Story of Impact: Nodari

When war erupted last year in South Ossetia, between Russia and Georgia, thousands of Georgians were displaced. Among them was Nodari Putkaradze, a doctor whose family had been living in Gori for generations.

Nodari and his wife and daughter were at home one afternoon when they heard an explosion. Suddenly, their balcony came crashing into the living room. The walls shook, the floor trembled, and the house began to collapse around them. They barely escaped, crawling out through a shower of glass and plaster. But as they ran to shelter in a nearby garage, a bomb landed close enough to throw Nodari against a wall and critically injure him.

Unfazed, the doctor's much smaller wife somehow managed to heave him over her back and carry him, dripping with blood, to the hospital 3 miles away. All around them, people were fleeing the onslaught of the Russian Army. At the hospital, doctors recognized their colleague. They managed to stop the bleeding and saved his life. Over the next few days, Nodari and hundreds of other Jews from the conflict zone were evacuated to the capital, Tbilisi, and out of harm's way.

Returning home after the conflict, Nodari and his family had nothing—no clothes, no food, nowhere to go. "The Jewish community rescued us," Nodari said. "They brought us everything we needed so we could start over." And Nodari's wife? Well, she's now known as the strongest woman in town.

Over 60,000 Jews live in countries where their lives are at risk.