September-October highlights for Open Estonia Foundation

Acclaimed Iranian author Marjane Satrapi keynote speaker at forum Cultures Speak in Estonia According to studies, Estonians are the most isolated nation in the EU and compared to other member states interact the least with people from other cultures in their daily lives. Iranian writer and comic artist Marjane Satrapi who now lives in exile in Paris was the keynote speaker of the forum Cultures Speak. Her personal and honest, funny and universal stories that humanize the unknown Middle East through memoirs have become something much more than merely entertaining literature. Satrapi’s message is simple: racism, nationalism and cultural conflicts are the result of prejudice and ignorance, but by illuminating underlying human truths that bypass cultural differences, we can overcome the differences.

In line with Satrapi’s visit, Estonian Television aired her Oscar-nominated animation Persepolis, its world premiere in television. Also, Satrapi’s book was translated and published in Estonian.

Estonia shares social and healthcare experience with Kazakhstan Open Estonia Foundation and East-East Partnership Beyond Borders program funded a project that aims to exchange information and experience between Estonia and Kazakhstan regarding social and healthcare systems, including the development of social services and social security system. Estonian psychiatrists and specialists from various NGOs and the Ministry of Social Affairs visited Kazakhstan, where they met with local NGOs that offer social services to peole with special needs, victims of AIDS, and drug addicts. In Kazakhstan, NGOs operate with project-based funding from foreign donors and the partnership between state and the civil society is only beginning to develop. Despite bureaucratic difficulties and special attention from the border guards of Kazakhstan who detained Estonian specialists for 3 days, cooperation between Estonia and Kazakhstan continues, a project about caretaking of people with special needs will follow.

Open Estonia Foundation-funded study exposes the living conditions at Georgian refugee camps OEF- financed study Problems and Needs of Georgian Refugees voiced concerns about the lack of objective information about the real living conditions of Georgian refugees. OEF saw the need to draw attention to the fact that although the war is over, the post-conflict situation needs much more attention than it is getting now from the international community. As the study uncovered, many of the problems of refugees are unknown to large international aid organizations. The international community and many Georgians themselves believe the conditions at refugee camps to be satisfactory, and few “model” camps have been set up with access to international delegations and journalists, whereas there are hundreds of smaller camps with huge differences in living conditions. The study outlines the disparities in the help given to refugees: warm meals, clothing, medical and psychological assistance are available to 2200 refugees in the town Gori, which is a mere 3-4% of all displaced people. The study found that lack of medical assistance is the main concern, refugees lack information about their rights and they do not know where or whom to turn to with their problems.
The study, conducted in September by Estonian sociologists Iris Pettai and Helve Kase in partnership with Anti-violence Network of Georgia, was presented in Open Estonia Foundation, the results were published in various media channels, and suggestions were also sent to international aid organizations and foreign ambassadors in Estonia.