Stories Untold - Return of Georgian Migrants: Tamar Toradze

My husband and I didn’t emigrate with an aim to buy property or pay our debts. We have lost two children. In Tbilisi I was told that I couldn’t have more children, so we decided to earn and save money and adopt a child. That was our goal and that is why we left.

Thank God, after 8 years of our life in Greece we had our own child. That was such a miracle that I will never be able to express it in words. However, my husband started to have health problems. We came to Tbilisi for surgery. After consulting with doctors, he went back and now he is legally working in a factory there; he also works as a waiter. My child and I went to see him, but my child didn’t like the environment there and didn’t want to go to the kindergarten. I sent the kid to Georgia to my family members at age of 4. And now that I have returned as well, I don’t want to leave my child anymore and lose the connection, although there might be better opportunities abroad. With IOM’s assistance I am managing a greenhouse in my village and I look after it with my brother-in-law. I now grow coriander. If all will go well, I want to expand and have another greenhouse, where I will grow bell peppers.
 

Photo: Dina Oganova