Georgia’s First Lady – Sandra Roelofs

It was the Summer of 1992 when Sandra Roelofs arrived in Georgia for the first time in her life. With two Flamindian brothers and translator, she was hosted by a Georgian friend in Kutaisi. These several days spent in Georgia’s second largest city were enough for her to become fascinated with Georgian culture and hospitality. She later recalls those ten days as very impressive and unforgettable. After leaving Georgia, she couldn’t imagine that very soon her fate would connect her to this country forever. Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs was born in Terneuzen, a small town in the Netherlands on the 23rd of December of 1968. She spent her childhood with her warm family – her parents and a brother. Magdalena and Eduard Roelofses baptized their children in early childhood and inspired them the faith of God. The family used to live a sportive and sound lifestyle. Sailing and cycling were Eduard Roelofs’s favourite occupation. They even had their own yacht and Sandra and her brother Ekbert used to sail in the North Sea with their father. One of the main priority for Sandra’s parents was the education of their children. So they gave Sandra and Ekbert a good education from the beginning and that played an important role in their future achievements. Sandra became a specialist in French and German languages. Besides, she also studied English and after arriving in Georgia, Russian and Georgian languages too. One day Sandra was arranging newspapers and bulletins, when she suddenly found an announcement – there was a one-month course about Human Rights in Strasburg. She got interested, applied and in June of 1993 she was sitting in a train towards Strasburg. Destiny was taking her to the place where she would meet her prince with a rose in his hands… After a month Sandra and Mikheil were madly in love with each other, but they had to say good-bye and return to their places.


Unusual marriage

But the separation didn’t last long. In November Sandra moved to New York and they got married on the 17th. The first two years of cohabitation they lived in New York because Misha was then a student at Columbia University. They had to change living places for several times and their living conditions weren’t the best, but Sandra was adapting this situation obediently, because she knew that it was necessary for her husband’s future achievements. In July of 1995 Sandra and Misha arrived in Tbilisi for several days to have a Georgian wedding. This was Sandra’s second visit to Georgia, but this one was more emotional and exciting. She wondered whether Misha’s relatives would like her or not. Before leaving New York, she sent wedding invitations to her friends. “My friends probably would be astonished receiving an invitation from a person who was born in the Netherlands, studied French and German in Belgium, met her fiancée in France, went to USA to live there and now was getting married in Georgia!” The wedding was really splendid and the couple returned to New York until 1995. Sandra was active, full of energy and was always trying to find new, interesting things in life. Before becoming the first lady of Georgia, she had tried many different jobs. She had been working almost everywhere – starting at a New York restaurant and ending up at University. Working as a translator of German and English languages was a little boring for her. She wanted something more energetic where she could apply her organizational talent. That’s why, one fine day, she decided to start working in the IRCC (International Red Cross Committee) in Belgium. Starting as a volunteer, she became a staff member. She continued cooperating with IRCC after arriving in Georgia too. While living in New York, Sandra and Misha didn’t have a comfortable life. They had a low income. Of course, the bursary Misha was receiving wasn’t enough and Sandra’s work was very important for them. She was moving from place to place. At first she started working in Unicef Metropolitan and later found a job at Columbia University, she even had to sell pizzas until she found a permanent job in a juridical firm as a secretary. Meanwhile her husband was studying and getting interested in politics. After Misha’s graduation, the couple moved to Georgia. While adapting to a new living place, Sandra began to look for a job. She worked in the Consulate of the Netherlands for three years. She was also teaching French at Tbilisi State University. In other words, she had a huge working experience but her field of interest had always been in the humanitarian field. At that time, social conditions in Georgia were dire. Lots of people needed humanitarian help and Sandra soon found a way out.


SOCO

In 1998 a charitable humanitarian centre named SOCO was established on the initiative of Sandra Roelofs. The aim of the organization was to help poor people, orphan children and singletons materially and morally. The name SOCO is not an abbreviation or a short name of something. As Sandra said, she gave this name to her organization because she just liked the sonority of letters. “I featured the letters on SOCO’s emblem with blue, red, black and green colours. This has a deep symbolical importance for me. This shows the way, how I started humanitarian activities in Georgia. Blue S – means a huge desire of adventures, traveling and finding new cultures, that brought me to Georgia the first time in 1992; Red O – meaning love, that connected me to a Georgian man; C – is black, because I think this is the colour of faith, religion and Christian values are very important and respectable for me; and last O, which has a green colour, means hope, hope and better future for Georgia…”. This Humanitarian organization has a very important place in Sandra’s life. Meanwhile Sandra’s husband Mikheil Saakashvili was becoming more and more successful and popular politician. After moving in Tbilisi in 1995, Misha got actively involved in political activities. At first he was a deputy, then a chairman of Tbilisi’s municipality, Ministry of justice and finally was inaugurated as a president of Georgia. It’s impossible not to mention Sandra’s participation in Misha’s progression.


Rose Revolution

It’s well-known, that anyone, who is aspiring to reach the top, needs a strong, clever and reliable person aside. Sandra was always doing her best to sustain her husband and was a suitable mate. After the Rose Revolution in 2003, under the status of Georgia’s first lady, she wrote a book about her life, which has been translated into several languages. In the book, named The story of an Idealist, Sandra describes those emotions and excitements, which were connected with Misha’s political achievements and she is proud of being part of her husbands success. Nowadays Sandra continues to make charity projects with SOCO. She planes more and more arrangements and projects in Georgian people’s benefit. A huge part of her time is conceded to her children – Eduard and Nikoloz. Sandra is deeply in love with Georgia. She calls is her second motherland. She sincerely cares about the future of Georgia and thinks it’s her duty to do something for its development and progress. In her book, she writes: “As it’s said, it’s easier to reach the top, than staying there. That means that there are more obstacles ahead. We will try everything. It’s a great honour to be in the head of a country like Georgia. It’s an honour to serve the Georgian nation, which deserves a much better future than the one it has endured in the past year. Cheers to Georgia!”

Information From: weastmagazine.net