The fire started while we were sleeping
The fire started while we were sleeping
REPOST RIGHT AWAY, MY GOOD MAN! HELP YOUR FRIENDS TO GET CLOSER TO THE WORK OF MERCY!
The corridor is so gloomy, as if it leads to the underworld, and not to the apartment.
“We woke up in smoke, it was already hard to breathe. The children were coughing, choking, screaming in fear. I pushed everyone towards the door like crazy. Our apartment was burning! One could see it even from the street. People in the yard were shouting: “The house is burning!” When we found ourselves in the street, I suddenly noticed that Basil was not there. He was upstairs in the burning room! I was on my knees asking fervently: “My God, I beg you! My son is there, please let them take him out of there! Please, please, save him!”
Mom Natalya is still in shock recalling that day. Basil has terrible burn marks on both of his legs. He just hates that day and wants to forget that nightmare. But he comes back to it again and again. The fire devoured everything that the Nadaraya family had: a house, belongings, clothes. Only terrible black walls and desperate poverty were left. Their neighbors turned out to be more compassionate than the city hall - they let them move to an empty apartment for a while. Seven people - Natalia with her husband Gia and their children Marie, Vasily, Gerasim, Keti, Gio live in extremely cramped quarters. They cook food on a gas bottle and eat only potatoes. For the other two sons - Giorgi and David - there were not even sleeping places. They live with their grandmother in Ozurgeti after a fire broke out.
Large family is in an unbearable situation! They really need your help.
- Natalya, how did you find yourself in this building?
Natalya: We have been homeless for so many years. We asked city hall for help. And they told us: “Choose an abandoned building, break down the doors, enter and live there.” These are the rooms of the Senaki military base. There are 20 such homeless families living here. But only we suffered from the fire.
- How did it happen? What caused the fire?
Natalya: The wiring here is old and good for nothing. Well, what is good here? The wiring caught fire at night, when we were asleep. At first, when I woke up, I thought that the stove was smoking. The stove was rusty, full of holes - it used to smoke at night. Then I realized that I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t open my eyes because of the smoke. I started waking up the kids in a panic.
Basil (14 years old): And I was the first to wake up - the puppy whined strongly and woke me up. I picked up this puppy in the street, looked after him, and he saved my life.
Natalya: Oh, my poor boy has been through so much! I lost myself in the confusion, I thought all the children managed to get down. But Basil did not manage to - the door started burning. I would have died if they hadn't saved him, I would surely have died! (She hits herself on the forehead.) My husband and neighbors rushed upstairs and got him out of there before the fire and ambulance arrived. Then it would have been too late. Oh, then it would have been too late! (She covers her face with her hands.)
- Do you remember that day, Basil?
Basil: It was a terrible day - I hate recalling it. I spent two montsh in hospital after that. Everything was hurting.
Natalya: My boy was nine years then. He got very much scared. That day, February 21, 2018, turned out to be a nightmare for us. The child's face and body - especially his legs - got burned; I was told there were third and forth-degree burns. They put my boy in the burn center.
My boy stayed at home for two years. He needed to stay out of the sun, So, we followed doctors’ recommendations. What else could we do? The school is nearby, but he still could not walk even there - I always asked someone to take him there by car.
Burn scars all over his body continue to remind him of that disaster.
- How are you now, Basil?
Basil: I am okay, I can walk and run. I have no time to think about my feet. I better go get something for my family. I look for scrap metal, I sell it, I get paid for it. The guys and I found one place by the sea. There was a lot of scrap metal there, but now it's all over. There are good days, but sometimes I don’t find anything at all. Then I play in the yard.
I recently signed up for wrestling classes. My classmate Dato Jgeneraya goes there, it was he who brought me there. I know some of the tricks, he showed them to me.
Basil is serious, he thinks about his family
- What do you wish for your family, Basil?
Basil: We need one small house so that we can live normally. I don’t want my mother to suffer - to run around the neighbors when she needs a washing machine or stove. So that we had no problems with food.
- Have you thought about how you will live in ten years?
Basil: I would like to have a normal job, meet a pretty girl who doesn't care that I'm from a poor family and I don't have a home. But you still need to have a house, well, I will do everything I can.
