDPs integrate into local society and to improve their living conditions. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and UNICEF helped a lot. IDPs get money every month from the Social Services Agency (SSA). Most children displaced as a result of the war in August 2008 were enrolled in new schools within three months. On 19-21st October 2015, this author organized a three-day football tournament and ‘cake sales’ in her school to raise money for IDP children, with the help of a lot of volunteers. The funds raised (500 GEL) were given to the No2 IDP school in Vashlijvari. The author also visited the school to meet the director, Nana Jalagonia, to talk about conditions and problems within the school. At the school there are 28 certified and qualified teachers. Pupils there study the Georgian curriculum. From Grade 10 they can also study in the Aphazian language if they want. The school is small, occupying just one floor, and is attended by 107 students of which 77 are IDPs from Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As the director said, the mix of IDPs and local students is important for the IDPs to better integrate and to feel at home in society. Director Jalagonia wants to make the lives of these children a little easier through her school and students. On the second floor of the school was the place where the IDP children were living (after displace-
What’s That? Protected – made someone feel safe Harm – hurt, damage Ensuring – making sure, promise Exploitation – from exploit: to use someone (for example, to do hard work) for little or no payment Displacement – from displace: to force people to leave an area where they live for another place Integrate – enter and be a part of Funds – money collected
www.guardian.com ment). Over 10 families had to share one bathroom. The school, as Director Jalagonia rightly points out, is their life. THE AUTHOR SAYS: “I’ll never forget the happiness of the school director. I know that 500 GEL is nothing for these people, but I think knowing that there is someone who wants to help them is very important. We (myself and my school-mates) went into every class and saw the kind, happy and thankful faces as the children who heard about my own school and how it had raised money for them. While
talking to them, I thought I was talking to students who were being educated in the most expensive schools. Despite the poverty of their current ‘home,’ they had something special- the richest imagination and steady belief in the future. I hope that our school contribution will be supported by other organizations and I do believe that other schools will follow our steps to help the No.2 IDP School in Vashlijvari. Tinatin Meskhi is a 10th Grade student at the New School International School of Georgia. She participated in the 5th Platon School Model United Nations conference in Athens (Greece) on Children’s Rights in the 21st Century.
Info Box UNHCR- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950. The agency aims to protect the rights and well-being of refugees worldwide. In Georgia it, amongst other things, advises the Georgian government and IDPs. UNICEF- The United Nations Children’s Fund works with the government and the UNHCR to develop policies and programs to ensure the survival, protection and development of children. They “work for a world in which every child has a fair chance in life.”
Food for Thought Do you know any IDPs or IDP children? How could you help them? Is the government doing enough? If not, how could they do more?