corpses, bridges, donations

The Patriarch and several priests were let past the Russian soldiers blocking the main road into Gori today. They found bodies rotting on the street, in parked cars, everywhere... and brought some of them home. Article here.

There is an offer for us to go and help collect more bodies (more than a hundred) that have been in the sun for three days, already with worms in them... but I think this is not the way in which I can best be of assistance.... I'm a little faint at heart.

Tomorrow I'm going with some friends to one of the kindergartens where IDPs are living (Internally Displaced Persons), and hopefully we can find out how to help directly.

If anyone is interested in donating money to help the relief effort, I will guarantee that 100% of your gift goes towards items that people need now. Of course, donating to World Vision, Red Cross, MercyCorps, or Human Rights Watch is also a very good option, but they also have a lot of operational costs.

In other news, there are dozens of reports of Russians stealing from houses. They go in and take everything, even curtains. In protest, and this is so sad and so funny at the same time, a Georgian set up a big tarpaulin on the sidewalk in front of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi, and loaded it down with every household item he could transport there: kitchenware, kids shoes, an old toilet... the banners read, "here, if your soldiers really need this stuff, they don't have to go looking, I'll bring it to YOU (you bastards)!"

On Georgian television we saw one of the longest train bridges in Georgia being blown to smithereens. No reason. Here's Youtube video on it. Article.



By comparison: the Romans invaded Georgia is 65 BC. Their legacy? A bridge that is still partially intact; the Monastery Tour 08 had the privilege of seeing it revealed from its usual depth of 2 meters under water behind a Soviet era dam. Russian legacy?




Russian troops now occupy almost every major city west of Tbilisi. Russian soldiers are drunk and uncontrolled. I heard a story tonight that when one of the civilian boats The Russians were stealing in Poti fell off the truck, instead of reloading it, they burned it in the middle of the street and left. Please leave now!