They say that experience opens the way to a better life. They say that experience challenges you to be successful and makes you stronger. Now I would like to retell the experience that I underwent during the war in Abkhazia. But the experience that I went through, even if it makes you successful, I don’t wish it upon anyone. A lot of IDP go through these experiences and they have a lot of painful stories to tell. There a lot of painful stories that I will take with me to my grave. I would like to share with you a sensitive moment that I thought of just now. When the war started, I was a young teacher. I was teaching in Narinjovani’s secondary school. It was one of the best secondary schools in that region in that time. I graduated from that school and I became a teacher there when the war started. It was the beginning of the new school year and the halls were decorated and I was head teacher of the 10th grade class. It was Saturday and the school classrooms were ready, and on Monday we would start learning. At that time Sokhumi was already in the war, and Sokhumi streets were like a battlefield. In Gali they wanted to start school, as long as the war in Sokhumi would allow them to do so. On this same Saturday we heard stress signals. I was living in a beautiful place in the center of Gali near a sports base that was important internationally as many competitions were held there for canoeing. Lots of international people visited Gali in this period. I would like to point out that this place was important because the majority of international and local people gathered in this place and exactly at 8 o’clock in the evening there were stress signals which came from a central office. This was the first time I ever heard a stress signal. Dogs were howling and signals from the radio station. We were so confused and scared and women started shouting and children starting crying. That was such a heavy and difficult thing to recall. We started getting in the cars without any belongings, we didn’t bring anything with us because many people were packing into cars to fit as many people as possible and we began fleeing. The cars were trying to flee this territory faster. Within my region without one hour everybody left, about 5,000 people. People started fleeing from the other villages as well. It was 10 minutes to drive to the border at Enguri in a normal situation but that day there was a traffic jam, roads were blocked, there were lots of pregnant people too. Many people were just dropping there belonging and leaving them behind as it was overcrowded. They began trying to cross the border by foot. I would like to tell you about Bidzina Ortkhozoria, who was the director of my school at that time. He helped me a lot and always supported me, and if I am a successful person, it is because of him. He was a great and kind man to everyone, and he refused to leave his homeland. He also conducted lectures at Sokhumi university. He couldn’t imagine his Abkhazian colleagues and students ever doing any harm to Georgians. He ever encouraged them to stay in their homeland and not to flee their homes, saying, “don’t worry, they won’t do anything bad to ordinary people. Let’s stay here, let’s meet them here”, and he stayed there with his wife. Bidzina had a meeting together and he made a speech at the District Committee, together with Georgian and Abkhazian authorities and said “we are brothers, what are you doing? How can we do this to each other?”, and he encouraged people to stop the war against each other. On this night we found out that his home was destroyed and burned and they disappeared without a trace. I am so sorry for Bidzina because he really did love his country. I loved him as if he was my own father and I am always worrying about this. He loved and appreciated Abkhazian people. I am telling this story because I can’t imagine that there would be so many people who were heroes, like Bidzina, whom were killed. I am sure that Abkhazian people couldn’t have done it, I believe Russian people did this to him. Bidzina was mercilessly killed. At that period, they said it was Abkhazian-Georgian war, but now we know they were Russians. Today we know it was a Russian-Georgian war. Today for me, the most important thing is my memories and these memories are sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter. These are memories about my past life and my friends, our jobs, daily lives. The pain I have suffered from up until now are my colorful dreams that could never come true. I had lots of dreams and I wasn’t able to make them come true. If normal people can’t make their dreams come true…if there is no war and you live in normal conditions and you still can’t make your dreams come true, then you have no one else to blame but yourself. Now I blame Russian aggression, for my not being able to make my dreams come true. If there was no war in Abkhazia, I would live a different life. I would be living happily in my homeland with my friends, with my colleagues, I would achieve more success. Even family members were scattered and I lost some. I had to undergo and face many different challenges and hardships and this kept me from realizing my dreams. My brothers died and this lose caused many obstacles. The older I get, the more all these things hurt me. Maybe I don’t have financial problems, but even our country’s social, political and economic problems can be blamed on Russia. I am not able to visit the graves of my parents and brothers in Abkhazia. My brothers passed away in different Russian cities but they are buried in Abkhazia and the funeral was in Gali. We wanted to bury the bodies in our homeland but we were not allowed to go to Abkhazia, so we had to carry these dead bodies in coffins from Zugdidi to Gali through the forests. Their last wish was to be buried in Gali and we walked 11 km through Pichouri forest. There were swamps and we had to go through these swamps on foot. My son was little and I didn’t have a husband and he wanted to support me because he saw me in tears. At only 15 years old he was putting his own life in danger. Yes, today I live like a normal person in normal conditions. I won’t say that now I am living under this stress today, but I visited a psychologist to heal from all of this. Now I am participating in many projects because I want to be a strong woman and to pursue my goals and achieve something good. I want to heal and help other people who are in need. Every day I remember Abkhazia, even if it’s for a short time. It doesn’t matter how happy I am today, there are moments that always remind me of Abkhazia. And still today, I live in pain and constant longing and nostalgia. I am an optimistic person and after 30 years, still I hope one day I will live in Abkhazia and that this Russian occupation will finish and I am sure that one day Russia will give in. I am sure that this Russian empire will be destroyed, maybe the word empire is not correct, but for me and Georgian people Russia is an empire and it will end one day and we will have a possibility that Georgian and Abkhazian people will hug each other and live in peace and one day rebuild and reconstruct this heaven. Abkhazia is heaven because it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I really want to join the EU, and this union could make it possible to have Abkhazia returned. I wish Georgia has the possibility to develop with European countries and the USA. I am involved in different project and I know how the European countries and the US try to support Georgia to further progress and develop and they support us. They support us to be a stronger more united country. Together with European countries and the US we can overcome our difficulties and to get back our lost territories.