We live under constant pressure, we're afraid that we will be turned out of here; we don't know what will happen next. You can see what’s going on in different places; they're turning people out everywhere. Nobody has said anything officially, but generally people are [talking about the issue of privatisation. People are afraid that they will be deceived, that the documents they're given will be fraudulent, and things like that. No investor has appeared yet. If there is an investor, maybe things will finally become clear. Otherwise we don't know yet whether we'll be moved elsewhere or, if we do leave, whether they'll give us some kind of a compensation. The main thing is to buy something with the money they will give us.

I remember when we first arrived in Tbilisi, it was possible to buy an apartment for 3,000-4,000 [US dollars]. Now the prices are so high that it is impossible to buy anything even for the 7,000 [dollars] usually offered usually by investors. I am a mother of four children and there are six of us living in this family - how are we going to live in one-room apartment? And, in general, will it be possible to buy an apartment for 7,000 [dollars]Read more

Inga, 38 years

All my grandchildren were born here, apart from the older one. They study here. The head of the school in Tskneti received us very well; she never left us without attention. But I don’t know what will happen now, if we are evicted and thrown out somewhere else [as a result of privatisation]. We are used to our neighbours from Gali, Sukhumi, Gulripshi, well, from Ochamchire. We survive by staying together… We are used to one another and we don’t want to be separated until we return to Abkhazia. We won’t manage to buy anything. How can we buy anything? What can we buy on 11 laris and 38 laris [a month]?

My son is a маршутка (‘minibus driver’ in Russian). And we make ends meet with that. However, they might cancel the route. What can we do then? They don’t want the маршутка to work. The authorities here don’t want that. I don’t know what we’ll do. We’ll be left with our mouths open like starlings [with nothing to eat].

Now I don’t know what will happen to us. I think [pauses]…someone wants to purchase our houses. We might once again become refugees (IDPs). Where shall we go? There are six of us, and where shall we go, where?

It will be difficult for us to go somewhere else. We are used to one another. Our children have grown up side by side. We rely on one another. I am sick, I have high blood pressure. I spend every night thinking about where to go, how to help my children. What can a sick woman like me do?

Or what can you buy? [Pauses] After they vacated the Iveria and the Adjara [hotels] the price of houses increased. Previously, you could buy a two-room flat for 5,000 [US dollars]. Now it costs 20,000. What can you buy with 7,000 or 8,000 [dollars of compensation money]. Where shall we take the children, or where shall we go? I wish they'd leave us alone. Whether it’s good here or bad, we’re used to it. We’ve lived here for so many years.

But well, everything depends on the government. They can throw us out of here or they can leave us here as they please. There was some talk that they wouldn’t touch us until the return took place. I hope that's true. All I want is to go to Sukhumi. I’d like to bury my son and my husband in the cemetery. I want to die there too… I don’t want to leave them without anyone taking care of their graves. They have no one there to light candles in their memory.Read more

Tsisana, 65 years

It’s very difficult to live here in the collective centre. They came the other day to carry out the registration process as they’re going to evict us. We held protest meetings… No one knows what’s going to happen… We don’t know when we’ll get thrown out of here. We can’t do repairs or anything. Every three months we expect to be evicted. Even changing the wallpaper makes no sense in view of the money wasted. I’m scared. I constantly worry about food. What will we eat today? What will we eat tomorrow?Read more

Roza, 65 years

It’s appalling that force is used to throw IDPs out of collective centres [when they are sold to private investors, privatisation]. This is no different from the behaviour of the Abkhazians and the Russians. Our government treats us the way the Russians did. So far we haven’t been threatened with being thrown out. However, I expect that to happen. It sometimes happens that the IDPs don’t know who to appeal to when there’s trouble. Actually they are in a passive state. They think they are not threatened with eviction, so they stay put.Read more

Eliso, 27 years