Khurvaleti, Village Broken In Two Pieces
The feeling of occupation comes there, near the border... Watching a barbed wire fence erected by Russian border guards through Georgian villages. Feeling of powerlessness that you can't change anything. There on the other side of Khurvaleti, they have only one wish for the new year not to see the boarders when they wake up and walk freely on their homeland.
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For now, Khurvaleti borders Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia). After Russia-Georgia war in August 2008, Russian border guards set a new Administrative Boundary Line here through Georgian villages and announced it was the new "state border". After that people left their houses but some of them couldn't leave their places and let "them" destroy it. Nowadays, any attempt of Georgian villagers to cross the barbed wire fence is treated as "violation of the state border" and those people who violate this are arrested and taken to Tskhinvali prison.
One of the people behind the barbed wire is David Vanishvili, 86. He lives with his wife, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The wife is lying in bed because of her illness and as David Vanishvili says her only desire is to take over the border. "As soon as the occupants pick up the barbed wire, my wife will immediately recover and get out of bed".
Mariam Kekelashvili, 84, one of the lonely elderlies in Khurvaleti village.
The old woman's only income is a pension. As she points out, it is difficult to move around, she has never been across the border and rarely goes out of his own yard because of health issues. Mariam Kekelashvili receives no assistance from the state and cannot afford universal insurance: "I can't go to the hospital, I don't get tests, I don't even have medications."
The old woman's only income is a pension. As she points out, it is difficult to move around, she has never been across the border and rarely goes out of his own yard because of health issues. Mariam Kekelashvili receives no assistance from the state and cannot afford universal insurance: "I can't go to the hospital, I don't get tests, I don't even have medications."
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Lili Fitskhelauri, 63, lives in the village Khurvaleti with her sister. As she explains they have a big problem in the village, as they are not supplied with water and have to bring bottled drinking water from the small stream...
European Union Monitoring Mission danish representative, who is in the mission for three months, stated that times to time they contact with locals to know about their concerns.
"Sometimes they are frustrated because of this ABL (Administrative Boundary Line) and not being able to cross the border if they have relatives on the other side," he said.
The mission is doing observations along the border line sometimes in daily basis, sometimes in different periods regarding to situation. The main aim is to find out if there are any changes and movements on the other side. "We hope to build confidence between two sides, because we don't want the tension rise again and we don't want any hostilities to break out," he said calling the current situation as "quite calm". They were there to do some observations, make a report for EU countries to be aware of what is happening in Georgia-South Ossetia border.
What about the situation on the other side, EUMM doesn't have information, because they are not allowed to observe over there. "We would like to go to other side, but the South Ossetians won't let us to go there, if they would, we will go there".
What about the situation on the other side, EUMM doesn't have information, because they are not allowed to observe over there. "We would like to go to other side, but the South Ossetians won't let us to go there, if they would, we will go there".
Meet our team
Mariam Alikhanashvili
Journalist
Mariam Iremadze
Camera
Ani Nazaryan
Journalist
Maxime Baqradze
Photographer
