From Zach in the Republic of Georgia

As I looked over T’blisi, Georgia from the airplane window all I saw was gray, gray, gray. A few new buildings had some color, but it was immediately apparent that the Soviets built most of the modern buildings - plain and and gray! After landing, I met up with an another instructor from kyrgzstan, a local Georgian pastor, his wife who just had abdominal surgery, and an international pastor, and we (5 of us) packed into a sedan and headed toward the city of Kutaisi. As we drove out of T'blisi we saw a few modern stores, the usual McDonalds, and a few squares and statues celebrating the history of the Georgian people and their independence from the USSR (since the early 90s). We traveled for about an hour on a smooth modern highway, but it later turned into a two lane country road that weaved through the mountains. Just before the sun went down we crossed a bridge that was only 26 km south of the Russian border and was where Russian tanks sat and fired upon the city during the war last fall. The road was worn and had potholes from the tank treads. After 4.5 hours of driving we descended from a mountainous region into the city of Kutaisi. We arrived at the accomodations, which are humble, but liveable. Clothes hang from balconies and in the concrete stairwell up to our 7th floor apartment. It has plain, worn concrete steps but some people have a few individual pieces of tile right outside of their apartments. The elevator is broken. Outside in the streets and grassy areas there are roaming chickens, stray dogs, and an occasional cow wandering. Our first morning of teaching was a bit chaotic. The conference was supposed to start at 9 am, but finally started at 10:30 once everyone arrived. The attendees are women from the local community of believers, and refugees from the initial revolution in the early 90s and also from the recent war. Also, 3 local doctors showed up. The doctors heard that there was a medical conference, and were eager to come. They were initially aggitated that we were trying to teach very basic subjects, saying that everyone knew the information we were covering. But, they soon realized that the women didn’t know the information and some of it was even new to them.
The two nurses I am teaching with covered the intent of the program, giving general health information (kind of like a “Health” class in grade or high school) that can then be used by the women to teach other refugees and those in need. In addition, their teaching opportunities serve as a platform to share their faith and grow the local community of believers. The topics being covered by the female nurses are basic anatomy and physiology of reproduction, family planning methods, fetal growth and development, pregnancy and labor, and breast self exams. I am teaching on basic positioning and care of handicapped children and adults, basic arthritis prevention and care, and proper posture and body mechanics to help with low back pain. Finally an international pastor will talk on the spiritual guidelines of a happy/healthy family. After we have all presented, the women (14 total) will team up and pick a topic to present back to the group demonstrating that they have learned the material. During this time the international pastor will meet with some local pastors to help them define a vision for growing the community of believers here. These men are strong believers, growing in faith even during the communist controlled time, sometimes risking their lives to share. More to come from Georgia....