YWAM workers are caring for ethnic Georgian refugees who were forced to flee villages along the South Ossetian border during a war between Russian and Georgia last August. They’re reaching out to refugees that are living in a school in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, most of whom can’t return to their villages because their homes were destroyed during the Russian incursion.

The war over the fate of South Ossetia may have lasted only a matter of days, but thousands of lives were permanently changed. Weeks and even months passed before some remote Georgian villages were reached with international aid because the Russian Army withdrew at a slow pace.

But progress is being made, and YWAM workers are playing a part, according to Dennis Holt, YWAM Georgia director. The Georgian government has built hundreds of small houses near the heavily damaged city of Gori, just outside the disputed enclave of South Ossetia. A YWAM Discipleship Training School team from Restenas, Sweden has been helping local Christian aid groups with the unloading and distribution of humanitarian supplies such as electric hot water kettles. The Salvation Army has been working among the refugees and young YWAM workers have been teaming up with them.

“They have the resources and we have available YWAMers to help,” Holt says. “It has been a blessing to see the two-handed Gospel in action.”

Some refugees are returning to their homes, but many more no longer have homes and are being relocated to the new housing projects along the South Ossetian border. Making matters even more difficult, most of these refugees have no source of income and will be in ongoing need of international aid. While the Georgian government has plans to build new factories to stimulate the local economy, the downturn in the global economy has put those plans on hold.

Meanwhile, the war has created a spiritual hunger in displaced Georgians who are reportedly more open to the Gospel than ever. Please pray that these refugees would not be forgotten by the international community, and that their physical and spiritual needs will continue to be met.

If you’d like to give to YWAM’s refugee and rebuilding projects in Georgia, you can send a check to the following address:

YWAM Accounting

P.O. Box 3000

Garden Valley, TX 75771-3000

Please make the check out to YWAM and please do not put names anywhere on the check, but on a separate note designate it to YWAM Tbilisi relief work (IRS requirement).