The History of  Lazarus

Lazarus is the charity centre of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate and the implementing agency for its humanitarian assistance programs. It is a non-governmental and not-for-profit organization. Its aim is to co-ordinate contributions of humanitarian aid from both local and international donors and ensure that assistance reaches beneficiaries directly and effectively.

Lazarus originated in the outreach efforts of the Church to assist victims of the conflict in Sukhumi during the separatist fighting in Abkhazia in the Spring of 1992. Assistance was initially provided by a group of volunteers, both clergy and parishioners. The Church and the volunteers provided all the material and financial support themselves. For six months, throughout the bombardment, food supplies were delivered to the homes of 300 housebound disabled and elderly people.

At the same time volunteers in Tbilisi were working in groups of twenty to assist IDPs from Abkhazia and South Ossetia as they arrived in the city seeking refuge. Again most of the initial assistance was funded by the volunteers themselves and from contributions from friends and relatives.

As the scale of the political and economic crisis broadened and assistance began to arrive from international aid organizations, a Charity Centre was established in Tbilisi in order to identify the greatest need and co-ordinate the distribution of emergency relief donations. Volunteer staff developed a questionnaire, interviewed IDPs and other categories of persons in need and co-ordinated aid.

On 1 April 1994 the Lazarus Charitable Foundation was established with the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch. Before the foundation was set up, negotiations were held between the Patriarchate and International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) with a view to potential co-operation in the provision of humanitarian assistance:

1.   To supply people in need with humanitarian aid;

2.   To assist the Church in carrying out charity work independently in future.

The partnership between Lazarus and IOCC was later formalised officially. IOCC made a great effort in providing substantial material and technical assistance to Lazarus, as well as training in program management and implementation.

From the outset Lazarus has implemented many programs in Tbilisi and in various areas of Georgia. The categories of people in need which this organization assists are: IDPs, Large Families, the Disabled, the Elderly and others.

These programs are:

·    WFP donated family parcels that were distributed among families of IDPs living in compact areas.

·    Milk powder donated by UMCOR was sent to Southern Georgian regions and distributed among the above-mentioned categories.

·    Caritas donated food for Soup Kitchens. Part of the food was distributed among families of IDPs living in compact areas and part was delivered to the Children’s Summer Camp organized by the Dzlevai Youth Centre of the Georgian Patriarchate.

·    World Vision suggested collaboration. In December 1998 they contributed school supplies given by American children as New Year presents to their Georgian counterparts in boarding schools, a detention centre for young offenders, orphanages in Tbilisi, Shatili and so on. As well as school supplies they also contributed toiletries (shampoos, soap, toothpaste and so on) which were distributed among various categories of people in need in Tbilisi and other regions of Georgia: Kazbegi, Mestia, Tskhinvali, Kareli, Kaspi, Martkopi, Lagodekhi, Sagaredgo, Chiatura, Khoni, Signagi and so on. In Spring 1999 World Vision again contributed humanitarian aid for children: medicated shampoos for scabies, ordinary shampoos, detergent and first aid kits. All these were distributed among orphanages and boarding schools in various regions of Georgia: Aspindza, Akhaltsikhe, Zugdidi, Senaki, Samtredia, Surami and Signagi.

·    In Spring 1998 a new stream of IDPs from the Gali region arrived in Zugdidi and surrounding villages. Because of the sudden misfortune, these people could not take even household items with them (mattresses, plates, bed linen, clothes and shoes). In view of this situation Diakonisches Werk responded to Lazarus and allocated 40,000 DM for IDPs. With this sum Lazarus and the Elkana Biofarming Association purchased plates, detergent, mattresses, blankets and foodstuffs (oil, corn flour and honey) for the IDPs. Lazarus staff, with the help of Zugdidi and Tbilisi parishioners, distributed all these among IDPs who were housed in schools and kindergartens in Zugdidi and its surrounding villages. We would like to remark that exceptionally some of the IDPs lived in pigsties and in railway carriages in the village of Ingiri, in harsh conditions. IDPs received this little warm present from the Orthodox Church with delight.

·    From 1995, with the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the female monastery of the Transfiguration started to gather street children. At the beginning the children lived at the monastery, then, when they started to increase in number they moved to the Krtsanisi forest, and eventually they were housed in Dzegvi. Lazarus has often helped the Dzegvi Children's Centre, providing them with foodstuffs, clothes, shoes and toiletries and so on.

Later children brought their parents into the centre. The family rehabilitation process has begun and the leaders of the centre had the idea of building a village with the help of these families. It was decided to hold a workshop to which specialists would be invited and they would discuss the ways and means of putting this idea into practice. They would draw up the projects and these would be presented to donors. Lazarus gave the leaders of the Dzegvi Children's Centre a lot of help in this work. Some projects were drawn up by Lazarus for the Dzegvi Children's Centre. 

The main work of Lazarus since 1995 has been the execution of the following programs:

1.   Food Distribution Program in Southern and Western regions of Georgia

2.   Soup Kitchen Program

3.   Blanket-making Income Generation Program

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