Monday, June 1, 2009

Here I go again...

It has been nearly a year since I last posted. It also happens to be nearly a year since I had an adventure.

But that's about to change.

In just a couple of weeks, I will be arriving in... yup, you guessed it, Tbilisi, Georgia. This time, I will be traveling to Georgia as a summer intern for a humanitarian and developmental aid NGO. I am still somewhat short on details for exactly what I will be doing, but from what I know, some of my responsibilities will include evaluating their programs (which include: A school lunch program, food distribution program for refugees from last year's war, HIV/AIDS awareness, and an agricultural development program, among others) and writing articles for their newsletter.

When I left Georgia at the end of March last year, I didn't think I would be coming back for at least another two years. But even though only 14 1/2 months have passed since I last set foot on Georgia, Georgia has changed a lot. Yes, there was a war last August. But the crisis in Georgia has anything but abated. There have been nonstop street protests in Tbilisi since April 9. The protesters are demanding that President Saakashvili resign. Recently, the protesters have taken to disrupting daily life in any way. A week or so ago, they shut down Tbilisi's train station, and later threatened to shut down the airport... Let's just hope my plane gets to land when I arrive on June 21st!

It looks like I'm going to have an interesting summer!

3 comments:

laura c. said...

Yay! I am so excited for you! Keep me updated on politics, social life and all the good stuff in Georgia!

Anonymous said...

Wondrous to hear from you again. I just came back from 13 or so days in Georgia [Tbilisi, Sighnaghi, Telavi & Kazbegi] -- wondrous. A marvellous and inspiring place.

Ryan Erickson said...

Isn't Georgia just amazing? I keep coming back, as I'm sure you will too.