There are so many things to remember about the war, I really don’t know which one to tell you. First of all, it was unbelievable for when neighbors started informing each other, “you know the war has started between the Georgians and Abkhazians”. I couldn’t believe that that was the truth. It was unreal. At first, I didn’t think it was a reality, but then I noticed people were moving and fleeing by cars. People were carrying bags, and some people were even taking furniture. People were carrying whatever they could and fleeing their homes. The next day, I didn’t want to leave my house, but Abkhazian people came to our village and lit the houses on fire and they were shooting. When we saw the houses burning, we knew we had to leave our homes. My brother arrived to Zugdidi by car, and together with my neighbors we packed only essential things and left our house. We had to cross the river, and as we were, the water rose and we thought we wouldn’t be able to cross, and we found ourselves in the middle of the river. Then we saw a tractor moving in our direction., and it also wasn’t able to cross the river. Then the tractor was able to help us drag our car out of the river, and after this we also helped other cars too. Then we reached the other side of the river. Of course, this was the Enguri river and it was rising, and we were scared that we would drown there. We were also afraid of Abkhazians too because they were shooting and opening fire behind us. While crossing this river, and running away, I could see the river carrying different people’s things that may have accidently been dropped. This was one of the most painful things for me to see. I noticed something that looked like a sponge—maybe from a piece of furniture, so I took it and put it in my car, and the other people said, “Are you crazy? Why do you need this?”. I worked in the kindergarten, so I took this because I thought that when I return to Abkhazia, I could make a toy or something out of this sponge. My relative told me, “Woman, what are you doing? Are you out of your mind? It’s time for this now?”. And he took it from me and threw it back into the river. And this I still remember even today. When we were on the other side of the Enguri river, we often visited the banks of this river and from there we could see how all the houses were burning in Abkhazia. Ourfather was killed there. He was shot. My brother-in-law was able to hide. He escaped to a field, but when he came back home, he saw that the father was lying on the floor. My father’s dead body was transferred to Zugdidi secretly. So, this was one sad story about my family, but if I start telling you stories about my relatives, my neighbors—it is so sad to remember them now—they went through more difficult situations. In the village of Nabakebi, in our neighbor’s house they killed 3 kids. I don’t even was to remember this now because it was such a tragedy and many people were killed in this war. I’m very nervous, and worrying about the fact that you can’t go back to your home, to your family, and when I remember the past and their difficulties and troubles, emotionally it makes me feel very heavy. The most important thing for me is that we are able to return back to our native land. I hope that it is temporary, everything will be ok, the problem will eb solved and that we will be able to return to Abkhazia soon. We must forgive each other for this war—Georgian and Abkhazian people. Unfortunately, both parties made mistakes, but we should fix it, forgive each other for the mistakes, and reconcile. Unfortunately, so many bad things happened in Abkhazia—I understand these kinds of things are normal during war. When Georgian, Abkhazian, and Megrelian people lived in one community they should always value one another and respect each other because they grew up together. If there were any offenses in the past, it should be forgotten and if we are able to go back to our native Abkhazia, we should be able to live again in peace and friendship. We must work hard to work for the welfare of ourselves and our country.