COMMENT: Voices from Refugees. Part Six.

Being just three years old little Shotiko has seen a lot of things already. Currently he is at the safe place in one of the kindergartens in Tbilisi, but just few days ago bombs were exploding very close to his house. He was barely saved by his mother.

We were at home, suddenly we heard explosion, the noise was so great that the walls started shaking, I rolled down the stairs with my child in my hands, rand outside, the panic has started... I walked several kilometers to a bus... People say that my house is ruined... I left everything there...

Father of little Shotiko remained in the conflict zone. He was a military servant and has been internally displaced twice already. First, they had to leave Abkhazia, and now their family is one of those 72000 ergistered internally displaces persons.

I brought only this bag alongside, I left everything there, the first thing I grabbed by hand was the baptism towel of my child. I remembered nothing else... These things have been brought here by people.... People bring food as well.... This lady

Little Shotiko's grandmother has been living in the village Achabeti, 8 kilometers away from Tskhinvali. She remembers that they left the village at the midnight, when the bombs have been falling on every step in the area populated by the civilians.

In that Georgian village, 8 kilometers away from Tskhinvali, she left her 81 year old mother in law, being seized by panic, she was unable to bring her mother in law, who is sightless, alongside her. According to her only the old people remain in the village and the houses are all destroyed completely.

It was midnight when we left the village, it was impossible to stay there any longer, everybody ran, I was staying with my friends when the explosion destroyed the balcony. My mother-in-law begged me not to leave her alone, but how could I bring her along. She may not be alive now, she is sightless and cannot even cook for herself... I barely reached Gori, then Tbilisi. My husband is still there, I have not heard from him for 5 days already.... What do they want from us, what did we ever do to them...

There are thousands of families with similar stories in Georgia. Some of the stories are even more tragic. No one knows how the story of the Khetaguri family, the three members of which still remain in the conflict zone, will end.