Stories Untold - Return of Georgian Migrants: Vardo Paikidze

I left for Greece in 2007 and stayed there for 12 years. My journey was very difficult. I don’t even want to think about it. We went by bus to Turkey. There were 9 of us without documents. Then we got off at one stop and we were picked up by several people, who took us to some ruined building where we stayed until it got dark. Then we went through forests, there was a narrow path. Greece and Turkey are divided by a small river, we were placed in boats for transportation. Our boat started to sink, but we were close to the shore and we managed to get out before it filled with water. I was lucky. Those, who were behind us, sank. We were taken to somebody’s house again. We were placed in some cars in the evening and driven to the central road, where we had to wait for a bus. When the bus finally arrived, we were put in luggage compartment in the bus. We traveled for 12 hours and one woman suffocated to death.
 

Photo: Dina Oganova