These children are living in absolute poverty. They have been in poverty for 5 years. The youngest child, Tamara, is only 11 months old, the oldest, David, is 6 years old. The middle son, Tornike, was born mentally retarded and needs special care and treatment, but the extreme material need does not give such an opportunity.
For breakfast, lunch and dinner they mostly eat bread. They are starving catastrophically. The social allowance in the amount of 300 lari suffices only for basic necessities and medicines. Children are often sick and hungry – even more so... The house where these kids grow up is a wreck! It does not have gas and water, and there is no furniture, only a couple of beds, a small table and few chairs.
Their father brings firewood for the homemade stove, which barely heats the room, from the nearby forest. He is disabled, suffering with stomach disease, but he has no money for medical examination and treatment.
The Shatirishvili are below the poverty line. They are extremely vulnerable now and all the troubles and sorrows that have occurred in their live can become a catastrophy in a blink of an eye.
We talked to Esma Shatirishvili, a 28-year-old mother of three children.
- Let's start with the main question - how did it happen that your family is in poverty?
Esma: I graduated from the local middle school, and then got married. I dreamed of creating a large and prosperous family. Our first child was born, and everything seemed to be normal, but my husband could not find a job. It is very difficult to get a job in our downtrodden town, even if you want to be a loader. While our father-in-law was helping us, we were keeping afloat. After the birth of the son with a disability and on the background of empty promises in employment my husband started having pain in the stomach; he lost the ability of normal movement and began to walk crouched. Therefore, the lack of a steady income and any chance to improve our life has brought our family to poverty.
- Tell us please, what worries you most at the moment?
Esma: hunger: the children are actually starving. The social allowance is spent on flour. I cannot afford buying bread, it is too expensive for us, so I bake... When we have firewood.
- And medicines?
Esma: my grandfather gives us almost the entire pension, 200 lari. With this money I buy medicines for children, who often catch cold, and the treatment of the disabled child and my husband is out of the question. This is unthinkable for us.
- What about clothes?
Esma: We cannot afford them either. Children are wearing rags and leaky boots; they do not have warm clothes, and constantly get sick and cough. One could even catch a viral flu here…
- Does anyone help you, like the mayor's office or some charity fund?
Esma: Oh, don't say that! I guess nobody cares. No one helps us, but when I saw you, at first it was hard to hold back from tears... Could it have happened so that someone paid attention to us and will take my children out of the prison of poverty?! Many thanks to your Fund! Let God save you! I am a believer and only in God do I find solace!
Our conversation was interrupted by one-year-old youngest girl, but we talked to her brothers:
- Tell me, what do you dream of?
David (6 years old): I dream of a car
- What kind of a car? A real one?
David (laughing): certainly not; I dream of a toy car, I have never had toys, nobody bought or presented me any so far…
- And these toys, where are they from?
David: grandpa finds these broken toys in the street and brings them to me…
- Do you love your grandpa?
- He's the best grandpa ever! He is so kind... Mom says he is starving as he gives us everything he has!
- Do you go to school?
David: I do, when it's not raining and when it's not cold. My mother says that there is no warm jacket, and if I go outside, I will get sick…
- What do you want most of all?
Tornike (5 years old): bread.…
- And what else?
Tornike: "I could do with a piece of bread!"
Friends, only people who believe can dare have many children, even if they do not call themselves believers. Deep down they believe that the Lord will not leave them with their children. He will always stay near; He always loves us and our children — even more than we ourselves love them.
Children are angels, the flowers of life, our future, the meaning of our life; these are the people for whom we are ready for everything!!!! And it is so painful for to acknowledge: somewhere near there are kids who do not yet realize that they cannot expect a bright future and that it's not their fault. But we can create a strong foothold for their normal development and a happy turn in their destiny!
God grant that they will be healthy and happy!
Show mercy to the Shatirishvili, and turn their existence into life! They do not have any financial capacity to treat the child, buy food and clothing, firewood and household items. Thus we will facilitate their complicated existence, and, most importantly, give them an impetus to keep on living!
Our Fund account GE15TB7194336080100003 or GE64BG0000000470458000 (purpose: Shatirishvili family). You can also transfer money from our website.
You can as well transfer money from the terminals of Nova Technology, TBCpay and ExpressPay. Find our Fund in "Charity" section. (You can learn about the ways of payment by following the link https://goo.gl/GY2Gus).
The merciful one will be blessed because he shares his bread with the poor!