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The WomenAid logo was designed by the Founder, Pida Ripley. Having sustained serious injuries when her jeep crashed off the road while escaping an attempted kidnap in a security incident in Mingrelia, Georgia, she was hospitalised for four months. During that time, she recalled how so many refugees in different countries had looked up at the stars, sighed and said "All we have left is hope." The 'Star of Hope' was an obvious choice for the WomenAid logo. The five pointed star represents the hope of those in crisis in five continents. Upon leaving hospital she returned to Georgia and a few months later, following a government declaration of an acute food shortage in Svaneti, a remote mountainous region, she led an assessment mission into the area. Sighted near the top of the mountains, formed by the last of the winter snow, was a huge, white five pointed star. 'A good omen', the mission team declared. Shortly afterwards the first WomenAid/UN World Food Programme convoy, led by Pida Ripley, began the delivery of emergency food into the region. As the convoy approached the place where the snow star had first been seen, the leading vehicles were fired upon by bandits and the convoy personnel robbed at gunpoint. The bandits drove away in the lead WomenAid jeep which contained all the distribution documentation. Without these documents there was no possibility of distributing the food so, as night fell, Pida Ripley followed the bandits and used the convoy trucks to blockade them in their mountain village. A tense night of negotiations led eventually to the successful recovery of the jeep and distribution documents. After this incident, the villagers throughout the region finally spoke out against the notorious bandits and, with the support of government security forces, WomenAid subsequently delivered 1000 tonnes of emergency food supplies before the region was isolated by the arrival of the winter snow. |
CHALLENGE AND CHANGE ~ MEETING THE CHALLENGE ~ BRANDING ~ HOME |
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