Natalya: Come, I'll show you where the fire was. I'll open it for a minute.
Gio (8 years old): Mom! Don’t go there! I don’t like it! Mom! (whimpers.) Why do you go there? (He asks me.) That flat is scary. Okay, go! You will get scared, go!
Natalya: Don’t be scared. Here is nothing to be afraid of - everything that could burn had already burned. Do you see that?
This is that creepy apartment.
A lonely children's toy further enhances the creepy impression.
The mayor's office did not respond to a request for help with repairments. They don’t provide them with alternative housing either
Now we have moved to neighbor’s rooms. Of course, we contacted the mayor's office. It was the first thing we did. But who listens to us? They don’t make renovation here, they don’t provide other housing. “You are entitled, you are on a waiting list,” - they say. We can already celebrate the anniversary as we are on the list, ten years have passed since then. (Laughs sadly.)
There is no wardrobe. Clothes hang directly on the wall, like in a changing room
- Natasha, what does such a big family as yours eat?
Natalya: Potatoes. My children are half made up of potatoes.
(Children are amused.)
Gio: Ma, I don't want to be made out of potatoes. I want to be made out of khachapuri and fried chicken
Gerasim (10 years old): I don’t want to be made out of mashed potatoes. I want to be made out of khinkali and sausages.
Natalya: Oh, does anyone give us such an opportunity? Even though we laugh, it's true. As soon as I get social allowance (940 GEL), I immediately buy a bag of potatoes, a bag of flour (100 GEL) and firewood (80 GEL). A couple of times a year - on New Year and Easter - the Townhall gives us something extra. Milk, one chicken, ten eggs - one per person.
But they do not forget to charge utility bills for electricity and water from our social allowance. Before the fire, they charged us for electricity, as if everything was in order here. And no one thought about safety. No one thought about our lives.
Spinning the lids will not bring you a delicious lunch
There is no gas. I cook using the gas bottle or the stove. They do not connect us to the Internet since this housing is not registered on us. As soon as online classes begin, my children find themselves out of work with their studies.
- Does anybody of your relatives help you?
Natalya: Gia and I are spouses to each other, we are relatives to each other, we are everything to each other. How can we bother anybody? Who is able to help such a large family?
- How did you realize that you need to be together? How did you decide to start a family?
Natalya: We worked at the same sewing factory, and that's where we met. I was divorced, he was divorced as well...
Gia (husband): From our conversations with Natasha, I found out for myself that she is a kind woman, she is warm and understanding. The main thing in the family is that no one emphasizes their merits: "I did this, I did that." So that there was not like - it's mine, it's yours. Natasha and I get along very well, we both are harmless.
- Gia, weren't you afraid that Natasha had six children and everyone would have to be looked after?
Gia: I have no relatives, I felt lonely. On the contrary, I really wanted to have a big family to take care of them, and them to take care of me. We have a sweet life. We have two more common children - Gio (8 years old) and Keti (6 years old).
- Don't they quarrel between themselves?
Gia: Well, show me a family where brothers and sisters do not tease each other, do not bully. It’s a common thing for children. And then they forget everything and hug each other. But they can seriously fight for sweets if they don’t succeed to share it. It’s because they rarely have it.
This is not a tomboy with a buzz cut, but a sweet little Keti. The buzz cut will make her hair grow better
- Have any of you tried to get a job?
Natalya: Sure! Four years ago, Gia and I worked at the Batumi garbage dump. We collected scrap metal, bottles. As soon as they found out about this, we got disqualified from getting social allowance. It doesn't matter that we didn't make much money at this dump. When the state finds out that you earn even a penny - be ready to be punished. Why? For what? In other countries, do they also punish large families this way? I have no idea who complained about us, who snitched on us? Who could not come to terms with our meager salaries? You can't be such bad people.
- Natasha, I feel sad when I listen to you. Did you dream of working in a landfill when you were young? I will never believe that.
Natalya: Maybe I'll upset you more, but I have such a life since childhood. What dreams are you talking, my dear? My dad died from a heart attack when I was four years old. My mom worked hard at a tea factory, she raised me and my brother alone. She became disabled at this job - the combine hurt her hand, and that's it.
