“You’ll ruin each other! You can’t take care of yourself – how can you take care of a sick child? You won’t make it – you’ll die, and you’ll take the baby with you” – these were the “congratulations” and “encouragement” Ia received after her daughter Katie was born with Down syndrome.

The only bright memory in the life of 54-year-old Gohar is how her grandmother bought her candy 50 years ago! That’s it! Her heart is a graveyard of unfulfilled dreams and shattered hopes. She was two years old when her father left the family. He never saw his daughter again. But Gohar saw from afar how he hugged and kissed his other children.

“Don’t come close to us, you cross-eyed, we’ll get infected from you. Blind! Freak!” – More than forty years have passed, but Zeinab still remembers these words. She remembers that she could not respond to ridicule when she was a child and she cried, and she got bullied even more because of this. She didn’t tell her parents about it. She just sat down somewhere near her house “crying out” all the tears, calmed down and went home after that. She didn’t want mom and dad to worry.

I do not ask for myself because this is not life! But why should people I love so much suffer with me?! God help me!!! When 46-year-old Ramaz begins to sob like a child, from unbearable gnawing mental pain, only his younger brother Revaz can calm him down. For 14 years now, Revaz has been not only a brother for Ramaz, but also his arms, legs, and the only support.

Prepare some watery soup and divide the loaf of bread for three – for our family a great luxury

Otar: If she dies – I will follow her; if I die – she will not be able to live even a single day without me. That’s it. We barely live out our days, we keep each other afloat. I’d love to die, but I can’t leave her alone – so, I endure pain and all the suffering. I promised her 40 years ago that I would be with her in sorrow and joy, I would cherish her. And I keep my word.