BOOK: A heavy burden: Internally Displaced in Georgia: Stories of People from Abkhazia and South Ossetia

By Anne-Sophie Lois and Tamar Tavartkiladze IDMC and NRC, April 2008

BOOK (pdf) >>>

When did you last listen to a displaced person and grasp the impact of displacement? Did you ever think what it means to lose close family members in conflict, lose all your belongings and to be uprooted from your place of origin? This book invites you to explore the personal reality of a protracted displacement situation. Thirteen individual accounts from Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia give us an insight into the reality of conflict and displacement. These direct voices have the power to cut through prejudice and political agendas, they speak for themselves.

The focus is on universal human experiences and responses, not specific political issues. By reading what the displaced people themselves want to tell us, we may learn what is important to them and what issues they are particularly concerned about. The process of collecting these stories, whereby trained interviewers allowed the displaced individuals to direct the course of the narrative, allowed unexpected facts and ideas to emerge. It allows us to glean the reality behind generalised notions of displacement. The stories stand alone with little analysis added – their power lies in their offering of images, a voice, sensations, feelings, hopes and dreams. The stories gathered in these pages complement more factual and analytical data from sources other than the IDPs themselves.

This book has been developed jointly by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC); Norwegian Refugee Council in Georgia and Panos London’s Oral Testimony Programme, and is part of the larger endeavour to capture IDP voices worldwide. You can also listen to and read these and more stories from the IDP Voices project at the website www.idpvoices.org

The life stories were collected by 16 interviewers selected from different communities affected by conflict and forcible displacement. They all had a good knowledge of displacement, either through their work or through first-hand experience. The project gave them the opportunity to develop oral testimony skills, to collect life stories and also to contribute in planning and compiling the stories.

A total of 59 interviews were completed, 29 of which were selected and edited for the website and 13 for this book. Through participatory training workshops on oral testimony, the participants learned to carry out open interviews, to listen, and to handle sensitive information. They were also trained to manage the psychological impact on the narrator and themselves.

The interviewers helped to identify themes for the interviews and develop ethical guidelines and appropriate security policies. Two review meetings enabled the interviewers to give feedback on their experience and adapt the focus, carry out initial analysis of the life stories, develop ideas for dissemination, and identify advocacy targets. Through this project the voices of the displaced, who are normally not listened to, have been heard, recorded on tape, transcribed word by word, read by a reading committee, selected and then carefully edited in order not to change the atmosphere and personal flavour (see Selecting and editing the testimonies).

To be involved in an IDP Voices project is an empowering process and makes people change. For the individuals involved, the interviewers and the narrators, the experience of undertaking a life story interview can be invaluable. For people who were not being heard, having the space to tell their story in the way they want to tell it and sharing their thoughts with an interviewer who has themselves experienced internal displacement, was often a delicate and significant experience.

This collection of stories reveals issues that go beyond typical displacement and protection needs and touches on values, issues of identity, feelings and emotions.

Most narrators said they felt relieved, or even happy and privileged, to be able to tell their life story to an attentive and sensitive listener; however some acknowledged that it was also difficult to recount painful experiences. Some narrators stated that they didn’t talk much to other people about these deep experiences due to their fear and mistrust, and so they considered this opportunity to be heard of great value. One interviewer stated “I can understand their pain because I am an IDP myself”. A climate of trust was created and a space in which people could share their experiences without any worries about security or discrimination.

Security issues are still a real concern, particularly in the conflict zones, and as a consequence the narrator’s real identities have been protected and pseudonyms have been used. Even some interviewers preferred to appear under pseudonyms as their involvement in this project may put their lives at risk. Two of them decided to avoid visibility even under a false name.

The title of this book A heavy burden comes from the great weight of the war traumas that most narrators reveal. After years of displacement, narrators still need to share with the world their losses and their continuing grief that they could not carry out traditional mourning ceremonies and processes. How can you come to terms with your loss if your loved ones cannot be buried next to their ancestors on their own land as tradition requires? It is evidently necessary to address this concern to help people move on with their lives. Unsolved problems of displacement may also cause instability and threaten peace building efforts. But in these stories we do not only meet sorrows, we meet also strong women and men who have found their own coping mechanisms and strategies to enable them move forward.

In this project, the involvement of IDPs is clearly crucial. As one of the narrators stated regarding her relations with the other side, “Only after talking about our own tragedies did we truly learn about each other...

It took time to trust each other. It was when we believed that we understood each other’s pain, when this moment came, that we could sit down and talk openly - without aggression, without accusations” (Thea).

Creating spaces for dialogue between the people concerned is of utmost importance in the process of healing wounds. For the sake of the displaced people themselves, and to give lasting peace every chance, it is essential that their experiences and concerns are recognised by others, addressed appropriately and taken into consideration by both the national and international communities.

It is our hope that that this book will be widely circulated and used by governments, regional organisations, the UN and other international agencies, NGOs, civil society actors, researchers, students and, last but not least, IDPs themselves, to give them a deeper understanding of the main concerns of the 245,000 or more displaced people in Georgia. Their voices need to be heard.

How much shall they bear before national and international communities responsible for their future are prepared to move the agenda forward and ensure that real durable solutions are found?