Safety First: Mestia, Svaneti
BLOG
Several weeks after my recent jaunt to Gudauri and a weekend of synergy around Sustainable Tourism sponsored by the German Society for International Cooperation, they invited me to another outing, this time involving aspects of guest house training and set in Mestia. I jumped at the chance.
Our two days of seminars, all in Georgian, dealt with fire safety, food safety and risk management. All very useful subjects, especially when combined with a number of tests and final certification. Three men, specialists in their fields, were our trainers. All this on the second floor of the wonderful Tetnuldi Hotel, with its massive windows overlooking most of Mestia with its glazed towers, lit by the low winter sun as we started and by glorious up-lights after the sun set. As one might notice, the view threatened to distract, but I only allowed it to do so at break times.
Participation in more than sixteen hours of Georgian lecturing, stimulating as the topics were, was no mean feat for me. My Georgian learning has been partly by formal lessons many years ago and partly by “osmosis” while immersed in the target language and culture (acquiring a Svan accent along the way, this latter decade in this region; something I don’t mind at all, provincial as it may make me seem). I retain more from reading than from hearing, so the tests, all written and multiple choice, were easier for me than an oral one would have been. My Russian is still superior, but I try to keep it shelved and non-interfering.
I made copious notes, asked many questions for clarification or elaboration, considered things to do or buy or change at home to improve our situation safety-wise. There were only five of us studying this time, a disappointingly low number given those who had promised to come more than a week in advance and then cancelled “on the day,” but, their loss! I’ll take the knowledge and its application and certification and make what use of them I can. When such are offered all expenses paid, best to take full advantage, I feel.
We all had unique guest house situations and needs, of course, but our trainers were able to cope with these vast differences and accommodate us all into their work. They had us simulate a set of roles during a possible fire, and then evaluate our performance to reiterate and improve for next time. And we examined our host building inside and out for safety issues and made recommendations for what was good or what might be improved.
We also each considered a potential safety issue (mine was stray dogs) from the angle of risk analysis, threat minimization and response. These we presented to the group for critique.
I applaud and thank my sponsors for inviting me to such a useful weekend, my first such all in Georgian. I surprised myself by managing an average mark of 90% across the tests, and came away most grateful for the new relationships, information, practical help and support. I am also encouraged that new organizations in Georgia exist to help with all aspects of occupational health and safety. This kind of bureaucracy we actually need!
Check: buy several fire extinguishers AND find out where they can be refilled closer to us than Tbilisi! Train myself and the wife in their use and in all aspects of fire safety! And more.
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 1800 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri:
www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
Tony Hanmer