A young girl in the makeshift Tbilisi refugee camp(Photo: © Merab Bolkvadze)Just three days after Russian tanks rolled into Georgia, one CMS partner was heading into the conflict zone: Merab Bolkvadze of Zarebi, an Orthodox humanitarian charity. He reports here in his own words the frustration and fear of the Georgian people and his own personal view of the situation
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In the early morning of 11 August Merab arrived in the bombed out city of Gori. Though outside the contested region of South Ossetia, many of the buildings were burned and ruined.
Most of the population had fled but Merab met the local bishop, Andrew Gvazava, himself a refugee from Georgia’s other breakaway region, Abkhazia, since 1993.
Merab takes up the story:
“Bishop Andrew told us how much the situation was hard as the city had been bombarded since 9 August, several times a day. There were too many wounded and many dead among the civilians.
“The bishop directed us to help the hospital personnel who were working in the most difficult conditions and provided first aid to the wounded.
A priest conducts baptisms for IDPs(Photo: © Merab Bolkvadze)
“When we arrived to Gori hospital, we saw the dreadful picture…We began to help the hospital personnel in carrying the dead or wounded that had been brought every minute by vehicles. The priests were reading prayers and putting crosses with Holy Oil on wounded people and medical personnel.
“Though the city was under bombs, we still were planning to stay in and provide necessary help, but by nine o’clock in the evening we were informed that the Russian regular army and hired boyeviks (fighters or mercenaries) were entering the city with heavy artillery and we’d better leave.
“In a rush we managed to evacuate the wounded, but as the situation was escalating too rapidly we failed to look after the corpses, leaving them in the morgue.”
Return to Soviet times?
Merab and his companions returned to Tbilisi, the capital, with heavy hearts.
“It seemed that Russian tanks were about to attack Tbilisi that night. The suburbs had been under shells everyday since the invasion. All this mess was known to me from the war in Abkhazia and could not make out whether it will ever stop. The only thing I knew was that I didn’t want to go back to the Soviet period. The danger of it was real.
“As I knew nothing about my family: my wife and seven kids, who were in West Georgia in the village 20 km away from Poti City, which was also under Russian shells and with artillery in there, I was too nervous. We could not even phone each other.
“With the blessing of the Patriarch of Georgia there were held long prayers for peace in every active church.
“Next day in the church of my district I saw more than 500 internally displaced people (IDPs) gathered and requesting aid, as they failed to take anything from homes, except the clothes they were dressed in.
“First of all they had to be sheltered somewhere. Zarebi was not ready for this occasion. We had no financial means. But we managed to do mobilization of volunteers. We got the permission from the local government to place the refugees in the school building. Currently Georgian students are on holidays.
“We asked the parish to provide the refugees with any kind of help. The mattresses, blankets and food were needed. The food problem we managed, but providing with living conditions was too difficult. There were many women and kids among refugees and they needed beds. Most of them sleep on chairs, tables, or on the floor.
Baptisms
“A few days later international humanitarian aid was delivered. It made our job easier, though the aid is not enough. The IDPs still are living in the heavy conditions, although the hardest period is over.
“We meet the refugees every day, help them, encourage them, and pray together with them. There were many among the refugees not been baptized. On Sunday we organized a baptizing event and many turned Christians.
“Currently there are more than 100,800 IDPs from Tkhinvali, and surrounding villages and cities.
“Today Georgia in no longer shelled, but its infrastructure, in East or West, is badly destroyed by Russian regular army. In the tourism destinations they threw firing bombs and burnt the most valuable forests. The central road that connects West Georgia to East Georgia is blocked by the Russian army. Just now I am hearing that they are leaving…
“We are very much hoping for the aid from the international organizations and hope the peace will come.
“I think this was the last attempt to rebuild the Soviet Union, and the freedom and democracy will win not only in Georgia, but also in Russia.”