If I am sent to the orphanage, I will run away and take care of my mother and my brothers. - Nika, a nice guy, says very seriously greeting us at the door of a dilapidated shed. Because he is the eldest man in this friendly family! 

 “Please, sir, don’t ask my mom anything. I will tell you everything myself. Otherwise she will start crying again and we all will join her. What kind of conversation will it be if all of us burst into tears? I will tell you about everything. How my father beat me cruelly, how we lived at the landfill. And also... How my mom was grown in an orphanage! And how scary it was there!” 

But “the serious man” turns into a little child, when we start talking about his mother’s health problems. I would never forget his eyes! “The lakes of tears”.

Nika (12-year-old): My father used to beat us! He beat me, my mother and my sister. I swear! I will never beat anybody! It is very bad!

- Nika, let me still talk to your mother. Please! 

Nika (12-year-old): No, no, I will tell you all! Let me start, and mom will add if I forget anything. We live here (he shows me the house), look. Don’t be afraid! There used to be a landfill here. We cleaned it with our hands. And we are still cleaning it. But the smell of rotting garbage haunts me! It does not matter how many times I wash my hands it seems that I stink with garbage! It’s frustrating that people think we are dirty, shun us. They do not understand, they think that we are unwashed.

- Did anybody tell you that?

Nika (12-year-old): my brother was told that at the kindergarten. He came to me crying and told me that children don’t want to play with him, he did not want to get mom upset. But that's not the point! I told him, that’s not the point. The important thing is that God loves us and we have our mom.

-You are absolutely right! Your mother will always be by you.

Nika (12-year-old): I don’t know! Any time we can be taken to the orphanage! It will be the end! Mommy was raised at an orphanage! She told me about that. Her mother put her there. Both her and her brothers. Mom always cries when she reminds that. Please don’t ask her about that! I will tell you. Her mother put her children in the orphanage and never visited them. My mommy was the youngest, she was 2 or 3. When she cried they beat her. She says nothing can be worse than that! She says, that if she has to give her life so that we would not end up in the orphanage, she would do that.

- You are very worried about your mom. Does she feel bad?

Nika (12-year-old): Yes, sometimes she loses consciousness. Sometimes she starts crying and cannot stop. I always worry about her. She had to withstand so many things. Her mother left her, my father beat her, then we escaped. Sometimes we had to live in the street...You know, I can cook, - Nika changed the topic. A lump in his throat choked him ...  

 - Nika, please let me talk to your mother. I promise not to ask inappropriate questions. Natalya, Nika has told me about your family, maybe you have something to add? How did you find yourself in such situation?

Natalya: I was raised in the orphanage and I want to forget about those 15 years of my life! Never remember that time. As soon as a young man appeared in my life saying he would marry me, I agreed! I had dreamed so much of having a family! But it turned out to be worse than an orphanage! 

He drank all the time, beat me, and when the children were born, he began to beat them too. They were so little and I was unable to protect them. I had no place to run away, no one to ask for help. 

My eldest daughter “went mad” and my mom took her. Nika and me ran away. Then Dato was born, and now Saba. Mu second husband was so nice, so caring. His mother accepted me with love. My happiness, however, did not last long. He died (Natalya started crying and Nika changed the topic) 

Nika (12-year-old): Mom, better tell the lady how nice we are, about our allowance, about the food from the canteen, but please don’t cry! Don’t cry, mommy!

- Let's take it in order, Natalya, tell us what you live on? What do you eat?

Natalya: We have 280 GEL of social allowance. Every day I take food from the canteen for those in need. They have delicious fresh bread, but soups are so-so. That’s all we got. To prevent Saba who is only 5 months old, from starving, good people from church help me a bit - they know me, I am religious too. 

They give us old clothes for the children, they gave us this old bed, sometimes it collapses, but thanks anyway.

- Tell me about this house, does it belong to you, or you have to pay for it?

Natalya: It used to belong to the Ministry of Agriculture. When we came here there was garbage all the way. We cleaned up everything! The roof leaks and the whole house is wet after the rain. Over the years of living here we managed to settle down a little, otherwise we would be living in a garbage dump ... 

 - Natalya, please introduce your children to me now! Nika is a wonderful boy, and what about David? 

 Natalya: If it were not for Nika I would not cope with anything. He is so nice! And David too! Thank God that such a sick woman as me and such a fiend as my husband was, have such angels! Look how pretty they are!

Nika studies well and wants to become a football player, David also likes to play ball, but children don’t often play with him. He has not even got a ball, no suitable clothes and footwear. 

 - I will talk to them now. Nika, David, come here, let’s talk. Let’s start with the most delicious thing: what is your favorite food?

