For millions of women, children, and men, all over the world, home is not a safe place and the only memories that are formed in it are painful ones. The challenge of dealing with domestic violence and the importance of doing so are two sides of the same coin. Domestic violence is so devastating precisely because it causes problems at the core of people’s lives—their homes.

Our icon is the homelandTrust in God is our creed,Enlightened land of plains and mounts,Blessed by God and holy heaven.The freedom we have learned to followMakes our future spirits stronger,Morning star will rise above usAnd lightens up the land between the two seas.Glory to long-cherished freedom,Glory to liberty! Tourist or local, you’ve almost certainly seen this flag already. You might like it, you might not (I don’t), but it’s what we’ve got, and we’re stuck with it. Still, it hasn’t always been our flag. We had different flags before annexation by the Russian Empire, a different one after breaking free from it and before being absorbed by the Soviet Union,…

“Vakhtang I Gorgasali once went hunting with his royal falcon in the forests around the first capital of Georgia, Mtskheta. After some time, the king sent his falcon to catch a pheasant. The falcon flew away, and eventually, the king lost sight of it. In search of the birds, Vakhtang Gorgasali and his hunters came across a spring and saw that both the falcon and the pheasant had fallen into its waters. The spring turned out to be hot. Amazed by this discovery and recognizing the potential of the natural springs, Vakhtang I decided to establish a city at this location.” Thus, according to legend, the city of Tbilisi was…