Hard Life

Ancient village depends on berry harvest and hopes to start tourism in the area

Khertvisi is a village in the Aspindza Municipality. It is twelve kilometers away from the district center. There are fifty-five families in the village. Most part of the villagers was resettled in here from Dusheti, Zestafoni and Terjola Districts.

Khertvisi residents said they did not expect the local authority to pay attention to them. “There is nobody to pay attention to us! Many people arrive here like you; they also ask a lot of questions, like “What problems do you have?” then they leave us and everything remains the same,” said villagers standing in the village center.

The biggest problem for the village is water supply. “We have neither road, nor drinking and irrigation water. We have wells in the yards and the water from them causes several diseases. People arrived from the Water Supply Department, they prepared the project for a new system but finally they started works in Ninotsminda district,” said fifty-three-year-old Sergo Karumidze, a resident of Khertvisi.

Tamaz Gigashvili, Deputy Chairman of the Aspindza Municipality, also stated that drinking water is a serious problem for the village and it is necessary to eradicate the problem soon.

“Approximate expenditure for the reconstruction of the water system in Khertvisi is 81 500 lari. There is water reserve close to the village in the area of so-called Kvarshi. It is necessary to build water tank there. The construction has already started and the village will soon have water.”

Like in many other districts in the Aspindza Municipality, agriculture is essential occupation for people in Khertvisi. Peasant has to pay much to cultivate the land; so they turned their plots into mowing fields. Sometimes they cannot get even hey because of the water flood which destroys everything.

“Our plots are twenty kilometers away from the village and it takes great expenses to get there to cultivate the land. Harvest cannot compensate our expenses. So we use our plots for mowing. But when Mtkvari River floods, it destroys our plots and our hard work wastes. At the moment, 80 % of our plants were destroyed by the river,” said Giorgi Shiolashvili.

There are eleven members in Sergo Karumidze’s family and nobody works there. The only source for their income is land and cattle.

“Last year we worked on the roads. Now we are looking forward to being employed again. I have a large family; I have five children and several grandchildren. I have to feed them. There is not enough profit from the land and cattle to live on,” Sergo Karumidze is complaining.

Berry has become the only source for villagers to survive in winter if the weather is nice during the year.

“We are looking forward to the harvest of the berry. We earn our livings from it. We sell it in Javakheti. Last year it froze and two years ago the hail spoiled it. This year we hope the harvest will be better. If everything is ok, ten trees of berry will give us one tone of berry. One kilo of it costs fifty tetri and family can buy flour for winter with the money,” said Giorgi Shiolashvili.

Primary school was built in 1976 in the village of Khertvisi and the construction plan was based on the Khertvisi Fortress.

“Now the school, which is cultural monument, is almost ruined. The walls are cracked and water leaks in the classrooms,” said Karumidze.

Nearly ninety families lived in Khertvisi in 1970-80s and the number of pupils was large. So they thought to transform the primary school into secondary one, but…

“The life has become hard since that time and the villagers started to migrate. The young people could not stand being unemployed and went to the city. The village almost emptied,” Tristan Murjikneli is worrying.

“Do you think it is normal when a pupil takes bottle of water on his way to school? He might need to wash his hands,” said Nazi Kapanadze, local resident.

The government does not assist us,” said local people. Despite that the villagers offered the authority cooperation and the plan how to develop the village.

“Everybody is proud for Khertvisi Fortress. At least two hundred visitors arrive to see the historical monument. But there is no toilet for them to go to in the area. The guests ask us to let them in our family toilets all the time. Of course we would not refuse but how can you let fifty men in. The same is situation about drinking water. The guests do not drink water from the well. The village is poor but if the government supports tourism development in the area, it will be great relief for us. We need clever man to run the district and everybody will have profit from it,” Sergo Karumidze does not lose hope.

Gulo Kokhodze, Aspindza