Back Alexandre

Alexandre (1) is a displaced person from Tskhinvali. At present he is living alone in the collective centre in Gori (2). He has children but they and their families live in different parts of Georgia. They too are IDPs and cannot help him because, like him, they have financial problems. Alexandre worked all his life and now he is heartbroken that he is in such a desperate situation in his old age. The story was recorded in Georgian.


"I never depended on anyone"

I had a wife and two children. My wife died here [in Tskhinvali] in 1965. My children grew up. My daughter got married here. My son and his family are refugees (IDPs) in Borjomi (3).

I was pretty content with my life... I had everything - food, drinks, clothes. Everything was enough. I’ve never been greedy and we had everything appropriate for middle-class people with a reasonable income.

I had my own two-storey house. It was adequately equipped. I never depended on anyone. I helped my relatives, my neighbours, everyone, whenever I could. I graduated from Tskhinvali Pedagogical Institute in 1949...I worked as a laboratory assistant for several years but the salary was too low. So I gave up working there and got a job at one of the state organisations of the Autonomous Region of South Ossetia.

Back to top"I left without even taking the key"

At the beginning I thought this conflict was ridiculous. I never imagined I would find myself in such a desperate situation. I even laughed at the possibility of such a tense relationship between us and the Ossetians. However, I had to leave... [The Ossetians] would come three or four times every night... They would take whatever I had, such as wine, bread, food, drink. They demanded everything and took it. We were forced to leave our home. I left without even taking the key... I thought I would return in a day or two and live a normal life. I took my children, my wife [from my second marriage]. I already had grandchildren. When we came here, we found shelter in this hotel... I took nothing with me... I left everything I had [in Tskhinvali].

I’ve been living here since [1999]. My wife died of a nervous breakdown on 11 July last year (2006)... So I’m left alone, not able to do anything...


Back to top"We should be together again"

What breaks my heart most of all is that this shouldn’t have happened between us and the Ossetians. We Georgians are not the kind of people who would make them - the Ossetians - find themselves in the unacceptable situation that we are in now. This is what breaks my heart. How could people who have been living together for so long...people who have spent all their lives together... - in the end, how could this have happened?

I don’t know what the future will be... I have no hope that I’ll live till we return. Otherwise, just as the nose can’t be separated from the face, the relationship between us and the Ossetians can’t end. We should be together again! We should forgive one another; we should hold our hands to one another. Because they can’t take our [homes], they can’t take them away. They should be here [in South Ossetia] with us. They should die here with us; they should be buried here with us.


Back to topFinancial assistance withdrawn

My thoughts and feelings are still with my house. Only the outer part of the house is left. They took everything away, broke and destroyed everything. Only the walls are left; only the walls and nothing else... I’ve already told you I was so traumatised by this situation that I lost the desire to live [stammering]. I am 83 and I wish my life would end as soon as possible. I’d like to die... I can’t stand this disaster any longer... This is my tortured, tortured life... I am isolated like this. I have nothing to do.

I’m left with this pension (4), which is 38 laris. (5) I’m very, very disappointed. For a while I was also given financial assistance for people living on the verge of poverty... I received it for a few months only. I have no other income. My children are hard up as well. There’s nothing to hide about it. My son is in Borjomi. He has a wife and children. He has brought them up. What assistance can I expect of him...? My daughter lives in Akhalgori. (6) She has her family to take care of. They can’t help me. They just drop in once in a while to see how I am doing and that’s all.

The authorities have cancelled my allowance although I’m living in such poor conditions. They came as if to check my living conditions, as if to see what I had, and cancelled the allowance. Sometimes I wake up at night and think: what wrong have I done? You know what reason they gave? They said it was because I had a television and a fridge.

The television - we bought it when my grandchild was born. My son bought it... It was second-hand [stammering]. Besides it’s broken. It doesn’t work... It just looks good when you look at it, but it’s completely broken. This fridge, this was also thrown away...it’s a very old fridge. I worked at that time and I got it repaired. I paid 60 laris for it. They told me that I had a fridge. But dear me, what can you get out of it if you haven’t put anything in it? Don’t you need money to put food in the fridge? This television can’t feed me. They’ve also told me that I’ve had more space [than I needed] since my wife died. How can they say this? How can they be so insolent? The room is just 12 square metres, no more.

I was going to make a complaint in Tbilisi; but I was stopped. I was told it wouldn’t work, that theirs is the last word. This has completely destroyed me spiritually and morally. They just brought me to the ground and kicked me instead of cheering me up. Now I have a pension of 38 laris and [an IDP] allowance of 11 laris. That’s all the assistance I receive. It’s impossible to live on that amount of money... Each kopek (7) is estimated... There are 30-31 days in a month. Now, how much money per day do you get? Besides, I find it difficult to live in the collective centre - noise...bad conditions...


Back to top"I want peace"

I’ve often wished to live in an isolated place, where I would be completely alone and where I would do whatever I want... It might be my fault as well, it might be the fault of my age as well. I’ll be 83 years old soon. I can’t stand arguments between women; especially between the neighbours. I can’t stand rows between children. I want peace. I wish I had something small somewhere where I could be on my own.

First of all I wish for everything to be all right. People are tired of so much trouble. We don’t have electricity in winter... We always pay; when it is not enough we collect money and pay; then the company give us electricity. But it’s not enough. They torment us just as they like. We are in a very bad state, especially during winter. As for water, it isn’t even worth talking about water... As if [lack of] electricity was not enough, they don’t give us water either. Our patience has already [stammering] reached the limit.


Back to top"This has broken my heart"

We cannot demonstrate initiative because we are weak. We can’t reach out... We have a lot of problems to settle. It’s impossible to bear this any longer. The government used to help us in a way. They used to provide us with either food or clothes or whatever... Everything has stopped. Well, what can I do at my age of 83? I’m not interested in anything. I just want my children and grandchildren to be fine, healthy. I think only about this, nothing else...

And one more thing. I’m hurt, I’m very hurt. I never expected such things from [Ossetians]. And another thing, that girl [from the State Assistance Program who carried out inspection] came and left me without anything to survive on... This has broken my heart. The lack of justice... Isn’t it enough that my wife died? [Laughs ironically] She told me that since my wife had died I acquired more space [than I needed]. Isn’t it enough that I’m left without anything? She said I had a fridge. But if you don’t put something in it, what will it give to you? How can it feed you...? She said I had a television. It seems that the television and the fridge can provide me with food, drink, clothes... How can they say this - how can they?


(1) Not his real name
(2) Town in Shida Kartli in eastern Georgia
(3) Resort in mid-east Georgia
(4) Pension for retired people; in addition to this he was involved in a poverty reduction programme and receiving the poverty allowance for a few months until lit was cancelled
(5) Georgian currency; 1 US dollar equals 1.6 laris
(6) Village in Shida Kartli near South Ossetia
(7) Currency used during the Soviet period
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