17.02.11:Roseland Online has today recieved a letter from ex Roseland Online editor, Martin, with thanks and news on how your generous donations helped the children of Georgia through this harsh winter. Martin says:

Dear Roseland-Online readers,

A big thank you from Georgia for all the clothes you sent for the Georgian kids. Every last item was distributed by me by hand, so rest assured they got to the right place. They were really very much appreciated by the recipients including Zurab and his little sister from Tsnori in the Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia (see picture with them in their new coats – they were over the moon, as were six other disadvantaged children).

For those of you that aren’t already aware, the conflict here in 2008 following on from previous conflicts in the 1990’s means there are hundreds of thousands of people here in Georgia who are unable to return to their homes. There people are officially known as Internally Displaced People or IDP’s. Many of them have lived for years now in what are known as ‘Collective Centres’. I regularly visit these places and I can tell you that conditions here are pretty grim. They rarely have running water or good heating and they are often located in rural areas; which makes getting a job next to impossible! Most of the people are reliant solely on the state IDP or social allowance of 23 Lari – or roughly £8.20 per person per month. Bizarrely enough food costs here are very high (e.g. a pint of milk is 90p) so it doesn’t go very far at all.

Anyway, needless to say there’s not much left over for children’s clothing, so your generous donations are most welcome. If anyone has any more unwanted kids clothing, please let either Mark or myself know, as a further delivery can be made to Georgia in mid-March. We’re collecting specifically for five IDP children whose are in extreme circumstances i.e. their parents are either dead or seriously disabled. There are five girls (different families) aged three, five, five, seven and eight and 1 boy aged 8. There is another girl aged 4-5 who has just been evicted with her mum.

Once again, thanks from everyone for all the help,