The Words of the Maksimov Family

Religious Youth Service Project to Take Place in Georgia

Vitaly Maksimov
March 22, 2012
UPF -- Georgia

When? July 21-30
Where? Samegrelo, Georgia
Contact: Vitaly Maksimov

Samegrelo, Georgia -- Building on the success of last July's Religious Youth Service project at an orphanage in Zugdidi, UPF-Georgia is organizing a project in that region of western Georgia from July 21 to 30.

During that first RYS project in Georgia, 20 participants and eight staff members from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cote d'Ivoire, Georgia, and Russia lived and worked together in Zugdidi, the capital of Samegrelo, as an interfaith and international community, helping at an orphanage

The peacemaking approach of RYS was highly appreciated by the partner organization, "Save the Future Generation," and the participants, and the city government and the orphanage would like to continue their involvement with RYS. The project also built connections with Georgia's Council of Religions operated by the Ombudsman in Tbilisi, the capital.

UPF's South Caucasus Peace Initiative promotes a culture of peace by building personal connections between people from enemy nations, such as Georgians and Russians and also Azerbaijanis, Armenians, and Turks. Project participants have carried letters and gifts back and forth between children in Georgia and Russia, and cultural programs in Yekaterinburg, Russia, have been introducing the rich diversity of Georgia's history, geography, language, films, music, and cuisine to Russians.

The July 2012 project will also take place in the Samegrelo region of western Georgia, on the Black Sea close to the border with Abkhazia. At various times over the centuries this region was part of the kingdom of Colchis and its successor, Egrisi; then it was an independent principality, part of the Russian empire, and part of the Soviet Union. In 1991, independence was restored to Georgia, of which Samegrelo is now part.

People of many ethnic groups and religious traditions inhabit the mountains and valleys of the Caucasus, leading to periodic geopolitical conflicts. In the two decades since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Samegrelo has suffered from the conflict between the Georgian government and their neighbors to the north in the disputed region of Abkhazia. The conflict, one of the bloodiest in post-Soviet history, has not been resolved. While Christianity and Islam are the major religions in the region, Christians are divided among the Georgian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, and the Armenian Apostolic Churches; the Muslims are divided among various Shi'a and Sunni groups.

Through Religious Youth Service, young people from diverse backgrounds living and working together for the greater good model the possibility of healing the divisions in the larger human family.

For more information email Vitaly Maksimov. 

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