Eyewitness - a young widow in Georgia

Eyewitness – a young widow in Georgia

Although Tamuna was afraid to leave her husband behind when she fled Georgia’s recent conflict, she never imagined it would be the last time she would see him alive.

Now the 19-year-old hopes that her unborn baby is a boy, so that she can name him after his father.

The young mother-to-be is taking refuge at a shelter for displaced people in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

She told World Vision staff that her husband, Dato, and his brother stayed behind to secure their home as fighting escalated. Dato was killed during shelling in the Gori region.

His brother buried him in the yard of their house before fleeing the village through the forest.

“When I saw his face I knew something terrible had happened, but I didn’t think that Dato had died,” says Tamuna.

Tragedy

A former school building is now a temporary home for Tamuna and others like her. More than 150,000 people were driven from their homes during the conflict in South Ossetia and surrounding areas earlier this month.

“Everybody has experienced his or her own tragedy here,” says Tamuna.

“I am not the exception who lost everything during this war.”

World Vision has warned that many who fled the violence will be unable to return to their communities before spring.

Winter

In her current surroundings, it is difficult for Tamuna to contemplate her future. She is uncertain where she will live when her baby is born in four months’ time – when the Georgian winter will strike with a vengeance.

She hopes that she will be able to return home. For now, she depends on help from agencies like World Vision.

World Vision is supporting Tamuna and other displaced people with food, hygiene kits and mattresses. The organisation also plans to offer support from specially trained counsellors.

Women and children

World Vision is also setting up 15 Child Friendly Spaces to support children displaced from their homes. In Tbilisi, the organisation is addressing the needs of pregnant and nursing women and their infants who have been forced to flee the violence.

To date, World Vision has distributed food to more than 11,500 internally displaced people in 49 centres, and non-food items to more than 7,500 people in 40 collection centres.

World Vision plans to help more than 45,000 displaced people in 300 centres – approximately half of those affected by the conflict.

Georgia conflict release links