A heavy burden Internally Displaced in Georgia: Stories of People from Abkhazia and South Ossetia A heavy burden Internally Displaced in Georgia: Stories of People from Abkhazia and South Ossetia Acknowledgement Mary Kumsiashvili, Russian editor Tina Chkheidze, Georgian editor The completion of life stories, which culminates in the publication of this book, would not have Panos London, Olivia Bennett been possible without the participation of many Panos London, Wendy Davies IDMC, Beata Skwarska people, in particular, the displaced people who IDMC, Edmund Jennings opened their hearts and told their stories. We are English Editors profoundly grateful to them. Without them this Maya Darchia, Georgian translator book and the whole IDP Voices project presented at the web site www.idpvoices.org would not exist. Mari Manvelishvili, Russian translator We also would like to thank the non-governmental Irakli Khutsishvili, Layout organisations involved in this project for offering human resources and facilitating contacts with a Publishing house “Siesta” , Printing large number of the narrators. Photographs: Finally the project was made possible by the The photographs that appear in this book are not the interviewees. contributions of many other people committed to the displaced population in Georgia, including Photograph front cover: Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We would especially Heidi Bradner, Panos Picture like to thank: A Georgian woman hauls a bag of belongings over the Abkhazia-Georgia border, via a footbridge over the Inguiri River, after fleeing an outbreak of fighting between Georgian partisans and Abkhaz x Local NGOs involved: “Atinati”, IDP women’s forces in the Galsky region. association “Consent”, IDP Teachers’ Union Photograph page 22 (bottom, right), 104: “Lampari”. Panos Picture x Manana Gabashvili Photograph back cover and page 84, 85: x Margaret Vikki Yola Monakhov, Panos Picture x Siobhan Warrington x Keren Ghitis Photograph page 52, 53: Heidi Bradner, Panos Picture x Greta Zeender x Matthias Thiemig Photograph page 23 (left, top), 62, 76, 77: x All NRC Georgia country office staff Oleg Klimov, Panos Picture Photograph page 20, 40, 41, 48, 49, 72, 73, 90, 91: Special thanks to our donors for their support in Julia Komissaroff this project, which made the publication of this Project on refugees in Caucasus book possible: Statoil/Hydro (via NRC Georgia) Photograph page 32, 33: and (via IDMC) Australia’s AusAID, Canada’s DFAIT, Photo by Ingvil Marstein the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Photograph page 26, 27: Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and South Daro Sulakauri Africa, Sweden’s Sida , Switzerland’s MFA, Stichting Vluchteling, the United Kingdom’s DFID, and Photograph page 22 (left, top), 63: Manana Gabashvili UNHCR. Photograph page 105: ISBN: 978-9941-9021-1-6 Tamar Tavartkiladze Photograph page 24 (right, top): Anne-Sophie Lois Keren Ghitis IDMC, Director of the IDP Voices Project Photograph page 23 (top, right), 96, 97, 108, 109: NRC archive. Tamar Tavartkiladze NRC Georgia, Project Coordinator Partial or total reproduction of the texts is permitted as long as the sources and authors are cited. Distributed without charge. CONTENTS Prologue ...................................................................................................................7 Team of interviewers............................................................................................9 Selecting and editing the testimonies ........................................................12 Glossary...................................................................................................................14 LIFE STORIES In Displacement Teah .........................................................................................................................27 Peter.........................................................................................................................33 Engurdaleuli..........................................................................................................41 Inga...........................................................................................................................49 Temuri......................................................................................................................53 Mzia..........................................................................................................................63 Alexandre ..............................................................................................................73 Rosa ........................................................................................................................77 Eliso ..........................................................................................................................85 In Conflict Zones Zurab .......................................................................................................................91 Tamar ......................................................................................................................97 Ekaterina .............................................................................................................105 Zuriko....................................................................................................................109 5 GEORGIA C a u Gagra c ABKHAZETI a RUSSIAN FEDERATION Gudauta (ABKHAZIA) s u Mestia Sukhumi ZEMO SVANETI s Tqvarcheli Lentekhi M Ochamchira RACHA- o Gali LECHKHUMI u Zugdidi n Ambrolauri t SAMEGRELO Mleta Pasanauri BLACK Senaki Kurta a Kutaisi IMERETI MTSKHETA- Poti i SEA Samtredia Tskhinvali MTIANETI Zestaponi SHIDA Akhmeta n Dusheti GURIA Khashuri KARTLI Ozurgeti Gori Borjomi Mtskheta Telavi KAKHETI Gurjaani AJARA T'bilisi Batumi (AJARIA) Akhaltsikhe Rustavi Vale Marneuli SAMTSKHE- Bolnisi Dedoplis JAVAKHETI KVEMO KARTLI Tsqaro TURKEY ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN 6 PROLOGUE When did you last listen to a displaced person and conflict and forcible displacement. They all had a good grasp the impact of displacement? Did you ever think knowledge of displacement, either through their what it means to lose close family members in conflict, work or through first-hand experience. The project lose all your belongings and to be uprooted from gave them the opportunity to develop oral testimony your place of origin? This book invites you to explore skills, to collect life stories and also to contribute in the personal reality of a protracted displacement planning and compiling the stories. situation. Thirteen individual accounts from Georgia, A total of 59 interviews were completed, 29 of which Abkhazia and South Ossetia give us an insight into were selected and edited for the website and 13 for the reality of conflict and displacement. These direct this book. Through participatory training workshops voices have the power to cut through prejudice and on oral testimony, the participants learned to carry political agendas, they speak for themselves. out open interviews, to listen, and to handle sensitive The focus is on universal human experiences and information. They were also trained to manage the responses, not specific political issues. By reading what psychological impact on the narrator and themselves. the displaced people themselves want to tell us, we The interviewers helped to identify themes for may learn what is important to them and what issues the interviews and develop ethical guidelines and they are particularly concerned about. The process of appropriate security policies. Two review meetings collecting these stories, whereby trained interviewers enabled the interviewers to give feedback on their allowed the displaced individuals to direct the course experience and adapt the focus, carry out initial analysis of the narrative, allowed unexpected facts and ideas of the life stories, develop ideas for dissemination, and to emerge. It allows us to glean the reality behind identify advocacy targets. Through this project the generalised notions of displacement. The stories voices of the displaced, who are normally not listened stand alone with little analysis added – their power to, have been heard, recorded on tape, transcribed lies in their offering of images, a voice, sensations, word by word, read by a reading committee, selected feelings, hopes and dreams. The stories gathered in and then carefully edited in order not to change the these pages complement more factual and analytical atmosphere and personal flavour (see Selecting and data from sources other than the IDPs themselves. editing the testimonies). This book has been developed jointly by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC); Norwegian To be involved in an IDP Voices project is an Refugee Council in Georgia and Panos London’s empowering process and makes people change. For Oral Testimony Programme, and is part of the larger the individuals involved, the interviewers and the endeavour to capture IDP voices worldwide. You can narrators, the experience of undertaking a life story also listen to and read these and more stories from interview can be invaluable. For people who were not the IDP Voices project at the website www.idpvoices. being heard, having the space to tell their story in the org. way they want to tell it and sharing their thoughts with an interviewer who has themselves experienced The life stories were collected by 16 interviewers internal displacement, was often a delicate and selected from different communities affected by significant experience. 7 This collection of stories