Georgia: The bishop, the art school and the conflict zone

Source: Eurasianet

September 6, 2021

The Nikozi Art School offers local students a variety of courses after the end of the regular school day. (Julien Pebrel/MYOP) The Nikozi Art School offers local students a variety of courses after the end of the regular school day. (Julien Pebrel/MYOP)     

In the village of Zemo Nikozi, reminders of the 2008 war are hard to hide. Walls are pocked by bullets and shrapnel; a unit of Georgian soldiers is stationed in the cemetery behind a barricade of tires. A few hundred meters north stands a post manned by Russian and South Ossetian armed forces.

The ongoing tension has exacerbated the exodus common to most rural areas in Georgia: According to census figures, the village’s population decreased from 1,053 in 2004 to 643 a decade later.

But help for Zemo Nikozi has come from an unlikely source. The region’s Georgian Orthodox bishop has established an art school and international animation festival in the village.  

“Bishop Isaiah convinced us to stay in Nikozi for the kids’ education,” said one resident, Pelagia Gvaradze, 42, a mother of six. Gvaradze and her family were forced to flee from their home in a nearby village, Achabeti. But that village ended up on the other side of the de facto border that emerged following the 2008 war, so the family moved into her parents’ home – itself damaged in the war.

... Read the rest at Eurasianet.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

9/7/2021

Comments
Here you can leave your comment on the present article, not exceeding 4000 characters. All comments will be read by the editors of OrthoChristian.Com.
Enter through FaceBook
Your name:
Your e-mail:
Enter the digits, seen on picture:

Characters remaining: 4000

Subscribe
to our mailing list

* indicates required
×