The killer house is slowly but surely poisoning the children living there with toxic mold! “Ma’am, won't you sweep the floor? There are crumbs for mice. They are even more hungry than we are. I am sorry for them!”  Cute little Achi stunned me at the doorstep with his touching care of his "toys”! Indeed, he and his sister have nothing else to play with.

“Why should I be afraid of them? They are tiny! - Achi keeps convincing me. - They are so cute! They often come to play with us, and when we eat bread, they get all the crumbs. It’s funny, is it not?"

I don’t find it is funny at all - it is so sad that tears come to my eyes, especially when Achi shows where it hurts when he coughs. “It hurts right here. Do you want to touch it ?!” Three-year-old Archil puts his little hand on his chest. And suddenly he coughs hoarsely and loudly, so that I can clearly hear a terrible wheezing coming from his little lungs.

I witness the scene, which this family got accustomed to and which actually is terrible for any normal person: a child, doubled over, suffocates from coughing. His mother immediately takes him out into the yard, and the fresh air brings him back to life. Horror!

Dampness, rottenness, mice, and cockroaches - it not a description of a jail cell in the basement. The real killer is not them. He is invisible... He hides in all corners, looks from the ceiling and even made a "nest" for himself on the floor. It's black, nasty and smells terrible. And there is nowhere to hide, nowhere to run from it -  it's mold! We've seen a lot of moldy walls, but this one is literally alive and it is impossible to get rid of it. It even settled in the lungs of the children and does not let them to breathe normally. Coughing and choking became something common to them. 

“Well,” - the doctors say and shake their head, “you urgently need to change your apartment, it’s eating you alive!” They even give them a prescription for that. But you can’t get an apartment in a pharmacy shop. The family's only income is social allowance, which is enough only for mice. Well, dear friends, this is not a slip of the tongue - you can only feed little mice with this amount, but not all of them, just a few!

Friends, won’t we help the captives of mice, cockroaches, and mold, which kills the lungs of children, to escape from their mortal captivity? 

Children breathe mold spores every day, which makes them get sick so often.

Tamila: To be honest, this house is not suitable for living. There are two rooms where it is cold all the time, even in summer. And I'm not talking about winter. We are very cold! There is no heat source in this house. All winter long we tried to keep warm using a small gas stove. But now it broke too - one of the burners does not work, when I switch it on to heat the water, gas leaks. This is dangerous! What can happen to us, I'm scared to think about what can happen to us! And besides that - dampness, mold, the smell of rottenness... We get sick so often, the one might say, we are sick all the time. Cough and stuffy nose never pass off. My children have already had pneumonia twice. 

This black mold has settled not only on the walls, but has already reached the lungs of the children.

- Tamila, how did you find yourself in such terrible conditions?

Tamila: We used to rent another apartment. The situation there was not much better: it was damp and cold... The children often got sick, and the doctors told us to change our place. Then we moved to this house. At the beginning everything seemed to be fine. But then the dampness started reigning in this room. Now it is impossible to stand here: the house smells of rottenness and mold, and the children breathe its spores, water flows down the walls, mice and cockroaches run around... It’s a real hell! But we have nowhere else to go. Previously, we paid 200 GEL for this house. And now the landlady wants to get 300 GEL for this damp closet. But how to pay when my husband does not have a job?

  The walls and ceiling got black because of mold and damp

- What do you live on now? Have you got any income?

Tamila: We get 280 GEL of social allowance. We also go to the social canteen.

- It means that the allowance is not enough even to pay rent? But how do you live?

Tamila: We survive! There is no other name for our existence. There is not enough money for anything: neither for food, nor for rent. We are in debt at all grocery stores around here. You can go to any, and they will tell you how much we owe. But you have to eat something to survive somehow! We have no idea how to pay off the debts. At least my husband used to work.

Sulkhan: May I answer? I used to go to Turkey to collect tea, and when I was back home, I worked here at a construction site. I didn’t complain, I was able to provide for my family. And as soon as the pandemic began... (Sighs.) I worked at a construction site at that time, and when the lockdown started, they did not pay me even a half of my earnings. So I was left with nothing. I lost my job, but I have to keep my family. I would be happy to take on any job. 

Due to dampness, plaster falls from the walls and ceiling, one might say that the house lives its own life

- Did you address the state for help?

Sulkan: Yes, of course! We have applied to the local administration many times: either I wrote statements or my wife did it too. But we got no help. Briefly - they answer is that they cannot help with anything.

- Is there any way to move to some other place for a while? To your relatives, for instance? It is really dangerous for children to breathe mold spores.

