War is a terrible thing. I personally find death and war as one in the same. I think that I am deeply sure that there shouldn’t be wars in this world, as it destroys everything including people’s future. I as an IDP woman from Abkhazia had the greatest trauma because I was 17 years old when the war started in Abkhazia. This was a war between brothers because Abkhazian and Georgian people lived together well for centuries. And I think it shouldn’t have happened but it did, and thousands of people were hurt—especially mixed families. I myself represent a mixed family, and I speak through my experience, my father’s side is Georgian and my mother’s side is Abkhazian. I could not choose a side during this war. For me all deaths and wins were important from both Georgian and Abkhazian people. Losses from both parties were also painful for me. So, there were lots of people, like, me, who also represented these mixed families. I will never forget the day when we fled our houses when we escaped from the bombs and missiles, and it was very difficult for my mother to abandon her home and that is a terrible thing for me to remember this process. Mom had to decide whether or not to leave everything and be with her children or to stay with her sisters in Abkhazia. So, if mom would stay in Abkhazia, we would be in danger. It is so painful for me to know that my mother had to face such hardships, and I don’t even want to recall this painful moment when my mother had to make that decision, either to go with us to Georgia or stay with her Abkhazian siblings. She decided to leave Abkhazia and come to Georgia. Many other families had these situations. 30 years later, nothing has changed. I am not so called “sided” even today after all these years. I want peace and for Georgia to be united, and to return back to Abkhazia. It was unimaginable pain, and so I don’t want any generation to take weapons and our children to have to go through war and the same difficulties as we did. People have to come to conclusions and reconcile. I am a child of war and I don’t want the next generation, my children, or any generation to undergo these same difficulties as I did. We can see there is again another war now with Ukraine and I could not imagine that 30 years later we could find ourselves in this same situation. I am very sorry for Ukrainians because I know what war is like and I am reminded of the Abkhazian war. Russia is an occupant and because of them I am no longer living in my home in Abkhazia. I identify the Russian-Ukrainian war as the Abkhazian war, because we know what it means to be at war with Russia. This is close to our hearts. We are in a difficult period now and I am internally displaced within my own country. Because Russia is an occupier, now our country receives refugees from Ukraine. Of course, that should have come to an end. It is the 21st century and people deserve to live in peace and to live without war. If the Russian occupation doesn’t end, I doubt that I can hope for the future; there is no perspective for a better future, and the same war might happen again. Russian occupation is a threat to everyone, until the world defeats Russia. The world should stop Russia so that we have a chance of living in peace. When the Russian occupation will be finished, we can hope for a bright future. Up until now, the war still continues for me because this was between brother started in 1992. I would say that for me and my family, this war was repeated in 2003, 10 years later. We were crossing the Enguri bridge and there were soldiers checking documents. I was with my 7th month old daughter at the time, my husband, and I was pregnant. When we approached the border, these 5-armed Russian soldiers whom were so-called “peacemakers” attacked us. Someone who was walking in front of us was shot immediately on spot, along with my husband. He did not die there but his health deteriorated and he received intensive treatment for 17-18 years, but never fully healed. But it was a miracle that he survived. However, he developed sepsis, it spread, and eventually caused his death at the young age of 50. He was very healthy but died because of Russian soldiers whom were so-called “peace-makers”, and they were hurting people. Can you imagine? They were peace-makers, and you can judge how they defended peace? This is my example and you can see how Russia is maintaining “peace”. I want many people to learn about this fact, maybe it is not a tragedy that we were damaged but lots of people got hurt. Of course, there are dozens of families who have been hurt by these situations, and no one was responsible for these losses.