As a consequence of the ongoing internal conflicts in Georgia, part of the population was forced to leave their homes and move to Capital City. These people are 11% of Georgia’s total population and their socio-economic integration still remains to be a complex challenge for the Georgian Government. In terms of our campaign, the protagonist of our story is Eliso, who appeared face to face with extreme poverty. The war brought her a status of an internally displaced person and hardship.

Eliso is a woman who lost her home, birthplace, status and a family in a matter of minutes, and looking for shelter in the capital city was the only way to survive. She is a woman who never gave up and found inner strength to adapt with her new reality.

49-year-old Eliso’s dream career was sacrificed by war and exile just like her other human aspirations. The pandemic in recent years has also made her economic situation particularly difficult.

Now, Eliso lives in a rented house with her teenage daughter, 14-year-old Maia. The family had difficulty paying rent and meeting basic needs. As she recalls in the interview, they would barely survive, with only bread and onions at home and she needed to find a quick solution to this dire situation. Eliso decided to pursue a job of cleaning apartments in order to get a daily income and  turned out to be the beginning of the escape from her crisis situation. Surprisingly to Eliso, soon the number of happy customers increased and therefore emerged an income too. 

Since 2021, the family has been involved in the World Vision’s “Ultra Poor Graduation” Program aimed at strengthening vulnerable families economically and empowering women with skills and assets. She was provided with relevant equipment for dry and wet cleaning, steam cleaning and other supporting instruments. All purchased materials allowed the beneficiary to increase her profit and try a newly renovated apartments cleaning service, which appeared to be more profitable than cleaning small houses and entrances. 

Nowadays Eliso provides cleaning services for newly renovated flats and houses which allows her to pay taxes and the accumulated liabilities to the bank. She has even managed to gift her daughter a new phone through a bank installment plan.  

"I often joke; I was so blacklisted by the banks that creditors would not give a loan, not only to me, but anyone with a similar surname as mine. However, thanks to the World Vision, I am able to borrow and pay debts now that the banks trust me again. I bought a new phone for my daughter in order to support her distance learning process," - says Eliso. 

Like most mothers, Eliso also wants the brightest future of her daughter, and that’s why she puts all her energy and income to give her a good education. Maia takes private classes in several subjects. She is interested in business management and plans to support her mother develop her business in the nearest future.

"My life has changed; I am no longer afraid of the end of each month when I have to pay rent. I also hire my friends when I have too many orders to handle alone. I even bought a washing machine from the profits I’ve already made, which helps me to save time and energy and easily wash the canvases for the next working day," - says Eliso.

At this stage, the collaboration between Eliso and World Vision continues in terms of business skills development, in this regard Eliso is actively involved in trainings and consultations in order to turn her current job into a better service and become a cleaning service provider in the long run. It is noteworthy that Eliso has already a group of women around her, who are ready to collaborate with her and help build a small start-up business in nearest future.