September 21, 2023
News
Temur Gugeshashvili together with his family started a new phase of life in Racha in 2008. Currently, he owns one of the most popular family hotels in the city of Oni and runs a woodworking workshop, in which he and his wife host children living in the villages of Oni municipality several times a week. Temur has big plans ahead – he is currently building a new hotel in the center of the city, in which, in addition to the hotel space, there will be a wooden workshop, a conference hall, and a restaurant.
A new stage of life in high mountains of Georgia
Temur Gugeshashvili lives in the small city of Oni in the high mountains of the Racha Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region of Georgia. Originally coming from Racha, he returned to his homeland city in 2008. After studying and working in the capital, he decided to open a small guesthouse here and started a new stage of life with his family. Artist's House – this is the name of the guesthouse located in the heart of Oni, which has become a favorite place for many visitors for more than 15 years.
While visiting the Artist’s House, you can find a lot of interesting things here – an Oda (the type of house you mostly meet in West Georgia) type of ancestral home with wooden ornaments and paintings created by the hosts; cellar, in which guests can taste wine pressed from traditional Georgian varieties of vine and Chacha (Georgian vodka) flavored with different wood aromas. For dinner, the hosts invited us to taste the Rachian dishes prepared by Mrs. Elena, our host's wife. Afterward, we sat down on a wooden chair made by the host and learned about the history and plans of the Artist's House.
"I returned to my father's land a long time ago and I like it very much here. During the years, I have met a lot of people – we host tourists, take them to the mountains, explore Racha with them, and present them with the things that are precious for us and which we are proud of. Most importantly, I do all this with my family, for which I am extremely grateful to them. I showed my talents and abilities more here – I work on wood, and I share my knowledge and experience with youth", – says Temur.
The Artist's House consists of two buildings – lower and upper buildings. In total, the family-type hotel can accommodate 18 guests at the same time. The visitor who comes here can learn about Racha's authentic architecture, traditions, history, and cuisine in one space. It turned out that this place does not lose its popularity for tourists not only in summer but also in winter – Gugeshashvili family often hosts winter extreme sports lovers and vacationers who are just in love with snowy Racha. During the cold season, they are using a heating system provided through the Caritas Czech Republic project – without this support, they would not be able to host guests in winter.
Woodworking workshop which now has the wastewater management infrastructure
In parallel with the hotel business, Temur Gugeshashvili runs a woodworking workshop, in which he teaches woodworking to youth living in the villages of Oni municipality. His wife, Elene, is an artist, too – she runs an art school and gives painting lessons to children. The workshop hosts local use several times a week.
The existing woodworking workshop is located on the first floor of the old municipal building, in a small space, and the existing infrastructure is outdated. Because of this, providing a suitable environment for students is associated with certain difficulties.
Temur Gugeshashvili and Elene Magrakvelidze have been looking for a solution for a long time that would allow them to offer the children learning conditions of modern standards. For this, they decided to move the workshop to the first floor of the newly built hotel – here the conditions are better and there is more space. However, the building is bordered by the River Rioni on one side, and it was necessary to think of a solution that would not pollute the environment with the wastewater of the workshop.
Soon Gugeshashvili family learned about the SlovakAid-supported project which is carried out by Caritas Czech Republic and Ekocentrum Sosna. The project aims to arrange the wastewater management infrastructure and improve water quality and resource management in Oni municipality. The Gugeshashvili family was interested in this initiative and asked Caritas Czech Republic project experts to visit their workshop.
After studying the problem of the Gugeshashvili family, the project experts selected the workshop as one of the target locations of the project activity. As a result, in the yard of the newly built hotel and woodworking workshop, a biological wastewater treatment facility was set up, which will serve the new workshop. The biological wastewater treatment facility is based on the method of cleaning liquid waste using microorganisms, as a result of which only clean water spills into the environment. Today, this approach is considered one of the best ways of waste management as a result of which only clean water remains.
Within the framework of the project, wastewater cleaning systems were arranged in several villages of the Oni municipality. In addition, in the spring of 2023, an assanization vehicle was handed over to Oni Municipality City Hall, which will help the municipality in running wastewater management infrastructure.
