"Mark and I are safe," Lisa Lebowitz wrote in an e-mail Monday. "Today we traveled with the 81 other Peace Corps Georgia volunteers to Armenia. It was a 12-hour trip. We are devastated about what is happening to all our families and friends in Georgia. We will be here for up to two weeks while it is determined whether it is safe for us to return, and if not, what we will do next." "Russia had already bombed parts of Zugdidi, their town, and much of Gori was leveled," Rudnick said. "Mark was evacuated from Gori, where he was in a meeting just before the bombing started," Rudnick said. "[He] sounded stressed when he described the rockets in the air as he was leaving. "Mark does not expect the United States to come to the aid of Georgia," Rudnick said. "Mark said Georgia has no army to fight the Russians."
Peace Corps Volunteers Mark and Lisa Lebowitz have been safely evacuated from war-torn Georgia to Armenia
Peace Corps family finds shelter
By MARIA McBRIDE BUCCIFERRO, For The Saratogian
08/13/2008
GANSEVOORT - Mark and Lisa Lebowitz, Peace Corps volunteers from Gansevoort, have been safely evacuated from war-torn Georgia to Armenia. But their family's joy is tempered by the suffering left behind.
On Tuesday, Russia ordered a halt to the land and air bombardments that decimated the Georgian military for five days, though Georgia reported strikes continued after the announcement. The death toll from the conflict is undetermined, and tens of thousands of refugees have fled to other parts of the country or have left entirely in the wake of Georgia's ill-begotten attempt to exert control over a separatist province.
"Mark and I are safe," Lisa Lebowitz wrote in an e-mail Monday. "Today we traveled with the 81 other Peace Corps Georgia volunteers to Armenia. It was a 12-hour trip. We are devastated about what is happening to all our families and friends in Georgia. We will be here for up to two weeks while it is determined whether it is safe for us to return, and if not, what we will do next."
Mark Lebowitz, an attorney in Glens Falls, his wife, Lisa, a former teacher in Lake George, and their son, Drew, were first evacuated to the mountain resort city of Bakuriani in Georgia on Saturday to escape the Russian bombardment. All three were in separate parts of the country when the conflict broke out.
The Lebowitzes visited Gori, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, about a week ago when their children - Craig, Drew and Molly - visited.
Mark spoke on the phone late Saturday with his friend Marvin Rudnick, an attorney in Pasadena, Calif.
"Russia had already bombed parts of Zugdidi, their town, and much of Gori was leveled," Rudnick said. "Mark was evacuated from Gori, where he was in a meeting just before the bombing started," Rudnick said. "[He] sounded stressed when he described the rockets in the air as he was leaving.
"Mark does not expect the United States to come to the aid of Georgia," Rudnick said. "Mark said Georgia has no army to fight the Russians."
News reports said convoys of Americans and relatives of American diplomats left the capital of Tbilisi Monday for Armenia, but Molly Lebowitz, who was home in Seattle, did not say how her parents got out.
"Of course I'm very glad to hear that my parents are fully out of harm's way," she said. "Mostly, we are now mainly concerned with how the Georgians themselves are faring - especially the wonderful and kind people that have taken my parents in as almost family in both Gori and Zugdidi," she said.
Her parents have another year of duty with the Peace Corps.
"I hope that their service does not have to end this way. They will find out soon whether they may be able to stay or if they must depart for home."
Howard Lebowitz, Mark Lebowitz's cousin, was happy the family is safe, but acknowledged it must be a sad experience. Although Mark and Lisa learned to speak Georgian fluently, they could not translate the fast-speaking news reporters on Georgian TV.
"The only news they're getting is a briefing from the Peace Corps every couple days. They don't even really know what's going on," Howard said.
©The Saratogian 2008
