Georgia on our mind
Posted by Stephen Rhodes
Denis and Irene Stephenson spoke to our club last week about the ongoing need for support of women in Georgia, formerly part of the Soviet Union.
Last year the club donated a laptop computer to help the Women's Centre keep track of breast cancer patients. Now the centre needs a multi-media projector to use in rural villages where women need to be taught breast self-examination, says Irene.
"There is great concern in Georgia for women in rural areas, who seldom see a doctor."
Denis has travelled to Georgia twice as a volunteer with a Canadian Executive Services organization (CESCO).The organization, funded by CIDA, sends various people to developing nations for two to six weeks.
"Young people in Georgia are well educated, particularly in technological fields, but they don't have much business experience. So you have qualified people but there is no work," says Denis.
In the capital of Tbilisi, there are power outages everyday. Water is shut off every night. And in the rural areas it's worse.
The population of Georgia is 5 million. They have their own language and alphabet and they are "fiercely independent" of Russia, Denis says.
"When Georgia was part of the Soviet empire they traded in tea and heavy industry but in 1990 when they broke away they lost their industry to the Russians and they lost the Russian markets,leaving them desperately poor with no infrastructure."
Civil war in 1991-92 further complicated their situation and government corruption makes things even worse.
"There is great concern in Georgia for women in rural areas, who seldom see a doctor."
Denis has travelled to Georgia twice as a volunteer with a Canadian Executive Services organization (CESCO).The organization, funded by CIDA, sends various people to developing nations for two to six weeks.
"Young people in Georgia are well educated, particularly in technological fields, but they don't have much business experience. So you have qualified people but there is no work," says Denis.
In the capital of Tbilisi, there are power outages everyday. Water is shut off every night. And in the rural areas it's worse.
The population of Georgia is 5 million. They have their own language and alphabet and they are "fiercely independent" of Russia, Denis says.
"When Georgia was part of the Soviet empire they traded in tea and heavy industry but in 1990 when they broke away they lost their industry to the Russians and they lost the Russian markets,leaving them desperately poor with no infrastructure."
Civil war in 1991-92 further complicated their situation and government corruption makes things even worse.