BIG DAY TOMORROW

Dearest Ones,
April 9th, tomorrow, is a big day.
Tomorrow there will be a strike throughout Georgia, but primarily in Tbilisi, the capital. Thousand, even more, are expected to strike. All public transportation has been shut down. As you know, I work in Abkhazia, ("independent territory" of Georgia). The Head of Mission for Abkhazia is in Tbilisi, Georgia. Even without a strike, this reality is a problem. Georgians hate Abkhazians, Abkhazians hate Georgians. The strike tomorrow is protesting the President Tschastivelli who was instrumental in promoting the war last summer which involved Georgia bringing military tanks into SouthOssetia and Abkhazia, brutally killing thousands, planning to "take over" the two territories. Russia quickly flexed their military might and stopped Georgia's advances. Russia retains "peacekeepers" (soldiers) at the borders. Last week while I was in Gali, a border town conducting an assessment of the area, anticipating expansion of the MSF program, there were Russian tanks, lots of them, "ready and waiting" if they need to remind Georgia to "stay away from this area".
So, there are several problems that impact all of the MSF expats in Abkhazia. The first problem is that if the strike results in riots, and the riots turn into border skirmishes, and if war breaks out, we must get across a hostile border in order to leave Abkhazia. There is no way to leave Abkhazia other than to go back to Georgia. We do not have Russian visas because Georgia will not allow an American Embassy in Abkhazia, or any embassys for that matter, because it does not recognize Abkhazia's independence. Russia is closer, and is a "friendly" border, but we cannot cross into Russia. We must cross through military posts at the Abkhazia/Georgia border. We may not be allowed to cross if there is active military maneuvers (this happened last year, no expat could leave).
The second problem is that I am the only authorized driver for the MSF evacuation vehicle. The other person is on holiday and will not return until the 24th of this month. I will be the driver of the "tank-truck" if we are ordered to evacuate. Right now there are 7 expats here in Sukhumi, 3 are on holiday. There are other NGOs (non-governmental organizations such as United Nations, International Red Cross....) that have expats and there are provisions that if an evacuation occurs, we will go as a convoy, if possible. Also, recently in the past few weeks, there have been UN flights into and out of Sukhumi's old airport. Don't know yet if there is a chance we could all evacuate on UN aircraft.
There are lots of "what ifs" tonight, not much to do except be prepared to evacuate in the event of military action and a mandate to leave and ask for prayers from my loved one.
So, consider yourselves asked.
The email is not working right now, but I am writing in case this actually gets sent and you can at least stay tuned to world news programs to see if there is blue-eyed- gray-haired gal on CNN driving a white MSF vehicle with the well-recognized logo on the side, across the Abkhaz-Georgia border. I promise I will not be hollering "whahooooooooo ladies and gents, let's blast on passed these nice armed fellas"
I leave you tonight with love in my heart, and hopes for a reunion on another day.
genie