“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.

Five hungry children live here in these post-war-looking ruins, dreaming of warmth and food ... The rooms are so cold that you can’t take off your jacket. But winter is still ahead!

3-year-old Tamar greets us with these words, not understanding why all this is happening ... She is still too little to realize in what terrible conditions she lives. She is afraid that the house, or rather what she calls her house, may collapse at any moment and bury the people living there alive ...

“I always behave well. I obey mom, and dad, and I do not offend dear God, but I have nothing. Mom says that we will be fine. I’ll have sweets and toys, but when, she does not know ... Do you know? Good children are supposed to have sweets,” baby Mariam babbles and looks intently into my eyes, as if into my soul! She looks at me in such a way as if the fate of her whole family depends on my answer.

“We will never have anything, our parents are poor,” – the children whisper quietly to me when I ask them about toys. Slum kids! How do they live, it’s a real nightmare! Can it be called life? This is not a house, but a concrete cave from movies about prehistoric dinosaurs. They have no water, no toilet! Just a concrete floor, walls, ceiling! How did these angels make God so angry? What is their fault? Every day, they look sadly at other children who drink lemonade and eat cookies, while these slum children have tried them only a few times, and buying this at least once a month is a luxury and a dream for this poor large family. Can you imagine?! Lemonade and cookies!!!