On March 8, we held an action in yellow-blue colors, with mimosas, daffodils, appeals, and banners. The Women's Fund "Sukhumi," all activists and representatives of partner NGOs, were standing on the steps of the Kutaisi Theater. The action was covered by all the media in Georgia.
Videos were made as a sign of solidarity.
We have held solidarity meetings in the municipalities of western Georgia.
We have helped the women from the occupied city of Melotopol. We sent them 55800 UAH (hryvnia), and there, women volunteers bought food and medicines for the citizens.
Since April, when the first refugees from Ukraine appeared in Georgia, we have created a support group and started helping them.
A chat for Ukrainians was created - this is a platform for communication, an opportunity to learn about their needs, problems and share their emotions. The chat provides them with all necessary information. The chat has more than 250 members.
We distribute packages with the necessary products and hygiene items. If there are children in the family, we add diapers and baby food. In cases of necessity, we buy medicines, glasses, warm blankets, heating appliances, and school supplies for children...
We help with housing rent, cover utility bills, and finance medical procedures (surgery, oncology treatment).
Some figures for illustration:
We have assisted 407 people (196 women, 149 children and 62 men). 88 Ukrainians out of them have already left our country and 319 are still here. 23 families received assistance in payment for accommodation, 9 families received payment for utilities (several times), two women were paid half the cost of operations (both cancer patients), three of them were paid for procedures prescribed by an oncologist (chemotherapy,medical examinations, radiation therapy). Medicines for children and adults were also purchased.
88 Ukrainians have already left our country, and 319 are here, most of them - 308 people live in Kutaisi, and the rest 99 - in different municipalities (Zestaponi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Bagdati, Tkibuli, Tsalenjikha, Poti, Senaki, Zugdidi, Samtredia. One couple of pensioners in our base are from Tbilisi - we helped them with accommodation costs).
In September, 3600 GEL (up to 1300 USD) were collected in two days for the Kovalenko family, and five people were sent to Ukraine.
Ukrainian refugees receive free psychological assistance. We hired two Ukrainian psychologists (Marina from Kyiv and Anya from Kherson). They conduct therapy with our psychologist for everyone, including children.
On our initiative, Kutaisi City Hall issued personal travel cards to refugees.Now they are working on one-time cash payments for children. Three women were employed in a garment factory, one in a laundry.
We also help with employment and those who wish to study Georgian or English.
We participate in meetings and hold talks with everyone who can help Ukrainians.
Now there are 409 people in our database.
We invite women from Ukraine to our events.
In our office we organized a day of Georgian cuisine for them and then helped them to organize a day of Ukrainian cuisine
On June 20, the International Day of IDPs and Refugees, they were with us. On August 24, the Independence Day of Ukraine was celebrated in Kutaisi.
In Ukraine, according to tradition, the New Year's holiday begins on December 19, the day of St. Nicholas. Therefore, we arranged a friendship day on this day and gave gifts to the children.
We believe it is necessary to tell the stories of women who have suffered as a result of the war and its consequences. To this end, in March, we started the blog "Women from Ukraine" on our web page.https://blogofwomanfundsukhumi.tilda.ws/
The main characters are women from Kherson, Chuguev, Kyiv, Kharkov, Berdiansk, Vinnitsa...There are already 18 sketches in the blog about women who dream of peace and returning home...
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)