Kekhvi

Interview place,date: Aug 14, 2008 8:49 PM
Interviewer organization:vollunteer journalist
Respondent:woman,64 years
Story code:0083
We left our village Kekhvi, situated above Tskhinvali, on August 9 at 3 o'clock. We expected all to calm down. When we saw the airplanes we thought they were of Georgian side. There was no police, no statement or warning to leave the gorge. We stayed in the informational vacuum for 4 days. And then the bombings started, horrible continuous bombings on 8th and 9th , it was terrible. It was the Russian airplane with red stars. They shot not only from the airplanes but from all weapons at their disposal. The shootings were continuous, they shot non-stop. Then the situation deteriorated and grew into the demolition. The civilian buildings are destroyed. They mainly targeted the populated areas.
My son helped me walking, I had both legs operated. The bombs were chasing, we would lie on the ground and then with operated legs it was difficult for me to stand up. We managed to pass and in the area controlled by Georgians, we came across Chechens. They were Chechens. Chechens controlled our territories. They happily accompanied us with words "Thank God you left home". They accompanied us and we left. We needed an asylum. No one responded.



We walked to the Eredvi forest and the bus arrived. Apparently the bus was sent by our government. Our Parliament took care of taking us from the region. My house is destroyed. I had the picture of Saakashvili, thus who would leave my home untouched. We left crawling from the cellar. We were yet home when the house was hit. I don't know what happened afterwards. We walked for three hours. It was night when we arrived in Tbilisi.



Tsriakho was the place where ours stood. There were Chechens, they spoke on the different language. This language was nor Georgian, neither Ossetian, I can speak Ossetian. They did no harm to us but they took away everything costly. They took cars.
There are corps laying in the yards in my village and there is nobody to help. They bomb civilians. Our boys helped us and they just watched. When the airplane passed and did not bomb we presumed they were Georgians.



They robbed me in Tskhinvali. I had a house that they took. We moved to the village and were forced to leave again. My ancestors lived there. We leaved very well together, Georgians and Ossetians. There were mixed families. Why did they got us involved in the politics. Now I assert to all and demand my life back.



My son has marvelous friends, the Ossetians. My heart is with my son and his Ossetian friends. This tragedy is about politics, right? We have nothing to do with it. During the war we met one Ossetian family who became our friends. They further baptized my grandson. They came to the church to our place and they baptized him there. They called my son that they wanted to baptize his son.
Our gorge consists of 9 villages. If anyone was in trouble we stood by each other. We kept our gorge up to now. Have you seen our gorge? It is so beautiful that anyone who visits it does not want to leave.
My son was forced to leave home in Tkhinvali and became an IDP. He was forced to leave long ago. He is living outside home for so long and only thing he managed is to pay the tuition fee for his son. He could not purchase anything. Now he has two more sons. We lost a child in Gori. We got him back only today. The child is 13. He was accompanied by his grandmother. We have no news about her. Sometimes I would faint from the grievance sometimes his mother. He was lost for 5 days.
They took away our belongings in Tskhinvali. Once we started from the very beginning and here it starts again. The people who arrived after us bring this news. There still are people left. We cannot contact them for two days now.. There is no news.
Nino Tsereteli, aged 36
We left the village Achabeti on 8th of August, 2008 at 6 o'clock in the evening. We left by the car of our neighbor. Out of the sudden they told us to evacuate. The people were escaping and calling as to leave with them. They were shouting about the approaching army. The bombings started on 8th. There are Russian checkpoints nearby our village. They were shooting from Russian checkpoints.