Dezdemona Kavtarishvili, who is living at the 10th school: when Russian Military took South Ossetia, then they attacked the gorge, till the 9th August we were staying there-sitting in the ‘’Hell’’- hungry and thirsty. On the 8th of August, armed Kossacs broke into, made them stand against the wall, set weapons against them and threatened to kill us. I dropped all my savings down, pleading not to kill them...they left, if we had not left before that day, we would have been without mercy. At dawn they came back and asked: ‘’Are you still here?’’ .Of course we left, hungry and thirsty, scared, roped cows were bellowing, but we could not think of them! The gorge had already been full of Russians, Ossetians and Chechens.

Ia Ninikuri: We were 10 families in Tirghvashi and all of us escaped through the forests, walked to Tbilisi. Now we are staying at the 110th school...my husband died 5 years ago, I have got two children, George-my younger son is epileptic, he needs 70 lari medicine a day. Before the war we were provided ‘’Orphan Helping’’ by the Government and I could manage to buy them, now I have no proofs, no pension...

During the days of the war, it was hard - especially for pregnants. It influenced badly on them, if they hear the noise of the plane, they cover their face with their hands, though they know that they are safe but...

During bombing, one of the pregnant women jumped out of the 7th floor. Fortunately she and her child were survived. It was real miracle because it is dangerous even for a healthy person.

Natia Gigauri- (18 years) who knows nothing about the residence of her husband and family. She lives with her little Maryam at the 6th kindergarten.

Natia is the habitant of Kareli. When the situation was extremely stressed, her husband took them to safe place, but his new residence was found by the Russians and she was found herself in the crowd of people going towards Tbilisi. She does not still know anything about her husband, sister-in-law and mother-in-law. She only knows that the village was destroyed by enemy, but she has a ray of hope that one day she will find them.

The young man A.Tedeev is living with his 4 children in Up-Nikozi. When the situation was stressed, he took his family to Tbilisi. Just old people were left in the village. While bombing the projectile dropped into the 200 liter tank and it was thrown in the 2nd floor of the house, which ruined the roof and the wall, the piece of the projectile hit the old man and hurt his lung.

The children will always remember the War: The children who live in Eredvi were taken later. While bombing they were hiding under the bed. Now they are in peace, but when they hear the great noise, they still hide under the bed.

Temur Kakhniashvili, Tsiuri Dzukashvili-Kakhniashvili Two daughters, six grandchildren

The story 1
During the conflict lived in South Osetia-in the center, between the 4th school and the district committee. Georgian staff was in the building of the school, and Ossetian staff was at the committee. We could see how people were dying before us. One of our sons-in-law is an engineer and he was building bridges. He was a respectful citizen and many Ossetian children’s godfather, but after the starting of conflict he was aimed. Even the bomb was thrown into his car. It was a great miracle that he did not die. We were attacked because we were Georgians. So we left and settled on the ground in Ditsi.

The story 2
The villages: Ditsi and Erdevi
Earthwork was not easy, but we worked hard and created normal conditions for living. It needed many years. My younger daughter lived with her husband and 3 children in Eredvi. My husband and my son serve in the army. My son’s house was burnt, then their settlement was trampled by the tractor and everything was ruined. Twelve-member family is still persecuted. They just managed to save their lives, everything-they had created-was destroyed. Now they are living at school, they share everything –even their pain.