The campaign aims to help the Polish diaspora living in the Kakheti region. The Polish community of Kakheti are descendants of exiled participants in national uprisings and soldiers of the Tsarist army sent to serve on the border with Turkey and Persia—in Georgia and Armenia. Some of them have lived in Georgia since the Kościuszko Uprising; they include, among others, descendants of Polish noble families.

In the Kakheti region (western Georgia), the situation of people with Polish roots is tragic. They live in unimaginably terrible conditions. Their homes often have neither electricity nor running water, and they lack everything—food, medicines, and more. Most of the children come from families whose homes have been destroyed or seriously damaged. Some of them had to flee the Russian army and have nowhere to return to.

Last year, the Association of the Polish Community of Kakheti opened a Polish school, and despite the very difficult situation, the children want to learn the Polish language and discover the culture of their ancestors.

Georgian Evening and Donation Drive

On Tuesday, 21 April, at Concordia Gallery (Orla Street), Zura Pirveli, a Georgian actor and longtime lecturer at the State Institute of Theatre and Film Arts in Tbilisi, will perform. The programme includes, among other things, Marcel Mithois’s one-man play “The Accompanist” and a concert of Georgian and Russian ballads. It begins at 19:00.

In addition, Concordia Gallery will host a photographic exhibition devoted to the Polish community in Georgia. The exhibition organisers have collected photographs showing:

  • the establishment of the Association of Poles in Kakheti
  • the creation of the Polish school
  • the everyday lives of people and their homes
  • the figure of Ludwik Młokosiewicz, the best-known Pole in Lagodekhi (a city in Georgia), a researcher of the fauna and flora of the Caucasus
  • Kakheti as the cradle of the art of winemaking.

The Georgian evening at Concordia will launch a donation drive, which will continue until June. The organisers will accept, in particular:

  • clothing, toys, school supplies (crayons, pens, pencils, notebooks, colouring books), books, tents, blankets and sleeping bags, cushions, quilts, etc.
  • medical supplies (primarily anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing medicines), dressings and hygiene products
  • food, especially for small children (with a long shelf life and easy to store and transport), sweets
  • personal hygiene products, cleaning products
  • care products for children and people with limited mobility (nappies, underpads, etc.)
  • rehabilitation equipment for people with disabilities.

The campaign was supported with funds from the budget of the city of Bolesławiec.

You Can Help

Donations for the Polish community in Georgia can be paid into the following bank account:
Związek Polonii Medycznej
Nordea bank Bydgoszcz
90144012150000000007167498, with the reference SWIFT: NDEAPLP2 XXX.

(information: Via Sudetica/ii)