Family's Hard Social Conditions Are Graved by Their Daughter's Disease

Nineteen-year-old Natela Bolkvadze needs urgent operation. According to the diagnosis, she has injuries in the breast and abdomen which resulted from the burn. Her breast is deformed. The Bolkvadzes live in hard conditions back at home. Kedi District Authority promises the family to give thirty lari in assistance. The only income of the family is the small pension of the blind grandmother.

Natela was four when she received severe burns. "I was in the garden to get some herbs for dinner and Natela was alone in the room. She came up to the oven and her dress caught a fire from there. She ran out in the yard and a neighbor saved her. She spent three months in the intensive therapy," recalled Fati Bolkvadze, Natela's mother.

"If some miracle happens, then I will be saved," said Natela. "In the past when I went out I was ashamed and tried to cover my face with hair, but children used to ask me what was wrong with my face. Some people were afraid to see my face. Now I have got over this complex, but I have terrible pains-the skin is stretched and it cracks. We do not have enough money even to buy painkillers all the time…"

The only income for eight members of the Bolkvadzes is 38 lari, a pension of the blind grandmother. They live in the village of Akho, Kedi District. The village is in the territory which faces natural disasters. Because of that, their family was moved to the village of Zeindari, Vani district in 1989. "That time government did not give us a choice. We were settled on the empty land in Vani, given some money and told to build the house. We lived in the shed for a long time,' said Otar Bolkvadze. Finally the family was forced to go back. "It was difficult for us to live there. Besides that, the children could not stand the dry climate there, since they had been accustomed to the damp one."

Since 1996, the Bolkvadzes have returned to their wooden house in a dangerous territory. However, they are registered in Vani district. "Having arrived back we were not registered here again. They told us at the regional administrative board that if something happens and we are damaged, they would be punished. My house is in the danger zone, so they are afraid and avoid their responsibility," said Otar Bolkvadze.

"We spend half of winter at the neighbor's houses. The ground is collapsing and stones are falling down. Last year a large stone fell in our yard. God saved us from disaster," said Fati Bolkvadze.

"The government knows my situation very well but they do not assist us. Last winter Zurab Avaliani, former Governor of Kedi District and his deputy could not enter my yard because of flood and landslide in it. They were looking at us from the distance saying how a man could live there. Koba Khabazi knows my problem, too. I asked him to give me money to operate on Natela when he was Minister of Healthcare. He promised me to apportion 800 lari. I had a cow, and I could sell it for money. However, that money would not be enough for the operation," said Natela's father.

The Bolkvadzes were not aided by a poverty reduction program, either. "They came and examined my living conditions, however, they gave us so high points that only medical police and allowances on electricity were granted to us. If they had granted us with that allowance, we could have been a bit relieved."

The family owns 2,500 acres land and that includes both the house and the yard. "We have not enough land to cultivate and harvest. How can I sell anything when I can grow corn that last just for four months? I borrow the rest from the neighbors. At present I owe eight sacks of corn to them. Now I can give part of the debt back but very soon I will have to borrow corn again. We do not have money to buy flour and that is why we bake only mchadi from corn," said Otar Bolkvadze.

Natela told us her dream. "I want to be a chemist. I studied well at school. But my family cannot afford my future studies.  Besides that, I am ashamed to appear in public…"

The operation, which should be performed in Kuzaniov's clinic, will cost six thousand lari. Natela's earlobe is also damaged but she can hear well

Specialists from the Kuzanov's clinic say that initial operation should be made on the breast and face. Unfortunately, the family cannot afford the operation.

Maka Malakmadze, Batumi