, Heading to Pakistan

After being 4 months in Tbilisi Georgia I will fly to Pakistan this Wednesday. I am not moving there, but going there to explore the country and have some meetings with tech startup people.

Also, Tbilisi Polyglors grew to 150 people with people from all over the world, we organized around 25 meetings since I came back to Tbilisi. Additionally, so many Russian speakers have moved here — all of a sudden Russian became the official language on the streets. It’s been a huge shock to the local demographics as the estimates are that 40k Russians, 15K Belorussians, and 30K Ukrainians have come and stayed in Georgia.

On one side 90% of my Georgian friends are against or annoyed by so many Russians coming here (On August 8, 2008, Russian forces began the invasion of Georgia leading to the Recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia). That being said 60% of the Georgian economy relies on the service industry and tourism accounts for 68% alone. So in a way, Georgia relies on foreigners spending money in the economy.

In a way, this situation now provides an opportunity for locals and practice real empathy. It's a stupid mistake and associate national politics and policies with normal people from Russia. We are all part of the same human family. Yet, our natural tendency as humans is to subdivide groups. Us vs them, and Georgia is now a clear example of that happening in real-time.

Lets ALL PRACTICE MORE EMPATHY towards each other. We need it now more than ever. My next posts will be related to my thoughts and experiences in Pakistan and hopefully, I will get some good photos.