Help Ossetia NOW

After hiding in my home for several days listening to bombs drop and buildings shake, I emerged August 11 to discover scenes of unimaginable destruction across Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. House after house, apartment after apartment, destroyed by artillery and fire. Burned out tanks smoldering in the streets. A city littered with the bodies of civilians and soldiers.

But my horror was only beginning. Over the next week, I watched in disbelief as the international media broadcast stories about the conflict in Georgia that painted Russia as the aggressor in a geopolitical battle against its tiny Georgian neighbor. World leaders traded accusations of blame, but the real victims in South Ossetia had no voice in the discussion.

What about President Saakashvili's unprovoked and brutal attack against my people on the night of August 7th, just hours after he had gone on national television to reassure us that he was silencing his guns? What about Georgia's use of Grad rocket launchers and cluster bombs against civilians, who were sleeping in their beds or cowering in dark basements in fear? What about the thousands of Ossetians left without homes and schools and the hundreds of families who have lost their loved ones?

As chairperson of the Association of South Ossetian Women for Democracy and Human Rights, I have spent a decade working to help improve the lives of poor women and combat sexual abuse and discrimination. Faced with the biased coverage of the events of August 7th, I felt compelled to direct my passion and energy to ensuring that the "human rights" of the people of South Ossetia were protected in the global rush to judgment.

It is my hope that our campaign, "Help Ossetia Now," will bring attention to the plight of South Ossetia and raise money to help the thousands who lost their homes, their livelihood and their loved ones in the latest Georgian attack.

--Lira Tskhovrebova, Association of South Ossetian Women for Human Rights and Democracy