we all Need Friends

Georgia is a nation in recovery…recovery from the Soviet era, and post-Soviet problems. It has been awhile: the Iron Curtain fell in 1990, Georgia joined the exodus in 1991, and it was another 10 years before chaos and corruption were brought under control. Societal change is generational, at least. It will take a few to shed the effects of that time.

I spoke with some of my Georgian co-workers and friends to get their impressions. Some reminiscences of the Soviet era are of the easy times, all memories of the 10-year interval were of the bad times, some seem to be a denial. Read on as I tell their stories, not as individuals, but as a collective memory.

we all Create

When we (the ‘we’ of the RPCVs of Madison) began working on the ‘we all Create’ Poster back in 2008, we were thinking of the creations of art and beauty. But here in Georgia, I had the opportunity to create something in nature, in a place of existing intense beauty. It seemed a presumption to go to this place: could I be part of a project to make nature better?? But it happened – I was part of a “create.”