Nika (12-year-old): You have mentioned it and my mouth starts watering. When I close my eyes I see it: salami, sausages, cucumbers - love it so much!

Dato (6-year-old): True, I can even feel the smell! I love dumplings...but when there is anything to eat, it’s good. Sometimes I eat the soup my mother brings from the canteen and imagine that I am eating cutlets or dumplings...

Nika (12-year-old): I ate shawarma once, it was good. I want to try it once more. This week we are going to eat rice porridge, soup and three tomatoes. Mom will bring bread from the canteen. 

- What do you like doing?

Nika (12-year-old): I like football, I want to become a great sportsman, I will never drink and smoke! I will protect weak people! Let me show you my uniform! I keep it like a treasure! When I have cleats I will dress up and will show off. Maybe I will manage to go to a football school, but so far I just put them on just to make sure they still fit me.

 Dato (6-year-old): I like playing with my friends in the street. They have a ball, we run together, sometimes, those who don’t know me don’t want to play with me and leave when they see me. But others, the good ones, never do that. My brother Nika told me not to get upset about that! The most important thing is that God loves us and we have mommy. 

- What is your favorite cartoon and who is your favorite movie character?

Dato (6-year-old): “The Smurfs”! We watched it once together with Nika on TV. And there is also a game on the phone, one of the boys showed it to me: you move your finger on the screen and a car follows it, but you should drive it carefully. You can choose different cars - have you got such a game?

- I don’t have it, but I promise to find it and play!

Dato (6-year-old): Yees, and then tell me how you like it!

- Well, we have talked about entertainments, and how are thing going at school? 

Nika (12-year-old): I like math, but I have problems with foreign languages. They are difficult and I have no supplementary books. I have no computer to listen and learn! I want to read, maybe someone gives or borrows books for me to read? I need them so much! So much!

Dato (6-year-old): Once I was called “The talent of the week”. The teacher asked the name of a particular color in English, and I was the only one to answer: “Brown!” I am my mommy’s smart boy!

- Nika do you like anybody at school?

Nika (12-year-old): Nobody. There are too many rude girls of my age, who like hazing the boys. There was a girl I liked, but she moved to another school, I hope she may be back. 

- Will you marry her when you grow up? 

Nika (12-year-old): I am not thinking about starting family yet. First of all I will start working to buy good food for my mother and brothers. I know only one thing - I will never be like my father, never!

 - Now tell me about Saba, does he offend you?

Children started giggling. 

Nika (12-year-old): He does not even cry when he is not hungry! He is the best boy in the world! I love to babysit him! When mother feels sick, she often suffers from headaches, I can spend hours playing with Saba. He is only five months old! Dato loves him too! But I love him more! He looks at me the way that I want to kiss him! Look at this angel!

- Natalya, I can tell you one thing, Nika is God’s gift to you! He is a wonderful boy, there are not many such good boys now. The last question. After all that you have experienced, do you believe in kind people?

Natalya: There were many people who hurt me, who tried to break me, but I believe that not all of them are like that. We are all the children of God, he will not leave us alone. Well, I thank God for Nika every day! He is my guardian angel!

- What would you like to say to the friends of the Fund?

Natalya: I am asking only for the sake of my children! My children are talented and kind. Don’t let their talents go to waste, Georgia will need them one day. Give the boys a chance to prove themselves, they should study well, become good citizens of the country! They should not suffer!

Friends, day after day we tell you horrible stories about families living next to you! We can’t keep silent! God will not forgive us! We cannot but say that when you sleep at night, someone is quietly crying, buried in a pillow, because he does not know if tomorrow will come ... we must talk about them, and you must know about it! And then do as YOUR HEART tells you! 

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The family critically needs food, hygienic items, baby cot, furniture, Nika needs a computer. It would be just great to remember that kids need toys too! Can you imagine how happy they will be if they have bicycles?

We really hope you will help and we know that Georgians never leave their people in need! Call or visit them! Their address is: 
Tbilisi, Vashlijvari, 6 Gelovani street, behind the Ministry of Agriculture. Natalya’s phone: 593 13 07 70

Please repost our publication. Let your friends know about the Basilashvili family! It’s extremely important!

God gives us chances to care about people who are unable to take care of themselves. Those poor people are sent to us by heaven so that we could prove not by words, but in deeds that we trust in God!

Friends, there is one more request - if you know about any misfortune of your 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: Natalya Basilashvili) 

You can also transfer money from our website.

It is also possible to transfer money from ОРРА, 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 many disadvantaged people! Let’s support Natalya and her wonderful children! And who knows, maybe someday we ourselves will need the help of strangers!

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