Muskie [9]fellow Koba Grdzelishvili encountered many cultures while studying education at the University of Minnesota [10] and working as a camp counselor in Colorado. Since returning to Georgia, Grdzelishvili has participated in several events designed to bring together youth from different cultural backgrounds.
Azerbaijanis make up Georgia’s largest minority and comprise over 6% of the country’s total population.* Initially, Grdzelishvili and UGRAD [11] alumna Maka Alioghli organized a cultural day for Azerbaijani students living in Georgia to participate in forums with Georgian youth on cultural diversity, tolerance and co-existence. Building on that experience, Alioghli and Grdzelishvili recently worked with IREX to bring Azerbaijani youth to Tbilisi to interact with their Georgian peers. The Leadership Training for Cultural Integration project combined professional development training with cultural exchange and included a home stay component.
Q. How did you get involved in the Leadership Training for Cultural Integration?
A. After several small projects with these students, we thought this seminar would give them a theoretical basis for understanding and appreciating cultural differences among youth in Georgia. UGRAD alumna Maka Aliogli prepared the idea; her Azerbaijani background played an important role in this event.
Q. Why do you think it is important for Georgian and Azerbaijani students to interact?
A. We wanted to give both groups of youth a chance to share own individual and cultural selves with each other. As the Georgian state education system has recently started a few programs for ethnic minorities…we decided that this informal setting during the seminar, during the fieldtrips and at the Georgian students’ homes would provide both groups of students with a unique multicultural experience. Some of the participants said they were surprised at, yet happy to learn, the differences in speech, customs, and attitudes.
Q. Your training focused on cooperation through social interactions. How do social interactions help students to connect across cultures?
A. [We wanted] the students to “explore” each other as peers of the same age but also as fellow citizens, future colleagues, co-workers, neighbors with a different cultural, religious, language, and, possibly, educational backgrounds. That is why we asked the students in Tbilisi to host their Azerbaijani guests in their houses.
Q. How did your studies as a Muskie fellow help to prepare you for this type of work?
A. My professional and social circle during my study at the University of Minnesota and internship at a youth summer camp near Boulder, Colorado was very diverse. Interaction with my colleagues and friends has been the best teacher for me. Ever since then, building a professional environment of understanding, respect, and appreciation of diversity has been my priority.
Q. Do you have plans to continue encouraging student cultural exchange in the future?
A. Education for democracy and citizenship has been my professional interest for the last few years. A student exchange between culturally different schools is my next goal. I intend to search for more international resources for both contacts and funds to continue this friendship and cooperation across cultures.
The Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program [9] is administered by IREX and funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. [12]
*Source: CIA World Factbook [13]