In 1992, a child from Georgia packed her entire life into a small black canvas bag to escape the horror of the bombs… The war through her eyes and the most terrible memories that mark her entire life are described in the autobiographical book "The Black Canvas Bag" by Georgian Ekaterina Kvaratskhelia. She was just 13 years old during the civil war in Georgia (1991-1993). She had to grow up very quickly and take care of her younger sister Sophia, who was then six years old. The two narrowly escaped the bombings in their hometown of Sukhumi. The road led them first to the capital Tbilisi before going to Bulgaria in 1993. For nearly 30 years Katya has lived in Varna, where she completed her higher education at the University of Economics. Today she is a successful businesswoman, dividing her time between the private companies she runs, translations from and into Georgian, and taking care of her three children. She says her book is a story about the long journey from the hell of the war in Georgia to a new home, to a new life in Bulgaria.

The analogy between the events today in Ukraine and the history of Georgia is inevitable:

"The publication of the book is connected with the war in Ukraine. I had been writing it for a very long time. I had also promised my grandmother that I would publish it someday. The war in Ukraine prompted me to do it, as when I watched what was happening, it was a real deja vu for me. I do not see any difference between the past and present, with the exception that there is publicity now and information spreads quickly, while back then no one knew what was happening in Sukhumi. The worst thing in every war is that ordinary people suffer. People who are called to fight, including my father. There are volunteers and people who are called up by drafts, who are forced to fight. Children who see this horror suffer the most," Ekaterina says.

After seeing that the war would not have the desired outcome, her father found a way to save his family and their escape led them to Bulgaria. "After a lot of work, he managed to build a successful business in the field of telecommunications. He was also a rally racer and brought many victories to Bulgaria," Ekaterina Kvaratskhelia says. However, memories of the war never fade:

"My sister remembers everything from that war, even though she was just 6 years old. When I decided to finish the book, I asked her to draw a few scenes in it with a pencil, as she is in the art sphere. I wondered if I should tell her about the time in the bunker, or at the airport, but she told me that she remembers that too. The scene where we are at the airport is the hardest for all of us, so she told me that, purely emotionally, she couldn't draw it. Then we asked an artist from Targovishte, who drew what we described in words."

Working as a translator has met Ekaterina Kvaratskhelia with many of her compatriots in Bulgaria, some of whom also came here as a result of the war in their homeland. They even have their own media – Georgian Radio in Blagoevgrad, where Katya was a guest for an interview about her book.

The Georgian woman hopes that her story will reach many people. She wants young people, despite the digital world they live in, to know that there are people around them who lived in places where they faced a real threat to their lives. She admits that she managed to give 90% of the circulation of the book personally to those who want to read it. In each copy, she leaves the same message to the reader – "With wishes for peace!", as she knows that this blessing cannot be taken for granted.

Publication in English: Al. Markov

Photos: BNR Varna, personal archive