GZAAT Grade 11s Raise Money to Support Village Near Tskhinvali Region

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EDUCATION

GEORGIA TODAY

APRIL 2019

GZAAT Grade 11s Raise Money to Support Village Near Tskhinvali Region

BY KETEVAN KVARATSKHELIYA

T

he Guivy Zaldastanshvili American Academy in Tbilisi (GZAAT) is one of the best educational institutions in Georgia, guaranteeing a high-quality education and brilliant academic future for its students and being distinguished for its great sense of social responsibility. The Academy often engages in various social projects or initiates them itself, contributing to the formation of developed and responsible individuals and life-long learners. One of the most recent activities was organized by the students of the 11th grade of GZAAT. The socalled creeping occupation of Russia in the regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), repre-

sents one of the most painful problems for the Georgian nation. The residents of the occupied territories are deprived of access to the facilities needed to live comfortably and well, yet they firmly resist the suppressive regime and refuse to leave their homes. Inspired by their courage and moral strength, the GZAAT students decided to use their resources and give a helping hand to the locals of the Akhali-Khurvaleti village, located adjacent to the occupied region of Tskhinvali, and organized a charity event. The initiative was joined by a great number of volunteers: a sales-exhibition brought together multiple works of contemporary painters and handmade items; the GZAAT band played music at the event and an auction for the paintings of prominent Georgian artists was held to raise money. With joint energy, courage, dedi-

cation, hard work and mutual aspirations, the youngsters managed to organize a wonderful charity evening in limited time and still get fruitful results, collecting 15,000 GEL, which will be used to help those living in Akhali-Khurvaleti. “We always had the creeping occupation and its negative results very much in mind,” GZAAT student and one of the event organizers, Ana Kostava, told us. “We wanted to somehow help the residents of the region and give them some relief in their difficult lives. That’s how the idea of organizing a charity event was born.” “There were three students, includ-

paintings at the auction and collect an impressive amount of money, over 15,000 GEL. The interest of public and media was high, which as a result contributed to the success of the event,” she said. GEORGIA TODAY asked her how the money will be spent. “We are actively communicating with one of the locals of Khurvaleti, who helps us to set the priorities. Some residents of the local charity home for elderly people have problems moving about, so we already sent funds for the installation of a platform-lift which will help to solve this problem. We also have a special list of the needs of the village pop-

ing myself, in charge of the organization of the charity event. At the inception it was relatively small in scale and took place only within the limits of our school. We could never imagine that so many people would support us and engage in the project. We started our initiative by collecting different items and calling on our friends to make donations. However, we soon saw that it was possible to expand it and started contacting different startups and telling them about our aspirations.” Ana recalls how exciting it was to see the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs to help the residents of Khurvaleti by donating their products for the sales-exhibition. “After the successful collaboration with the startups, we took one more step forward and decided to involve various painters in our project. As a result, we were able to present 15

ulation, according to which we have purchased various items and clothes for the children and adults which are not available on the territory of Khurvaleti. We’re going to have those items distributed by the Easter holidays,” Kostava told us.


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