Public Story
A forest on the roof (ongoing)
Poverty is part of life for the IDPs from Abkhazia. Just like constant uncertainty and the scrutiny from the ministry, if they are claiming any benefits. But what weighs more heavily are the memories that keep flashing by, of their former lives and the dark times that came afterwards. And the exclusion from the rest of society, the stigma of being a refugee. “Refugee, refugee, refugee... I don't want to be a refugee anymore. I am sick of it,” Marina, from Otchamchire, Abkhazia, sighs. At home in Abkhazia, all these people had a house, a job, friends, neighbors, a role in the community. In today's Georgia, in the emergency accommodation of Tskaltubo and Tbilisi and elsewhere in the country, they have nothing to hold onto. They are still waiting to receive their own apartments for so many years.
The people who have been living in dilapidated sanatoriums for 29 years all over the country, are a remnant of a bygone era that one would rather simply forget. They are a reminder of the tragic turn Georgia has gone through since the Soviet Union fell apart, and also a reminder of the mistakes that have been made then and since. Project was made with support of Goethe Institute Georgia and in collaboration with writer Annina Lehman.
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