Mano Svanidze

This is a story of lost friendships, faded memories, but also broken stereotypes and new relations built on ruins. As a result of the Abkhazia and South Ossetian conflicts, thousands of people had to leave behind their lives and ended up displaced. Contacts with friends gradually faded, then died. Today, there is almost no communication between young Georgians, Abkhazians, and South Ossetians. However, a ray of light exists. A few individuals have managed to meet and realize that friendship, despite division, is possible.

After Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union, wars broke out in different regions of the country. The first armed conflict began in 1991 in the South Ossetian autonomous region, then a coup occurred, and in 1992 fighting started in the region of Abkhazian and lasted 13 months. As a result, thousands of people from Abkhazia and South Ossetia became internally displaced persons. The majority of the people who had to leave their homes as a result of the fighting were forced to move out because of ethnic reasons - Georgians fled Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Abkhazians and Ossetians left Georgia. In August 2008, armed conflict erupted again in South Ossetia, creating a new wave of displacement. Both conflicts remain unresolved.

Lost Friendships (Georgia - Abkhazia)

When Khatuna Bakhtadze’s Family left Abkhazia, she was 15 years old. 
“I remember every tiny detail from that day. Maybe I don’t remember what happened yesterday, but that day – no. I did not know what was going on. I have looked for so many times at the same pictures in my mind over and over, it seems it’s difficult to forget then.”

“It was in 1992, on the 15th of August. We left by boat. Everyone was in panic. It was night and terribly cold. I could feel the cold stinging my eyes. All my Abkhazian friends stayed home. “They would go to music school without me” – I thought. I felt angry and sad at the same time.”

“First we arrived to Sochi, then took a small steamer to Batumi and finally arrived in Tbilisi by bus. It was not my first time in the capital, but it was the first time in which I thought that it was ugly. Moreover, it was difficult to find a place to live.  No one wanted to rent a place to a displaced family from Abkhazia, because there were people who didn’t pay for the rent. I felt, that I could not be happy anymore.”

“Time passed. I found friends in Tbilisi, I ended up falling in love with the city, and with its people. I am happy now.”