By Maria Nazarenko

Some 300 children from low income families and refugee families from South Ossetia and inner areas of Georgia are starting the academic year in the Russian Federation with new school supplies donated by World Vision.

Local children in North Ossetia, as well as families who fled from South Ossetia during the 1991-92 Georgia-Ossetia conflict were provided with school bags packed with school supplies – notebooks, pens and pencils, all the things they would need to study.

Ten year-old Roin Persaev lives in a simple, wooden house on the edge of Sunzha village in Prigorodny several kilometers from the capital, Vladikavkaz. Roin is the second of five children raised by his mother and grandparents. The family has lived in the village all their lives.

Roin is especially proud of the rucksack that the school supplies are packed into. 'The bag's cool,' he said laconically, then added, 'I showed it to my mum and she was very happy.'

Having school supplies provided relieves the burden on the family.

Zhanna, Roin's mother is unemployed and she has been sick for a few weeks.

'I am practically raising them alone,' she said, 'and now I have to go to the hospital and I don't know for how long.'

Roin and his eight-year-old sister, Anna don't attend school regularly.

'They would miss the whole of September sometimes,' Rita Dzhadzhieva, primary school teacher from Sunzha school said. 'I've heard it's because they have no school supplies or the right clothes to wear.'

According to his teachers, Roin is a well behaved quiet boy, but his school results are not great and his younger sister Anna even struggles to read.

'We went to their house several times, and the mother promised that she would teach the children,' Alena Dzhioeva, Anna's teacher said, 'but they never have any money, nothing to buy school books with.'

World Vision started working in Sunzha village in Prigorodny region, North Ossetia when thousands of refugees from South Ossetia fled to the region. Many have returned home, but Prigorodny remains one of the poorest regions in the republic.

Unemployment levels are the fifth highest in Russia, with 31,000 of 102,000 people unemployed, according to the International Labour Organization. The number of refugees remaining since the first Ossetia-Georgia conflict (1991-1992) is one of the highest in Prigorodny. In 1992 the region saw inter-ethnic violence between Ingush and Ossetians living in the area. Tensions persist to this day.

In this economically-depressed region few opportunities exist for children. In October, World Vision Russian Federation will open a Child Friendly Space in the village of Sunzha funded by World Vision Korea. The CFS will give children like Roin and Anna a better chance to develop and receive the support they need to receive. This is the second CFS in Prigorodny – the first one was opened a year-and-a-half ago to provide a place for Ingush and Ossetian kids living in a mixed community to integrate in a safe environment.

* Items funded by the World Vision Germany Gift Catalogue. The Gift Catalogue provides an opportunity for people to give a 'humanitarian gift' benefiting vulnerable children and their communities, as opposed to the traditional direct gift.