“You know how awkward it is, when your belly is rumbling loudly asking for some bread and you are at the lesson at that moment. Boys turn their heads to you, thinking you are bad-mannered. But the belly always chooses the wrong time to ask: “Give me some food”. It does not know that today was my little brothers’ turn to have breakfast. They are little” - 9-year-old Milena tells us shyly, then suddenly blushes (“I must have said something stupid”) and lowers her eyes. “I am big and I can bear hunger, but Dato and Dani can’t. Ma’am, don’t think they are bad, they just don’t understand that I am hungry too, and mommy has no money! And you? Where do you get money to buy these gifts? Doesn’t your belly rumble? - the girl asks me naively and goes on chattering. - What else can I do? I am already big. I should support mommy. She loves us so much and does everything to make us feel good. We have nobody except her”. 

“Do you help your mother?” - we ask her

Milena’s reply is: “As soon as I come home from school, mommy leaves me as a house foreman and goes to work. I do all the house work. I clean, and wash, and take care of Dato and Dani. Give them food. When they are not mucking about too much, I teach them to draw. Of course, they obey mommy better, but me too. They are both like my brothers and my children”. 

Little Milena tells us this sad story while we are entering the house. 

“Please, come in! It will not collapse!  We are scared too, but it is solid enough!” - the girl shows us in. 

To be honest, we were scared to enter this house too. Windows have no panes, the sealing is hanging as if it was going to collapse, the wallpaper is torn, walls are covered with mold and the floor is rotten. The bed is cracking and the sofa is about to fall down. You can shoot a horror film here. 

Mother Tamar and Milena’s brothers - 3-year-old David and 1-year-old Daniel greet us at home - children with angelic faces, beautiful but sad eyes. 

Tamara - a single mother - is doing her best trying to survive. From her we learn what it is like to rely only on yourself and on the Lord and go to sleep in fear that tomorrow may not come ...

Tamara: My husband left me alone with the children. I have no parents, my brother lives far away in another country. I have nobody to leave the children with. The God gave me a smart daughter, if not for her, I wouldn’t be able to work and we would have died of hunger. 

Tamara: As soon as Milena comes from school, I leave the boys with her and go to work. To harvest potatoes at someone’s field, or to tidy up someone’s yard, or carry something. I do any kind of job. I'm not lazy and I'm not ashamed of manual labor, I just want to earn my daily bread.  When I come back in the evening feeling tired and bring the food I’ve managed to buy for 10 GEL, I thank God that tomorrow my kids will not be hungry. This is our life. It is not like something I used to dream about. (cries) 

- What did you dream about when you were your daughter’s age? Have you ever thought that such misfortunes would happen to you?

Tamara: As all other girls I dreamed of having a big and beautiful family with many children to take care of. I even imagined my kitchen smelling of buns, a table covered with a white tablecloth, a vase with wildflowers on it, which my husband would bring me. I imagined my children playing in the yard and me calling them for dinner. Would anybody think about bad things? But the reality has crushed my dreams and my life turned to go this way. I thank God for having a roof over my head. It leaks, but it’s still a roof. Let me show you the house, if it can be called so. We are scared of it, but we have no other place to go.

   

Tamara: Only of tomorrow being easier than today, only of the children not getting sick. I won’t be able even to buy medications for them. As any mother I want my children to have everything they should, and never see them in need. I want them to have a happy childhood, to have toys. Conditions where we live are just terrible. One can barely imagine that little kids can live in such a house. My children have to wear shabby old clothes because we have no money to buy new things. Look how pretty they are! Did the God bring them here to suffer?

Tamara: You have already met Milena. She is wonderful! I would never cope without her. Not every adult could support me as she does, not every adult is so understanding. She does never say she doesn’t like the way we live. She always tells me that it does not matter what she wears, the important thing is that we are together. She has never said she wanted any yummies, or toys the other children have. It makes my heart ache, but I am sure I will manage to give my children a decent childhood. 

Tamara: David is a fidget, the neighbors gave him a bicycle and he is happy. He likes drawing, but we have no pencils and drawing paper now. He plays with everything he finds in the yard. Cardboard, stones, wood that he uses as blocks. He brings all this saying he is going to build a beautiful house for us. He doesn’t yet realize how difficult our situation is. Life is a game for him. Dani is too little. He loves his sister and sweets.   

Tamara: Never. Only if someone gives some sweets to them. 

(Little David hears the word “toy” and takes me to the yard.)

David (3-year-old): Yes, yes...broom-broom!

Tamara: See what a “broom-broom” he has, a kind lady gave it to him. All we have are presents from good people. 

Tamara: Unfortunately we have no status of a socially disadvantaged family. I don’t manage to pass through the usual bureaucratic process. I just have not time for that. I can’t miss a working day. No work - no food! That’s why I don’t get an allowance. Just recently we got an ad-hoc aid of 200 GEL. I know that many people read your posts. Maybe someone will pay attention to us? 

Tamara: Despite our situation, there are plenty of good people in the world. Sooner or later this hell will finish, and my children will be fed, dressed and will live under normal conditions. Their beds will not crumple and the celling will not fall on our heads. These are our dreams, simple and not interesting. 

Tamara: You can see yourself how we live. We have absolutely nothing, just some collapsed old furniture, no conditions, no appliances. You’ll get scared when you enter the kitchen. Actually, the situation is so bad that we have no money to buy food. The youngest son needs diapers and they are too expensive for. 

The children have some clothes thanks to the neighbors - they give us theirs, help us. But most of all I get scared when I imagine some of the children getting sick, while we have no money for medications. Absolutely nothing.

Tamara: I saw your post on Facebook, opened your page and got surprised. You have helped to so many people, and you keep helping them. I read story by story, getting terrified of how hard the time we live is - when how many people need help. Your Fund and your friends try to help all of them. This was a moment when hope lit up for me, and I immediately contacted you. I believe there will be guardian angels for my children among you!

Tamara: I want to say thanks to all of them who help people in need, to those who are in trouble as me and my children. I hope that your Fund will help us too, because there is no one else to help.

And I want to tell those who are in trouble: never give up and keep believing in the kindness of our neighbors and in the mercy of God.

***

The children from the scary house have the right for a happy childhood. They are just children like ours. There are no someone else’s kids in Georgia, are there? 

Don’t stay indifferent! This is not what the Lord expects from us. The family of Tamara Murjikneli needs our support now. They have not got money for food. They also need beds and a wardrobe, home appliances and toys for children. They will be grateful for any help! You can call Tamara: 592,400,718. Talk to her to learn how hard her life is and your own problems will seem so funny to you. Or you can visit her at: Akhalkalaki, village Totkhami.

Please repost our publication. Let you friends know about the Murjikneli 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 the misfortune of a neighbor or friend do a godly deed, drop us an email at: office-fsp@fsp.ge  

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You can also transfer money from our website.

It is also possible to transfer money from ОРРА, TBCpay and ExpressPay terminals. (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 us support the Murjikneli family. And who knows, maybe someday we ourselves will need help of strangers!

One call saves life: 0901 200 270.