Summer 2003: WILD Women come to our Home

In the summer of 2003, my husband Wally and I had the pleasure of hosting two women from the Republic of Georgia who stayed at our home for 21 days while they attended the WILD (Women’s International Leadership and Disability) Women Conference sponsored by Mobility International, (http://www.miusa.org.) Tina was a delegate from Georgia, sponsored by and her sponsors, Mercy Corps, (http://www.mercycorps.org) had sent Tea with her as interpreter and personal assistant. Tina had started a center for people with disabilities in Gori, Georgia. Tea, who lived and worked in Tblisi, Georgia, is a pediatrician, whose work is developing community programs that serve children with disabilities. These two industrious and enthusiastic women attended day and evening sessions at the WILD conference each day, and worked on projects related to their work in the evening. Wally and I were amazed at their dedication and commitment and we found them to be such fun and interesting guests. We were so fortunate to have Tea, with her fluency in the English language making it possible to converse with Tina too. Until they entered our home we had no knowledge of the country of Georgia, or the Georgian and Russian languages.