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Georgia Diary
November 11, 2001
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This week was strange. It started well with all the deminers back at work after the trouble which has bothered the region in recent weeks. The newspapers all say that Galaev a Chechen warlord was in charge of the recent attackers, they say he is now in hospital in Georgia, sitting in Sukhumi it is hard to know what went on. Thankfully not many bodies arrived at the hospital, so we like to think that there was more talk than fighting, which is normally the way here.
On Monday and Tuesday the team worked well and we managed to crush a lot of hazardous soil. It is funny but some days every thing goes just right and the things that cause delays happen at the right times, like when we find a suspect device on the conveyor belt which means we have to stop work while I check it out and if it is explosive I have to destroy it,. Well on Monday and Tuesday these always happened just as breaks were due, which meant that when I worked the others rested which is good, and that is how it was on Monday and Tuesday , not like on other days when as soon as we start work we have to stop which makes me angry but that is the only way to be safe.
On Wednesday there was a big fuss when we started work. At night, well as soon as we leave the site actually, we leave behind two guards to look after the crusher. It weighs much too much for anyone to steal, but people here are very poor and if we left the crusher without a guard then local people might steal light bulbs or cabling which they can sell in the market. So every night the guards sleep in a tent by the machine so nothing is taken. Normally when we get to work the guards are waiting with a pot of boiling water and they make tea while we do the daily checks and warm up the machine. But on Wednesday the guards were not waiting for us in their usual place they were waiting by the main road. To start with I was very angry as they had left the crusher unattended and that was wrong because we need the crusher for our work and without it we have no work and that means our families will suffer so I shouted at them for abandoning their duties, but they said “shout all you want Ali, there is a bear by the crusher and he can shout louder”. All I could do was laugh.
There are many bears in Abkhazia and with the winter coming this one had come down towards the town to look for food. They had heard him moving outside their tent and ran away as fast as they can. Nothing was taken and the bear must have wandered off, he might come back but now the guards light a big fire and carry a shot gun in the case the bear comes back. I am happy, because everyone knows about the bear and no-one will try and rob from the crusher so the guards had one bad night, but now their life is easy, and we know that the crusher will be ready for work whenever we appear.
Ali Makhmatkhanov,
Crusher Field Officer
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