Mariam (5-year-old): When I tell mommy the word “candy”, she immediately starts crying. Are you afraid of this word too? Candy, candy! Well, you are not afraid! Then give me “two money”, I will buy candy for us, and for mom, and for you. Do you want me to buy? Or I’ll buy cookies.

“Do you know that the New Year is coming soon? Do you have children? Will Santa come to them? Did they behave well? Will you give them some presents too? The dolls? And candy? And dresses like Princess Elsa has?” – plies me with questions six-year-old Barbare.

For two-year-old Ramaz, candy is the most wonderful creation on earth! Candy is like a mom and a sister! Those rare days when his mom can buy him one candy becomes a holiday for him. He cares for it as for the apple of his eye, and even kisses it.

“Oh, what a funny child,” you would say and smile if you don’t know who it’s about. And what will your reaction be if I say that he ate sweets only a few times during his childhood? What if I tell you that sometimes tea is his only food? What if I say that he envies his sister the most because his mother is breastfeeding her? Will you again say that he is quirky, or will you be horrified?

These words belong to a 54-year-old woman who is at the age that is sometimes called the prime of life. But Eliso became related to death…

When you bury half of your family at once – father, mother, brother, sister, nephew – your life is not at all important. Eliso’s heart was crushed with grief, but her misfortunes did not stop. They continue to this day.

Did you know that if you do not eat for a very long time, then your tummy starts to rumble? Sometimes it rumbles so loud that even the neighbors can hear it. Did you know that to stop rumbling, you need to lie on your stomach and hug a teddy bear? Try it! Mariam, 8, and Anano, 7, say it helps. That is how they lay, trying to pacify the “rumbling tummy”.

They are afraid of their house, they are afraid that the roof, which they could not fix after the fire, will collapse on their heads. They miraculously managed to escape from the fire, but they will certainly die under their roof. “It will probably bring relief to many people,” – Gulnazi says. There is no irony in her words. She really thinks so. She also thinks that their family is superfluous, because no one cares about them.