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Special Report: Hospital Life for IDPs

April 15, 2008

Maka Malakmadze, Batumi

Several women are busy in front of the water tap in the yard of a former hospital for drug addicts. - Some of them are filling drinking water, others washing dishes, others are not losing time while waiting for their turn and are speaking about their problems. The lack of electricity is one problem they all share in common.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are glad when they see a journalist. Mrs. Lili was especially appreciative, “God bless you; maybe you will let our Georgian president know about our problems – and that everybody here has many problems,” she said.

The residents of the building have the chairperson of the committee-Mzia Jakheli, a community based organization.  “I serve as an unpaid chairperson. I do not accept visitors on the weekends,” jokes Mzia Jakheli. “We have informed all corresponding institutions about our problems with electricity but still nothing changes.”

There appear to be no light at the end of the tunnel, and it is becoming more and more difficult for locals to continue traveling along the dark passage. The electricity has been cut off already now for two months because of arrears. “Even before they used to cut off the supply but it would only be for a few days at a time. Finally, Koba Subeliani, the Georgian Minister of Refugees and Accommodation, arrived here and they switched on the electricity but that was short-lived, and as soon as the minister left, the electricity was cut off it again,” said IDP Eka Esebua.

The room of Esebua is on the ground floor. The stains of old paint can still be seen on the walls of her room. The most part of the walls are wet from leaks. There is an old TV set in one corner and cardboard boxers are used as a table where the TV set is located. There are two beds; one is used as chairs during the day. There is a small stove in the middle of the room and a pot of soup is boiling on it. Three people are living in this room: Eka, her mother and her daughter, Nana.

The Esebuas come from Gagra, a city in Abkhazia. Having fled from Abkhazia they first ended up living in Russia and then were able to rent a flat in Adjara. Nine-year-old Bachana was paying the rent by selling flowers. Eka is a single mother. “I petitioned to the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation for accommodation but they said I had to unofficially pay 200-300 USD. At that time my son was selling flowers in the street in order to have fifty GELS to pay for room rental.”

The main income for the Esebuas is 14 GEL allowance for IDPs. “What can we do with a mere 14 GEL. How could anyone live on it? So I sell sunflower and earn our living. I do not want to be a Georgian Citizen, nor do I want to be an IDP.”

Eka is a disabled person; she suffers from epilepsy. She requests to grant pension to her but doctors state she should stay in the hospital in order to make final determination of her disease. Eka cannot pay her treatment in the hospital. “Several days ago I felt bad in the office of Irakli Baramidze, deputy Minister of Healthcare, when I was visiting him; they even had to call for an ambulance,” she recalled.

The moisture of the ground floor is made that much worst by the rain leaking down from the roof on the second floor. “Our troubles started when we left our house. We know that it is impossible to live here but there is no other choice as we have nowhere to go,” said Lili Kishibadze and she climbs up the stairs on the second floor to her room.

Seventy-year-old woman recalled her life in Abkhazia while she was looking at her photos, thinking of better times. “All those in the pictures are parents of my daughter-in-law; they all died in Abkhazia,” she said.
Lili Kishibadze lived in the room # 921 in the hotel Medea for 16 years with her grandchild before moving to this building. “Now my grandchild is working in Turkey.” Kishibadze was evicted from the hotel Medea without any being paid any compensation. “I was looking for my name on the list to receive compensation but the man who was distributing the sums grabbed the paper saying there was some mistake in it. I then petitioned to the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation and you can look for yourself the response they sent to me.

“We would like to reply to your petition that we checked your information on the data base. No mistakes were found in your surname,” as it was stated the official reply from the ministry. The homeless IDP woman was then advised to apply to responsible authorities in Adjara Autonomous republic about her problems.

There are sheets of paper with numbers on the doors of the rooms in the former drug-hospital, and we left room # 33.

A mental hospital exists next to the building. IDPs are looking in the direction of the mental house in fear. They recall last summer when mentally disturbed patients were allowed out into an unfenced yard.

Even now, “You can hear the mental patients screaming at night and is impossible for us to sleep,” she told.

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