I was kidnapped when I was 13 and my childhood ended there. Mom went crazy, she cried, but she didn’t take me back: "Stay there, since you're already married." I brooked my drunkard husband for many years. We ate only mchadi.
I lost one child because of the mistake of doctors. He was a healthy three-month-old baby - they gave him the wrong injection. Since then I have diabetes. Twenty years have passed, but how can you forget?
I have a blood clot in my leg, but I do nothing with it. (Waves her hand.)
- Natasha, did God help you? Do you believe in God?
Natalya: Do you see Basil? This is my answer to your question. My boy is alive. God saved him. God saved all of us. We could have got burned alive. This has happened so many times - we are hungry, we curse our fate, and suddenly some kind person appears and shares food with us.
God grant that I have everything, then I would be happy to help too. People must help each other. Our neighbors gave us their apartment.
Mari (16-year-old): We also help as much as we can. For instance, yesterday, the neighbor's child got sick. And I went with him and his mother to the hospital by an ambulance.
- This is an adult act!
Mari: Well, yes. But I'm only half adult, I really don't want to grow up. (Smiles.)
- Okay, so what do you think about when you consider yourself an adult? And what when you consider yourself a child?
Mari: I think that we need a house and I get very sad. I want to enter Culinary College. But we don’t have such college in Poti! Cooking is my calling! I would like to cook with the best foodstuffs. Now I have only potatoes, cabbage, flour and water. And all the cookware is rusty. If I didn't starve and if I were a cook, I would help my family.
Marie wants to become a chef, to cook in a modern kitchen in a cafe or restaurant. But so far the pots are old, the pans are rusty
And the sink is clogged
And when I don't want to think about anything, I go and play with Keti, Gio and Gerasim. I amuse them or listen to music. It's much better to be a child.
- Who also loves being a child?
Gerasim: I like it!
Gio: Me too!
Gerasim: I play tags and hide-and-seek in the yard. I play with my Rusty the cat. He won't come out now, because he doesn't know you, and you didn't bring him anchovy. I also love swimming and catching fish.
- Wow! What did you manage to catch?
Gerasim: Once, my dad and I were lucky, and we caught crucian carps. Mom fried them. It was absolutely yummy! We gave some to Rusty. We didn't eat mashed potatoes that day! I want to train so that I can catch a lot of fish. And then there will be no need to eat potatoes.
- Gio, can you swim?
Gio: No, I don’t want to swim! I am afraid of water. I am afraid of fire too. I don’t like things that are scary. I don’t like the talk about the fire either.
– What do you like?
Gio: To sit by mommy and hug her.
- What would make you happy?
Gio: A mobile phone. Gerasim wants a toy car, and mommy wants a washing machine. If I were adult and had money, I would help everyone.
- Let it be so. But it’s our turn yet. Natalya what do you need first of all?
Natalya: My children had already told you instead of me - a washing machine. And foodstuffs. I won’t dare to ask for anything else. The Fund has already helped us once. We still have got neither harrow nor barrow. We are so unlucky. Whatever you can, my dear ones. Thank you for your sincere desire to help us.
***
Friends, this large family almost burned alive! It’s all because they did not manage to get their own house in so many years. These wonderful children with bright faces live in just terrible conditions. How can one stand that day after day? This black corridor, constant starving, this tightness, cold, and fear that fire can happen again. Only faith in good people and the Lord helps them to keep their inner light and hope. They are left to their fate. Let’s be honest - no one but us will help them. See our photos and videos and you will realize how many things do they need, how we can help them.
You can visit them in person. Their address is: Poti, former building of the Senaki military base
Every time you can help someone, just do it and rejoice that God answers someone's prayers through you!
Let’s show our mercy and make them believe that miracles happen, that they can live in a warm and cozy home and have a lot of food! They believe in us. Don’t let them down. Show them what generous people live in Georgia
We are sure that all together we will manage to give them unforgettable moments.
Please don’t forget to repost our story. Let your friends know about the grief of this 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 Nadaraya family).
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 linkhttps://goo.gl/GY2Gus).
We have already helped thousands of disadvantaged people! Let’s support this family too! And who knows, maybe someday we ourselves will need help of strangers! Life is always unpredictable!
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.
Even if you dial once this special number, it might save someone's life: 0901 200 270! God bless you!
