According to an Abkhaz legend, at the beginning of time, God decided to distribute land to all the peoples on earth. The Abkhazians, however, were busy entertaining guests, and as it would have been unthinkable for them to abandon their visitors, they arrived late to receive their allotment. God had only a few stones left, but out of these he created a homeland-rocky and rugged but as lovely as paradise.
Rising from the sparkling waters of the Black Sea to the spectacular snow-covered peaks of the Caucasus Mountains, Abkhazia is a lush and ancient land famous for its beauty and the hospitality of its people. For the last decade, however, Abkhazia has resembled more closely purgatory than paradise.
From 1992-93, Abkhazia was ravaged by a civil war with its neighbor, Georgia, which left 10,000 dead. The war ended in 1993 with the withdrawal of Georgian troops and de facto independence for Abkhazia. Yet, Abkhazia has never received recognition as a nation from the international community. A strict embargo imposed by Georgia and Russia in 1993 and which remains in place eleven years later, has destroyed the economy and severely limited international aid and postwar reconstruction. Abkhazia remains trapped in a strange limbo, squeezed between the geo-political maneuverings of Russia and Georgia.
In September 2003, Doctors Without Borders nurse Annie Whitehouse and photojournalist Beth Wald traveled to Abkhazia to implement a dZi Foundation aid project at the Gulripsch Tuberculosis Hospital, and to document issues facing the Abkhazian people. The Abkhazia Stories – images and impressions from this forgotten place – provide a rare glimpse of Abkhazia as its people try to reconstruct their lives and resurrect their land and culture while facing an uncertain future.
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