Sulkan: My parents live in a rented apartment, it's hard for them. And my wife’s relatives live in a cramped space - there are ten people living in one house. We cannot disturb them.  You know, our parents are doing their best to help us: they send us food or clothes for the children. But they cannot always do that.

- Sulkhan and Tamila, I can feel how you support each other. It is a pleasure to see you! How did you meet?

Tamila (smiles): Let me tell you. I lived with my parents in the village; my husband's uncle's house was next door to us. Sulkhan stayed at his relatives’ place for a while. There we met. We liked each other and started dating. Our feelings turned into love, and we got married. It was a right choice. I have a very caring and attentive husband!

- What help do you need first of all?

Tamila: It would be great to change the apartment, to find a better house so that the children do not breathe this dampness, which makes them constantly get sick. But we understand that we have nowhere to go - there is no money to look for another apartment.
If only Sulkhan had a job, it would be easier for us to cope with the problems.

- Maybe you need something for your home?

Tamila: Our washing machine went out of order, now I have to wash with hands. It is very hard, especially since there are little children in the family, and there is a lot of washing all the time. I also need a bed. My husband and I sleep on a folding sofa, but it is already old, and it’s small - we barely fit on it. It would also be great to have a gas stove. As I already said, ours went out of order - it does not work well, the gas is leaking. And this is very dangerous. Oh, I'm even afraid to think about that.

While I am having a conversation with Tamila and Sulkhan, their children, three-year-old Archil and five-year-old Anna Maria, come up to us. The girl is very shy, and little Achi is a lively boy. He hugged his mother and asked a question looking at me: "Mom, can I ask this lady for a blue chocolate bar?"  

- What chocolate is he talking about?

Tamila: They gave him an Alpen Gold chocolate bar at the kindergarten, it was wrapped in a blue. Both Achi and Anna Maria were so happy that day! They ate a chocolate by tiny pieces all day long. And since then they have been asking me to buy this "blue chocolate” all the time. But we have no money, unfortunately. And now he heard our conversation when you asked me what we needed, and he recalled that chocolate ... 

- Achi, dear, did you like that chocolate?

Achi: Yes, it was so, so delicious! I have not tasted chocolate before. 

I want that huge blue chocolate bar! Will you bring me? "

- What else do you like?

Achi: I like everything! I love khinkali, sausage, but we don’t have that at home. 

“Tell this flat bread, to get baked quickly! I can’t wait!”

Tamila: You know, due to lack of money, we cannot afford to buy any special food. We always have soups, buckwheat. The children can only eat yummies if someone treats us khachapuri or if we go to visit.

Anna-Maria: Mom also bakes khachapuri. But they are without cheese. Mom says there is cheese inside. But it's not there. I know it.

Tamila: We sometimes play with children, and we imagine that we have eaten something delicious. And then I bake flat breds with soda dough. They look a bit like khachapuri, but actually there is no cheese inside. When I tell the children that this is khachapuri, they answer me: "Mom, but there is no cheese in there." And I tell them that the cheese just hid well So I try to entertain them.

Archil: Ma’am, mice live in our house. Thay are so tiny. When my sister and I play, they play too. 

"Hush, mice come out of here, they are also hungry, and sometimes, when mom doesn't see, we feed them with crumbs."

- Aren’t you afraid of them? Did they ever bite you?

Archil:  I'm not afraid. They are small and their teeth are so small too.

Anna-Maria: When I eat bread, the mice then come out and eat the crumbs. They are also hungry. 

‘”Dear people, save my children, please! I don’t need anything for myself!”

***

Does the Kochalidze family have a chance to get out off this hell? Can anyone offer a job to the father of the family? It will be the best thing you can do - God has given us the opportunity to do more in this world! Friends, it is only you who can answer this question by helping these wonderful people. We cannot remain indifferent and not help them!

Look at these two angels! They live surrounded by mold, dampness, mice and cockroaches. They haven’t got normal food. Don’t our little compatriots deserve a normal childhood - living in a warm house and eating good food?

The Kochalidze family needs foodstuffs, a washing machine, bed and a gas stove. But the most important thing they need - is your attention and your kind heart!

You can meet them in person and provide all possible help to this family. Their address is: Batumi, Bartskhana, 1B Gogol Str, appt 20
Please repost our story. Let your friends know about the grief of the Kochalidze 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: The Kochalidze)

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 good news for you: now you can read the stories of our beneficiaries on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chernovetskyi.fund/ and

Telegram: https://t.me/ChernovetskyiFund.

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

One call saves life - 0901 200 270.