Javakheti

The mountains of Javakheti, along Georgia's southern border, hold some of the country's most beautiful scenery -- but also, among its ethnic Armenian population, some of the country's most wrenching poverty. The Georgian government has invested in road construction projects, relying in part on U.S. aid, to link this long-marginalized region to Tbilisi and other important markets. Residents complain of Georgian-language requirements for entry to national universities and employment discrimination. The work crews improving the main mountain roads, for example, are almost exclusively ethnic Georgian.