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“I Do Not Want To Be an IDP” - Slogan of the Children’s Concert from Akhalgori District in Tskhinvali, But Failed in Tbilisi

November 9, 2010
Mari Otarashvili, Akhalgori

Director of the youth palace of Akhalgori district Tamar Mearkishvili was not allowed to hold culture events in Tbilisi. The beneficiaries of the youth palace had to exhibit and sell their handmade cloths on the event. The cloths were exhibited by models. The event was planned in the central office of one of the leading banks in Tbilisi. Tamar Mearkishvili does not publish the name of the bank for certain reasons.

The event aimed to organize outings to Tbilisi-Tskhinvali and exhibition of the handmade souvenirs, embroidery and clothes of the pupils of the youth palace initially in Tbilisi and then in Tskhinvali.

Tamar Mearkishvili: “Despite our wish and effort, we could not hold concert in Tbilisi. Culture events were initially planned in Tbilisi and then in Tskhinvali. Everything seemed ok about Tbilisi but later we learned that the hall, where we planned exhibition, was busy. Apparently, concerts with the title “I Am an IDP” is very common for Tbilisi but the concert “I Do Not Want to Be an IDP” is not very welcomed there.”

Afterwards, Mearkishvili offered the de-facto administration of Akhalgori district to organize an outing and concert in Tskhinvali.

“We had only one choice – we had to go to Tskhinvali by bus. I asked the local administration to organize our trip but they could not manage it. The bus full of passengers arrived and we could not understand whether children had to go separately or together with passengers. It was ordinary bus which runs to Tskhinvali every day. About 40 people were standing in the square and could not decide what to do because there was no place for us on the bus. In parallel to it, everything was well-organized in Tskhinvali – they had called the militia office and warned them to accompany us to the town. The car of the “GAI” (road police) was driving in front of us in order to avoid all problems from us. When we passed Kanchaveti village a teacher called me from the other car and asked me to stop. She told me crying: “why are we going there, everything is broken.” We had about twenty embroideries framed in boxes. I went crazy – everything was so carefully wrapped up and it was impossible to break them. The teacher told me a woman from Akhalgori district was going to Tskhinvali and when she got on the bus, she went directly to the boxes and sat on them; she jumped down on them three times. She was fat and her weight broke the frames. The children heard noise of cracking and asked her not to sit on the boxes but she said: “I do not care, I want to sit down and I will.”

The passengers were standing in the middle of the road for one hour near the village of Kanchaveti and they were crying. The teachers tried to get in touch with the de-facto administration of Akhalgori district in vain. The person, who broke the frames, was not going to get off the bus. Tamar Mearkishvili said they did not want to travel with the woman because she broke their frames on purpose.

“If she did not want to break them, why she jumped down on them three times?! She said Jusoev told her to sit there. It was not seat and why she decided to sit there. The woman did not care; she was going to Tskhinvali. By the way, soon a taxi was sent to that woman and 4 000 rubles was paid for her transportation. It is nice that they take care of the citizens but I cannot understand why only that woman should have privileges,” asked the director of the youth palace.

In Tskhinvali everybody was ready to meet guests. Huge banner was hanging at the entrance: “Welcome to Tskhinvali”. Mearkishvili said everything was organized by the de-facto education deputy minister Zaira Chochieva.

The hall was overcrowded. Georgian-Ossetian folk dances, songs and rhymes in both languages. The embroideries were cleaned from the frame shatters.

Tamar Mearkishvili: “Can you imagine, the frames were also broken. We wanted to exhibit and the sell those embroideries but how we could sell them with broken frames. Only 1 or 2 survived and we gave them as presents. We had handmade ear-rings and various souvenirs made of clay. We gave them to the local children as presents. At the end of the concert we had fashion show.”

The applauds of the audience in Tskhinvali was very pleasant for the guests from Akhalgori. “The elderly people encored the children when they danced Bagdaduri and Kintauri. They almost ran to the stage and joined them. I want to add that we spoke in Georgian everywhere – in the shops, drug-shops, market, administrative buildings during two days but we did not face any problem there; nobody ever rebuked us for that. Next day, the children took photos,” said the director of the youth palace.

Nobody wished to comment on it in the administration why the Akhalgori district de-facto administration needed to destroy the work of local children. Unfortunately, nobody wants to comment about the canceled concert in Tbilisi either.

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