Constant escape – how women live in Khurcha, near the occupation line
The war in Abkhazia began in August 1992 and lasted for 13 months. By the end of the war, Georgia had 300,000 internally displaced people. Today, Abkhazia is recognized as occupied and the Russian occupation army is stationed there. The people living on both sides of the de facto dividing line are friends and relatives, but now they cannot meet or rarely manage to see each other, as Eliso Shamatava explains through her experiences.
“Eighty-five families live in the village of Khurcha. At least one person from almost each household has emigrated. My son is also gone. He took a gap year at the university and left to work in Poland. We, women living along the dividing line, work. But when we want to sell produce at the Zugdidi market, we are not allowed to take it with us on the municipal bus. We have to hire a taxi. This is how we live here,” says 52-year-old Eliso Shamatava from Khurcha in Georgia, who tells us about the specifics of living along the administrative boundary line.
April 11, 2024 -
Manana Kveliashvili
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Issue 3 2024MagazineStories and ideas
A small bridge over the Enguri river connecting the villages of Koki and Khurcha. There are only 85 households left in Khurcha, and no family is without at least one member who has emigrated. Photo: Manana Kveliashvili
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