“She has become very rude - the younger children are afraid of her... Soon she will start yelling at me too. I'm so afraid of that” - says Shorena in tears. She is a single mother of three little children. Anastasia will soon be 2 years old, Mamuka is already 5, and Nino is 15! Yes, you heard right, there are three kids in the family! And Nino is the youngest. Even though her body is of a grown adult, her mind remains of a little child. She is a beautiful young girl who is not adapted to real life at all. So, her mother pays more attention to her than to Mamuka and Anastasia.

“I've never tasted anything tastier! Do you like cakes? " - 6-year-old Vakhtang asks me with curiosity, standing by the entrance of a wretched ruin, looking like a bombsite. “Do people really live here? - I ask to myself, and answer out loud to the kid: - Yes, and what else do you like to eat?” - “Semolina and pasta ... Mommy does not cook anything else. And I dream of a cake! Please come in, don’t be afraid!"

“When they start chirping in six voices, like chicks asking for food, my heart bleeds. And I have only one dream - to give them food! That's all ... I dare not dream of something else ... We just want to eat. " It is difficult to write about hungry children on holidays, when housewives in all houses cook, set tables, and there is a lot of food... Maybe not everything will be eaten, a lot of food will be thrown away ... And at the same time, you are writing about a family where six children are malnourished, wear rags, and their biggest dream is to eat full. "Wouldn't we have to starve tomorrow if we eat an extra piece of bread today?" - this is their main problem.

Santa has never come to 7-month-old Ernest, 4-year-old Luka and 7-year-old Damian. How to explain to the kids why? And why does Santa come to the children of shameless officials of the Ministry of Health, who “forgot” to allocate money for the treatment of the 4-year-old sister of these angels, and she died in terrible agony in the arms of her poor Georgian mother from another epileptic attack. A terrible grief!

“Mom begged him and tried to cover herself with her hands when my father attacked her with an ax,” recalls 12-year-old Nia, and bitter tears start rolling from her eyes. A terrible tragedy happened in the girl's life. Her own father hacked her mother to death with an ax right in front of her! The girl was only 5 years old then ... And how can she live with this pain in her soul, with this insane horror that has settled in the child's heart since that day?! “My husband and I did everything for Nya to have a family, so that this pain in her heart would subside. Of course, it will not be forgotten and will not pass completely, but the girl must feel that we are near, that we love her. It's scary to even think what she had to endure! "- sobs Tamuna (30 years old). It was she, the aunt of little Nia, who took custody of the girl after that chilling event... Despite poverty and the fact that she has three children of her own, a real Georgian woman, kind, loving and caring, did

- 5-year-old Anano asks her mother plaintively and pulls her by the hem. “I am hungry too! Mommy, do we have any bread?" - echoes her younger brother Shotiko (3-year-old). "Wait a little, honey, maybe the neighbor will bring us something," - mother Gvantsa (29 years old) replies affectionately and strokes her kids’ hair. “The fridge is empty, I can’t calm them. I’ll have to ask the neighbors again,” the young woman explains us sadly, as if justifying herself. I turned away to hide my tears and confusion. “Lord, I will endure any torment, just not to see my children starving!” - the poor young woman cries bitterly. “We used somehow to make ends meet, but now we cannot find any work, and the transport does not work ... Sometimes the day goes by so that the children have only tea without sugar and bread!”

Even at Christmas they will be hungry and cold. When delicious smell of roasted piglet and fresh pastries comes from their neighbors, they will just take some bread, close their eyes and imagine how delicious it is ... They are used to it, they always do like that. One can endure hunger and cold... But what then? Who will these children be when they grow up? What will they become if they don’t have any childhood?

“Beka is strange, he is not like us, he cannot talk, but he loves to play with us! And I understand him! I love him. But when he cries or gets angry, I'm afraid of him ... Only mommy can approach him then! - 5-year-old Luka, Beka's serious younger brother, tells me. - You know, ma’am, I always understand what he wants! Right now, he wants a "police car"”.

5-year-old Elene - the quickest among children - pulled my hand and said: "Can you keep secrets? I will become a Snow Maiden and give my brothers a lot of sweets and toys, and I will also treat you, and my mom and dad too." When I looked around, I understood everything without words: in this house there have never been either toys, or sweets, not even normal food. The Tamazashvili family is a very poor Georgian family, but it is rich in kids: Daniel (2-year-old), Andria (4-year-old), Elene (5-year-old), Alexi (8-year-old), Giorgi (10-year-old). "Ma’am, do you know why Santa never comes to us? We are good, but still he does not come, " Alexi asks me, almost crying.