When there is no money even to buy bread, Iuza takes the most valuable thing he has - The Order of Honor - and looks at it with annoyance. What if you sell it? For how many days there will be money to buy bread or medications? But people like Iuza don’t sell the honor. “There are things, that are not for sale. And since they are not for sale, then they are no longer things - but the meaning of life,” - says Iuza.

"There are things that are not for sale - HONOR, for instance"

Iuza: In my 85 years, I have been through the mill. I went through all the stages of life -   breathtaking glory, wealth, and poverty. There’s nothing to surprise me, nothing to scare me. I was a master of sports in football, I played football from the age of 12. At the age of 16, I joined the national team. I played with many football legends of that time. With Misha Meskhi, with Yashin… all football fans in the USSR knew my name. I played 320 games for Kutaisi "Torpedo" at class "A". I was the captain of the team and in 1960-1961 we were even champions of the USSR.

Captain Iuza Losaberidze is ready for battle

Iuza: Probably because of discipline and my physical shape. All the guys respected me.

Iuza: Oh, what are you talking about? All members of our team were handsome. 

Iuza: Only three players of my generation who played together with me are left. Nodar Sarjveladze is 87, Guram Nishnianidze is 84 and I am 85. I do not know how long we have left to be friends. 

Of all the players of class “A”, only 3 people remained

Iuza: Of course, we are all friends, but there is a fight on the field! A real war! That's why they call us veterans.

Iuza: Who am I to honor me - they seem not to even notice me. For several years now I have been asking and begging for a pension, which is due to all sports veterans. Kobiashvili promised me to sort out this issue. But he has not kept his word. I wonder, why did he promise to help me, if he was not going to help? It’s just unmanly. Am I asking for anything I shouldn't? We are talking about 150 lari! 

Iuza: You know, in those times when I had a chance to play, we could not even think about moving to another country. Even if we thought - no one would have allowed us. I believe that in another country, having such merits as mine, I would not feel like a beggar. 

Iuza: Yes! I did this primarily because of the love for my city, my country. But do you know what hurts me the most? I founded the football school "Martve" in the city of Kutaisi, in1973 - we gathered more than 600 talented children from all over Western Georgia. Over the years, the club has grown a lot of famous players. And you know what's the saddest thing? Soon it will be 50 years since the founding of the club, and they didn’t even consider it necessary to invite me. That's it. I used to be a hero and now I barely survive on a pension, part of which the bank deducts to pay off the debt. Life is Russian roulette - you don't know when it will shoot. 

All the girls of the USSR were in love with a handsome young man with blue eyes

Iuza: Oh! I should admit that you right! Girls often fell in love with me. 

Iuza: I was 20 years old when I saw her - the most beautiful, sweet, charming girl - Tamriko. To be honest, even now, after so many years, when I remember the day, we first met, I am experiencing the same feelings. Do you know how beautiful she was? After her, I could not even look at other women. She was very young. I waited for her to grow up and when she graduated from school, I asked her to marry me, and swore eternal love to her. I was faithful to her both during her lifetime and after her death. 

You can only read in books about such love

Iuza: My Tamriko looked like Elizabeth Taylor... well, she was even prettier. And she died very young. She was 53. We fought with her disease for 3 years, I took her wherever was possible, but we could not save her. In her last days, I kept asking her what she dreamed about, what she wanted, and do you know what she said? "I want to always be with you" - this was her last request. When I think about her, tears immediately well up in my eyes... and after her death, I went through hell.

In a past life I was a master of sports

Iuza: as I said I had a breathtaking career in football, I had a cool business. I had a big house. They even awarded me with the Order of Honor. I had everything. Then, in 2006, they took away my business and I was left with nothing. I won't go into details now. From 2009 to 2017 I lived in Barcelona. After the death of my wife, I had nothing to do here. There was a stadium not far from the house where I lived. When I saw children playing there, I went out to teach them. They offered me to train them, then more people joined, and I became a coach. 

Iuza: Because of my grandson. He was a football player, and one damn day he and his friends went to play football. And then he hit his head. The injury was so severe that he passed out. In Georgia, they said that he had no chance. I collected all my savings, sold everything I had and took him to Germany, where they promised to put him on his feet. But there, too, they could not do anything, and we had to come back. That's it... Human life can change in minutes. At one moment you are at the pinnacle of fame, and at another moment no one remembers you and you don’t even have enough money for bread ... 

"Living out my last days in this room where they allowed me to live"

Iuza: I don't even have a TV to know what's going on in the world, I don't have a fridge, I don't have a washing machine. If there is something small, sufficient for one person, and you would give me, I would be just happy. It is impossible to buy both food and medications for one pension. That's all I can ask for.

* * *

That's it... another story has come to an end. It is impossible to describe all the problems, all the experiences in one post. But this story is a lesson for us. A life lesson about ups and downs, about happiness and poverty, about love and loneliness ... all this can happen to a person in life. We will not get tired of repeating the phrase - “help a stranger today, because no one knows what will happen to us tomorrow. Tomorrow we may need the help of strangers ourselves.

If anyone is willing to visit and help him in person, here is his address: Tskatubo, village Banoja, street 39, building 38.

Every time you can help someone, just do it, and rejoice that God answers someone's prayers through you! 

We are sure that all together we will manage to save them from imminent death. 

Please don’t forget to repost our story. Let your friends know about the grief of this family! It’s extremely important!

Friends, there is one more request: if you know about the misfortune of a neighbor or friend do a godly deed, drop us an email at: office-fsp@fsp.ge

Our Fund’s accounts are:

#GE15TB7194336080100003

#GE42LB0115113036665000

#GE64BG0000000470458000

(Purpose: Iuza Losaberidze)

You can also transfer money from our website.

It is also possible to transfer money from TBCpay and ExpressPay terminals. Find our Fund under "Charity" section (you can read more about rights and responsibilities of the Fund following the link https://goo.gl/GY2Gus

We have already helped thousands of disadvantaged people! Let’s support this family too! And who knows, maybe someday we ourselves will need help of strangers! Life is always unpredictable!

We have good news: now you can read the stories of our beneficiaries on 

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Even if you dial once this special number 

0901 200 270

it might save someone's life!

 God bless you!