Name Sandra Roelofs | Role Linguist | |
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Full Name Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs Born 23 December 1968 (age 55) ( 1968-12-23 ) Terneuzen, the Netherlands Term 25 January 2004 – 25 November 2007, 20 January 2008 – 17 November 2013 Spouse Mikheil Saakashvili (m. 1993) Marriage location Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States Children Nikoloz Saakashvili, Eduard Saakashvili Books The First Lady of Georgia: The Story of an Idealist People also search for Mikheil Saakashvili, Giuli Alasania, Nikoloz Saakashvili, Eduard Saakashvili | ||
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Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs Saakashvili (born 23 December 1968) is a Dutch linguist and was the First Lady of Georgia from 2004 to 2013, when her husband Mikheil Saakashvili was president of the country.
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Sandra Roelofs, first lady van Georgië, vertelt haar verhaal in Zeeuws Goud
Biography
Sandra E. Roelofs was born in Terneuzen, Netherlands. In 1991 she graduated in French and German languages from the Erasmushogeschool in Brussels and in 1993 attended courses at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg. She met Mikheil Saakashvili in 1993 in Strasbourg and later that year moved to New York where she worked at Columbia University and a Dutch law firm. In 1996 the couple came to Georgia, where Roelofs worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Consulate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tbilisi.
From 1999 to 2003, Sandra E. Roelofs was a visiting lecturer French language at Tbilisi State University and was a radio correspondent for Dutch radio. Beyond her native Dutch, Sandra E. Roelofs speaks French, English, German, Russian, and Georgian.
Roelofs acquired Georgian citizenship in January 2008 and is now a dual Dutch-Georgian citizen.
Roelofs and Saakashvili have two sons, Eduard (b. 1995) and Nikoloz (b. 2005).
She is an author of an autobiographic book The Story of an Idealist (2005). The book is translated into Georgian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Turkish and English language.
Charity work
In 1998 Roelofs founded charity foundation SOCO which has the primary focus of implementing the programs funded by western European and Georgian companies and individuals and is aimed at supporting low income families. Since setting new targets in 2007, SOCO has been actively taking care of reproductive health and child welfare in Georgia. In 2007 Mrs. Roelofs founded Radio Muza, the first Georgian radio dedicated solely to classical music.which functioned until 2014. During her period as first lady of Georgia, she was Stop TB Partnership Ambassador as well as a Goodwill Ambassador promoting Milenium Development Goald for WHO Europe. She was serving at the Board of the Global Fund fighting Aids, TB and Malaria from 2012-2015. Sandra E. Roelofs set up breast and cervical cancer screening programs in Georgia, as well as prenatal screening and promoted palliative care and awareness about rare diseases, safety belts and healthy lifestyle.