FROM GEORGIA TO GEORGIA, AGENCY SENDS
MEDICAL AID TO BELEAGURED REPUBLIC
Gainesville, GA -- A 40-foot shipping container of medical equipment and supplies left a Gainesville warehouse on Saturday, Dec. 13, destined for the Port of Savannah to be loaded on a ship heading to the Port of Poti in the Republic of Georgia.
The humanitarian aid shipment from the people of Georgia, USA to the people of the Republic of Georgia is a project of Conscience International, headed by its founder and president, Dr. James E. Jennings, a Gainesville resident. (See feature article in the Gainesville Times, October 21, 2008). The container of supplies and equipment was donated by Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville with logistics facilitation by Cornerstone Ministries.
The project follows a September undertaking by Conscience International team members Dr. Jennings and C I Director of Logistics Al Nixon, who traveled to the Republic of Georgia to deliver $25,000 worth of medicine to the Gori Pediatric hospital and to assess current and future needs of the displaced population affected by the invasion of Russian troops this past summer.
"The existing hospital is one of the worst I have ever seen," reported Dr. Jennings, who travels regularly on humanitarian medical missions and is witness to some of the most dangerous and devastating conditions in war zones and disaster areas. While in the Republic of Georgia, Conscience International also purchased additional medicines for allocation in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, distributed medicines and supplies to the refugee camp in Gori, and hired trucks to carry Mercy flight relief supplies to several villages.
This time, the goodwill shipment is destined for the new Gori Pediatric and Obstetrics Hospital, which currently sits empty and unoccupied due to lack of much-needed equipment. Ironically, Gori is the birthplace of former Russian Dictator Josef Stalin, who presided over the murder of millions of his own people. Georgia is now an independent democratic nation formed in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, Russia invaded the Republic this past summer intent on pulling the country back into Russian control. Now some 160,000 displaced people are trying to survive under austere winter conditions in a refugee camp.
"The people in the Gori camp are in a sad condition," said Dr. Jennings. "Many spent weeks hiding in the fields with nothing but the clothes on their backs. There were a lot of human rights violations, as well as looting, destruction of houses, and burning of fields and forests by partisans. Now winter is coming and there's little likelihood that most of the refugees will ever be able to return to their homes. Some of the refugees, especially the old women, told us, weeping, "When you have peace you take it for granted and think nothing of it, but when it is absent, you realize that nothing is more important!"
Conscience International hopes to send additional containers to finish the job of furnishing Gori’s much-needed obstetric-pediatric hospital. "That’s what we intend to do if funding becomes available," Dr. Jennings said. "We have the wind at our back on this project, a contrast to the usual struggle with a hostile government that we often encounter. The Republic of Georgia is a democratic country and an ally of the United States. They desperately need our help."
MEDICAL AID TO BELEAGURED REPUBLIC
Gainesville, GA -- A 40-foot shipping container of medical equipment and supplies left a Gainesville warehouse on Saturday, Dec. 13, destined for the Port of Savannah to be loaded on a ship heading to the Port of Poti in the Republic of Georgia.
The humanitarian aid shipment from the people of Georgia, USA to the people of the Republic of Georgia is a project of Conscience International, headed by its founder and president, Dr. James E. Jennings, a Gainesville resident. (See feature article in the Gainesville Times, October 21, 2008). The container of supplies and equipment was donated by Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville with logistics facilitation by Cornerstone Ministries.
The project follows a September undertaking by Conscience International team members Dr. Jennings and C I Director of Logistics Al Nixon, who traveled to the Republic of Georgia to deliver $25,000 worth of medicine to the Gori Pediatric hospital and to assess current and future needs of the displaced population affected by the invasion of Russian troops this past summer.
"The existing hospital is one of the worst I have ever seen," reported Dr. Jennings, who travels regularly on humanitarian medical missions and is witness to some of the most dangerous and devastating conditions in war zones and disaster areas. While in the Republic of Georgia, Conscience International also purchased additional medicines for allocation in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, distributed medicines and supplies to the refugee camp in Gori, and hired trucks to carry Mercy flight relief supplies to several villages.
This time, the goodwill shipment is destined for the new Gori Pediatric and Obstetrics Hospital, which currently sits empty and unoccupied due to lack of much-needed equipment. Ironically, Gori is the birthplace of former Russian Dictator Josef Stalin, who presided over the murder of millions of his own people. Georgia is now an independent democratic nation formed in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, Russia invaded the Republic this past summer intent on pulling the country back into Russian control. Now some 160,000 displaced people are trying to survive under austere winter conditions in a refugee camp.
"The people in the Gori camp are in a sad condition," said Dr. Jennings. "Many spent weeks hiding in the fields with nothing but the clothes on their backs. There were a lot of human rights violations, as well as looting, destruction of houses, and burning of fields and forests by partisans. Now winter is coming and there's little likelihood that most of the refugees will ever be able to return to their homes. Some of the refugees, especially the old women, told us, weeping, "When you have peace you take it for granted and think nothing of it, but when it is absent, you realize that nothing is more important!"
Conscience International hopes to send additional containers to finish the job of furnishing Gori’s much-needed obstetric-pediatric hospital. "That’s what we intend to do if funding becomes available," Dr. Jennings said. "We have the wind at our back on this project, a contrast to the usual struggle with a hostile government that we often encounter. The Republic of Georgia is a democratic country and an ally of the United States. They desperately need our help."
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