FEAST OR FAMINE

Georgian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7. However, Santa Claus appears bearing gifts on December 31, New Year’s Eve, in Georgia. The Financial newspaper in Georgia reported that Santa businesses in the country are devising more creative ways to improve their business due to the diminishing interest in Santa Claus by Georgian children. Santa calling businesses in Georgia say that over the past 2-3 years, their businesses have been waning. This year, Santa businesses have hired mountaineers and artists to perform Santa roles—such as climbing up buildings and homes. The service at about USD$100 includes Santa coming down from the top of the house and giving children gifts right at their window or balcony. When Santa businesses first started in Georgia, in about 1996, they only had snowmen (the traditional Georgian Christmas character), then they introduced rope-dancers and Santa—door-knocking Santas. Most Santa services cost about $40-$50 and can be accompanied b...

Sylvia and Ted (2001), now called Ted and Sylvia (2003), is the story of the lives of temperamental poets and writers Sylvia Plath and her husband Ted Hughes. Sylvia committed suicide in 1963, after a series of jealous outrages due to her husband’s infamous infidelities; firstly with their 15 year-old baby-sitter and then with a rival poet and magnificent Russian beauty, Assia Wevill. Tennant reveals the emotions in Plath’s life from 1935 when she was a two-year-old, continuously separated from her German parents and cared for by her grandparents in America. A gifted student, Sylvia wrote at an early age. At twenty-one she moved to England after she failed to be admitted to Harvard University In England, Sylvia strives for two goals, one to produce children and another to produce brilliant writing. She fails in both for a long time, and with great anguish, until the two goals converge at the same time. The stress of the two creative forces and the competing pressure...

The World Health Organization (WHO) publishes statistics on health, such as disease, risk factors, mortality, morbidity, and life expectancies by region and country. Their 2008 life expectancy figures show that Japan and San Marino citizens can expect to live longer than people of other countries – to an average of 83 years. Afghanistan and Zimbabwe citizens have the shortest life expectancies – of an average of only 42 years (half the age of the long-living Japanese). The top 15 countries with the longest living citizens include: Japan (83) San Marino (83) Australia (82) Iceland (82) Italy (82) Monaco (82) Switzerland (82) Canada (81) France (81) Israel (81) New Zealand (81) Norway (81) Singapore (81) Spain (81) Sweden (81) The bottom 15 countries with the shortest living citizens include: Afghanistan (42) Zimbabwe (42) Angola (46) Chad (46) Lesotho (47) Central African Republic (48) Somalia (48) Swaziland (48) Zambia ...

Irishman, James Gillespie, travels from his home in London to the Congo to follow his lover, Ines Sabiani, an Italian political journalist. He is chasing her; she is chasing political news. The Catastrophist (1999) is about the way they see the world; their passions and their loves. James views his life as a story of failure. It is 1959 in Leopoldville, Belgium Congo, west Africa. It is the time of the rising independence of the Congolese from the Belgiums; a time of violence and dissent. James finds the politics uninteresting; he is only there to save his relationship with Ines. He comes to realize that Ines is more passionate about her work and the freedom of the people of Congo than about him. They have been together for two years in London, where everything was perfect. It was far from perfect in Leopoldville for James. James wants commitment, longevity and marriage. Ines wants none of this and leaves James for Auguste, a younger Congolese man. Even when...

The Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement hosted an international conference in Luxor, Egypt, on December 10-12, 2010 against modern forms of slavery in conjunction with the United Nations. Her Excellency Suzanne Mubarak is Egypt’s First Lady and UN Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization, supporting many social causes in health, and education, particularly for women and children. The theme of the conference—“Human Trafficking”—highlighted the disturbing statistic that human trafficking is the third most profitable illegal business, behind weapons and drug trafficking. The UN states that it affects over 2 million people each year. Human trafficking is the illegal trade in humans, either for commercial sexual exploitation or forced labour (commonly referred to as modern day slavery). It is different from human smuggling whereby people pay others to transport them across borders, usually so that they can escape their country’s situati...

In Georgia, December 17 is St Barbara's Day (Barbaroba), celebrated on December 4 in other countries. This is due to Georgia's Orthodox calendar. The traditional festive food is lobiani - bread baked with bean stuffing. Other traditional foods served on St Barbara's Day include barley, pomegranate, and raisins. Today I had lobiani and pomegranate. Most Georgians celebrate at home or stay at home because they believe that whoever visits them on this day will give them either good luck or bad luck for the following year - therefore, it's often known as the Day of Destiny. St Barbara is a 3rd century (286-305) patron saint of artillery officers, military engineers, and miners - in fact, anyone who works with explosives, due to the legends associated with lightning. Babara was the daughter of the wealthy pagan Dioscorus. Legend has it that she secretly became a Christian, which enraged her father. He tried to kill her several times, but s...

Set in Rome and Florence in the seventeenth century, The Passion of Artemisia (2002) is a story of the emerging talent of Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), the most famous female artist in the history of Italy. Her father, Orazio, is an artist who teaches his daughter the passion of painting. He introduces her to Agostino to teach her perspective. Agostino promises marriage as he abuses her body, but at his trial it is she who is tortured and humiliated by the Inquisition. She leaves Rome and marries Pietro, an artist in need of her dowry. He does not mind her career as a painter as she strives for professional acceptance, but is angered when she is boldly admitted to the Accademia del Disegno in Florence before him. Their relationship gradually diminishes and Artemisia spends more time with her paintings and her daughter, Palmira, turning at this time to her scientist friend Galileo Galilei who espouses his controversial theories on astronomy. She describes Galileo as “...

