Abkhaz-Georgian Youngster Seeking Support to Study in America’s Top School
Zviad Adzinbaia, 24, is an internally displaced person (IDP) from Abkhazia. The young man of Abkhaz origin graduated from Sokhumi State University two years ago and earned his BA diploma in Political Science with honors. Since then, Zviad has shown extraordinary zest and daring in deciding to join a top US school in International Relations. The day he made the decision, Zviad put a large sticker of the world renowned Tufts Fletcher School on his wall and carefully set to following a strategy to become part of it.
Zviad Adzinbaia’s motivation to join the family of world leaders and global thinkers stemmed from his sore life experience. As a two-year-old, along with his family and hundreds of thousands of others, he faced deadly occupation in Abkhazia and became homeless in his own country in 1993. As a child raised in a windowless temporary shelter in western Georgia, Zviad dreamed about having an apple from his garden in Abkhazia’s district of Gali, where he and his family were no longer allowed. “I had a strong sense of injustice and wanted to make a change in that reality,” Zviad told GEORGIA TODAY.
Zviad had internalized his future plans and Fletcher’s role in his life, but it did not prevent him from being rejected in 2015. Despite this unpleasant fact, he successfully employed a principle of “never giving up” and effectively transformed his challenges into possibilities. He made his extra mile toward the institution he believed could change his life and not surprisingly, in March this year, Zviad Adzinbaia, “for his outstanding skills and significant achievements”, was accepted on the Fletcher School’s distinguished Master’s program in Law and Diplomacy.
His early student life has clearly directed him to this success, with Zviad joining dozens of international projects, including Leadership Schools with Harvard instructors and a Global Youth Conference at the UN Headquarters that helped him shape his international perspective. “My goal is to make a contribution to my country’s unification,” the sophomore told Harvard Magazine in 2012.
At the age of 19, Zviad started an NGO in order to promote his most deeply held ideal: “Georgia should return to its European family.” He involved hundreds of volunteers country-wide to help raise awareness on Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic path.
Zviad’s former Dean at Sokhumi State University, Professor Kavtaradze, told GEORGIA TODAY that while an undergraduate, Zviad extensively explored issues of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and conflicts he believed were vital matters for Georgia. “Zviad is a globally thinking, intelligent and progress-oriented person, who I strongly believe can make a change in his country and beyond,” the Professor said.
As a young scholar, Zviad flourished academically and professionally at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS), one of the leading think tanks in Georgia. He greatly enjoyed lessons by GFSIS’s late founding President, Alexander Rondeli. As a fellow of the USG-funded Security and Diplomacy Program, Zviad was also privileged to attend modules of lectures by Ambassador David Smith, one of the latter negotiators with the USSR delegation in Geneva, and Professor Ross Harrison from Georgetown University.
Carole Neves, Ex-Director of the Office of Policy and Analysis at The Smithsonian Institution, taught Zviad a policy analysis class at GFSIS. Neves describes Zviad as a young man deeply interested in learning, who is thoughtful, committed and focused. “I believe he will contribute greatly to the future of his amazing nation,” she said.
Zviad’s education and experiences in Georgia, Europe, and the USA have also inspired him to attain more advanced knowledge to achieve a position – preferably in a diplomatic or security field – in which he could make a greater impact in the geopolitics of the South Caucasus. He says Fletcher’s unparalleled academic reputation and its special programs with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) can greatly help him promote Georgia's Euro-Atlantic course and contribute to the resolution of conflicts in his own country.
To this aim, Zviad Adzinbaia is asking the broader public for support. Last week, he was able to receive a prestigious government-funded scholarship based on merit, along with Fletcher’s academic award, to help cover part of his tuition expenses. However, he is still missing 18 000 USD to fully be able to start his MA Studies this August. “I am honored to have received the scholarship award from the International Education Center under Prime Minister of Georgia, where the competition was tremendous,” Zviad told us, adding that he is trying his best to gather the rest of the funds to pursue his lifelong passion.
“I am almost in this great country (USA) and the institution (Fletcher School) and I am kindly asking everyone, in Georgia and outside, to help me receive world-class education,” says the young Abkhaz. “I am committed to my own country and to the world and I will be honored to dedicate my entire career to positively contributing to making my country and the world better places to live in,” Zviad declares.
Zviad can be contacted at: +995593421750, Zviad.Adzinbaia@tufts.edu
Katie Ruth Davies