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Plane Truth
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Author: By Tony Hanmer
I’m going to move away from Georgian and Svan themes this week and concentrate on memorable airplane journeys in my life. There have been a few, as by the time I was 4 years old I had lived on the continents of Europe (UK), North America (Canada) and Africa (Rhodesia).
There was a little Cessna that we took a local flight in Rhodesia. Maybe an 8-seater maximum. This is the first plane trip which I actually remember taking; I must have been about 7 years old, not more than 8. There had been several much longer flights on full-size passenger jets before this, but they’re lost to me. To see the ground slip away under us in this fashion was a thrill. The world opened up around us and we were in the third dimension.
Lufthansa... was the airline which took us from Rhodesia back to Canada when I was 10. This is the first time I can remember being in a jumbo jet, a 747 - it was even a double-decker. The takeoff force pressing me against my seat, at that age, was a monster hand against which, laughing, to fight back. And the disappointing raindrops on the windows were also forced back, away, into oblivion. Even the clouds weren’t a barrier, as we roared above them to sunshine. For a child in the Wonder Years nothing could be better. Security was still very much pre-9/11, and we were free to roam about the huge metal tube and even have a look at the cockpit, massively complicated room of electronic activity. Two long flights, from Salisbury to Frankfurt and then to Toronto, but I wasn’t bored in the slightest. I must have had some decent sleep, too - at the size I was, this wouldn’t have been a problem in an airplane seat.
Other years, other flights. Eventually it came time to leave home (still Canada) and do some of this travelling on my own. I was 22, and had worked awhile as a cook at the Flight Deck Restaurant of the Victoria International Airport, on Vancouver Island. I also painted a mural on its door, at the request of the owner. This was of Earth in space, with a stealth bomber of some kind nearly in orbit. The door has either been removed or painted over, as I discovered a few years ago on a return visit. I hope the former. Art is art!
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Qedeli Cafe – a gateway for social integration
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Author: By Inga Popovaite
The Qedeli Cafe in Sighnaghi, located on the opposite side of the street from the well-know Pheasant’s Tears Winery, will not offer you loud traditional music or succulent khinkali, nor you’ll see big groups of locals and travelers feasting and drinking famous Kakhetian wine.
But you will be able to use the free wireless internet, chat with your friends and new acquaintances over a cup of coffee or tea and even nibble on a delicious cheese cake. You can choose from a wide variety of hot and cold non-alcoholic beverages, salads, soups, some traditional dishes (such as khachapuri or lobio) or the few pizzas listed on the menu. In addition to that, there’s a blackboard displaying the specials of the day.
However, it is not the absence of alcohol and other Georgian culinary staples that makes this cafe unique. Nor it is the fact that you can purchase unique woolen, wooden or clay hand-made souvenirs here. It is because of the slightly different personnel that work there that makes this place so unique. Of the team of six people that work there daily, two of the waiters (Gvantsa and Rusiko) are residents of the Qedeli Community for mentally and physically challenged people.
The history of the Qedeli Community dates back to 1999 when Gela Ghlighvashvili and his wife Lali Khandolishvili came up with the idea of empowering mentally and physically handicapped people. “First my parents started to visit handicapped people in Sighnaghi bringing them things for workshops such as wool, telling them and their families about the rights that they have and that they should not be kept at home all the time. Later they began organizing workshops at our house,” recalls their 27 year- old son Rezo Ghlighvashvili, the Manager of the Qedeli Cafe.
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Selective Democracy: You can’t have it both ways
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Author: By William King
In response to the peaceful gay march that was met with violence on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi on May 17, Teona Betlemidze’s subsequent article ‘Violence at Gay Demonstration Exposes Darker Side of Georgia Culture’, drew a critical response from journalist Archil Sikharulidze.
In his response, Sikharulidze suggested that “Human rights and particularly the rights of minorities as we know them are the brainchild of Western culture.” Sikharulidze goes on to acknowledge that these human rights principles are “unique”, yet he denies the necessity of their universal application.
Further, he states that “[attempts] to push [these rights] forcefully against the wishes of the majority of society sow the seeds of confrontation.” He then goes on to emphasize that nations should be able to choose which aspects of minority rights they wish to accept according to the traditions and cultural factors that exist within a particular society.
Sikharulidze seems to view democracy as a model where minority populations are at the whim of the majority population. In doing so, he not only blurs the conception of democracy, he also confuses the application of basic human rights with the granting of special rights or privileges to minority groups. Western-based or otherwise, what Sikharulidze seems to miss is that the protection of human rights is a fundamental aspect to any democratic society, and their selective or arbitrary application runs counter to the normative framework set-out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Georgia also happens to be party to.
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Georgia joins the Race for the Cure 2012
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Author: By Tamar Khurtsia
On June 10, at 17:00 pm, the Turtle Lake in Tbilisi will host Georgia Race for the Cure, an annual event which calls on people and organizations across the globe to take part in raising public awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
Georgia Race for the Cure is organized by the Women Wellness Care Alliance HERA, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving breast health and eliminating breast cancer as a life-threatening disease in Georgia.
The event includes a walk and a run with over 2,500 participants. The walk and an open-air charity concert featuring Niaz Diasamidze, 33a is also planned. The race winners will be awarded with gifts.
Through the race and affiliated events, the organizer hopes to increase awareness of breast cancer and to educate women on the importance of screening and early detection. “This message is especially urgent in Georgia, where breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women,” Marika Davituliani, the Director of Women Wellness Care Alliance HERA, told Georgia Today. “Georgia holds the leading place in breast cancer mortality rate among European countries and the main cause of which is lack of information.”
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