The title is a misnomer, for Galileo's Daughter (2000) is really about the famous Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). His daughter, Virginia, is mentioned in reference to her unfailing support for her father. Galileo is continually in poor health, espouses controversial theories of astronomy and is brought to trial by the Inquisition. Galileo was, as Einstein called him, the “father of modern physics”. His telescope inventions were heralded around the world and enabled him to publicly proclaim the astonishing argument that the Earth, and other planets, moved around the Sun. Previously it was thought that the Earth was the centre of the Universe. His theories were thought to be against the Holy Catholic Scripture, and so began the never-ending debate between science and religion. His daughter, Virginia, became a cloistered nun and changed her name to Maria Celeste. Maria’s letters (at least two a week) to her father provide the inspiration for this novel. Before him, the Po...

As an author, it's always a pleasure when a reader contacts me, especially to tell me that they have read, or are currently reading, my book, The Sudan Curse. My thanks go to the teacher of Modesto Junior College in California who added  The Sudan Curse to the English course list and to the students who are preparing their research papers on my novel. Good luck with your assignment. A common question asked by my readers is: how much of The Sudan Curse is true? It is based upon my time working there in 2005 and 2006 after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south Sudan, and the establishment of the government and its ministries in Southern Sudan. Part of the CPA was that after 6 years, there must be a referendum to determine whether Southern Sudan splits with the north or not. The referendum will be held on January 9, 2011. I worked on several assignments there - in both the north (in Khartoum and in the Red Sea State) and ...

Out of the Ashes is a compelling documentary of a group of women in Northern Uganda narrating their lives - of 20 years in conflict and afterwards, in almost five years of peace – of their lives in fear and of their lives in anticipation of fear, but will a strong will to renew, rebuild, recover and reclaim their sense of self and their sense of dignity, for themselves and their families. The documentary, directed by Gregory Glaser and David Arno Schwaiger, was produced in 2010 by Sancho Pansa Film Productions as part of CARE Austria’s project, Women’s Empowering for Peace. The rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) held the Northern Ugandans and the cross-border Southern Sudanese in fear of murder, rape, maiming, and the kidnapping of children. The LRA abducted an estimated 24,000-38,000 children in Northern Uganda (approximately 20% of whom were girls) to serve as porters, cooks and combatants. Uganda had at least 1.8 million displaced persons, mainly in Northern U...

In Uplistikhe, the City Carved from Rock, near Gori, west of Tblisi, the capital of Georgia is a secret tunnel. The rock city (300 square metres) is elevated on the hill of Katlaniskhevi with a view of the Gori fields in the distance. Hidden in a crevice at the top of the rock plateau is an opening, 3 metres wide that descends about 200 metres toward the river. An archeological expedition in 1957 began work to unearth the city and its columns, pillars, arches, beams, and vaults, dated to the Hellenistic period - 4th century BC. Stairs have been erected in the tunnel to cater for tourists.

In Tbilisi, religious institutions of all denominations stand side-by-side, many undergoing renovations and repair. After Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire, the Russian Orthodox Church took over the Georgian church in 1811. The Georgian church regained its autonomy when Russian rule ended in 1918. In the 1970s, Georgian Orthodoxy experienced a revival. In 1988 Moscow permitted the patriarch to begin consecrating and reopening closed churches, and a large-scale restoration process began. The global financial crisis halted many restoration projects, however, many have recommenced. About 65% of Georgians are Georgian Orthodox, 11% are Muslim, 10% Russian Orthodox, 8% Armenian Apostolic and 6% are of other religions. Jewish communities exist predominantly in Tbilisi and Kutaisi. Representatives of different religious communities meet todialogue and celebrate major events. An example of this was on the occassion of the Muslim Sacrifice Feast, Eid al-Adha,...

Near Gori (10 kilometres/6 miles), the regional capital of Shida Kartli, in Georgia, is the Ateni Sioni church. Gori is an hour and half drive west of the capital, Tbilisi. The Ateni Sioni church was built in early 7th-century near the Tana River. It is currently under rehabilitation, inside and out. The engineer commenced work early this year and expects to take another 8 years to complete the repairs. Inside is a fresco, Joseph's Dream, which is also being restored. The walls of the church contain the first inscriptions by Nuskhuri of the early Georgian alphabet, dating from 835. The first examples of Mkhedruli, a currently used Georgian script, are also found in the Ateni Sioni church and date back to the 980s.

The City Carved in Rock (Uplistsikhe) is in Gori, an hour and a half from Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. It's an archeological find, circa 4th century BC, that unearths a temple town made of rock. There are various rock-cut, or cave, constructions, such as temples, streets, drains, a drugstore, a theatre, wine storage room, bakery, and numerous shops. On top of the rock city currently sits a Christian church called Uplistsuli (Lord's Son). Apparently it replaced a pagan temple,in the second half of the 10th century BC. The church has been destroyed and restored more than once. In the 12th-13th centuries the stone church was completely repaired, and in the 17th century it was newly rebuilt out of brick. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The S...