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Online Forum Facilitates Fundraising for Life-Saving Surgery in Georgia

Teona Chelidze, 15, received
life-saving brain surgery after her
sister posted a message to the Public
Defender of Georgia in an IATP online
forum

An online forum hosted through the USAID-funded, IREX-administered Internet Access and Training Program (IATP) recently connected the family of an internally displaced child suffering from brain cancer in Telavi, Georgia, with a public official in the capital Tbilisi. The forum connected the family with those who could locate money for life-saving surgery.

In 2007, IREX partnered with the Christian Youth Association to conduct the forum, dedicated to addressing the problems of displaced youth from the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  Abkhazia and South Ossetia are zones of ethno-political conflict and de facto independent republics with no international recognition.  Thousands of refugees from both regions have been resettled in other regions of Georgia.

The guest on the forum was Public Defender of Georgia Sozar Subari. While answering numerous questions of the online audience, Subari noticed a question from Tamuna Chelidze of Telavi. Tamuni explained that her family was originally from Abkhazia, and they moved to Telavi to escape the Civil War in 1995. She said that her 15-year-old sister, Teona Chelidze, had brain cancer, and their family could not afford the surgery. Tamuna was an active user of the Telavi IATP center who learned about this forum from the administrator of the center and decided to post a message asking for assistance.

The Office of the Public Defender of Georgia provides juridical assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) in need. Because this was a health issue, Subari could not provide direct assistance, but he responded by raising the critical issue with donor organizations functioning in Georgia with whom his office had worked. These efforts eventually saved the girl’s life, as the Open Society Georgia Foundation allocated $1,850 for the surgery in Tbilisi.  After she recovered, Teona’s family thanked IATP for their role in enabling Teona to live a healthy teenage life and build plans for the future.

July 2008

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