If you look for Mount Dunhvisi without a map, you will definitely get lost.
At least that's what happened to us.
My friends and I stumbled upon photos taken from a mountain with a height of 1,640 meters on the Internet and decided to devote a weekend towards ascending to Dankhvisi. But the path to the picturesque panorama turned out to be not as easy as we first thought: the road strayed, constantly dividing and confronting us with a choice – to the left or to the right? And somewhere our choice turned out to be wrong because we arrived in a completely different place.
– Who are you? , – asked a man, as soon as we, looking around, got out of the car.
– We were trying to get to the observation deck on Dunhvisi, – we answered.
– Oh, you got lost , – the man laughed. – Well, who else will come here besides the lost tourists.
– What is this village? , we asked.
– A village that loves guests! – replied the man, leaving the garden. – And since you have arrived, we need to receive you well. Just wait a bit, I have a little business here.
The man picked up a shovel from the ground, walked over to a stream flowing along the road and easily changed its course, directing it into the garden.
It turned out that the village is called Velebi, it is only 12 kilometers from the city of Gori, although it feels like the end of the world there.
According to the 2014 census of Georgia, 12 people live in the village of Velebi with an area of four hectares.
Local residents live off agriculture – each house has a small land plot. On the day we arrived, it started raining, the stream was full, and now the villagers hope that they will have enough water for irrigation.
Merab is 52 years old, he was born and raised in this village. Merab's parents were Ossetians, but since there was no school in the village, he was taken to the neighboring village of Ateni for secondary education. He also learned Georgian there.
"All these people who tell nonsense about Georgians and Ossetians need to be brought here. When you miss your interlocutor, it doesn't matter at all who they will be – an Ossetian or a Georgian".
Merab recalls the old days with pleasure, we don't even need to ask questions, he willingly tells everything himself:
"God grant health to the woman who taught me the Georgian language so well. When I finished school, I started working as a driver in Gori. Back then, drivers were making good money. I then lived in a rented apartment and sometimes earned a month's rent per day of work. Then I fell in love with a woman two years older than me and married her".
Merab's wife is Georgian. Having intermarried with the Georgians, Merab became friends with them. But he could not imagine that one day he would have to change his Ossetian surname to a Georgian one.
"I would not have thought that someday it would be necessary to answer whether I am Ossetian or Georgian. I just loved my wife and all her relatives. But then everything went bad, I started having problems because of my last name. Unlike the others, I didn't think of going anywhere from here. Then I just changed my surname and many others did too", Merab said.
For more than 25 years, Merab has been living under the name of Khachirishvili.
His friends and neighbors left a long time ago – both from the village and from the country but the life of Merab and several other people turned out differently and they remained in their native village.
Merab's one-storey house is fenced along the perimeter, with newly erected walls visible nearby. It looks like a renovation is in progress and the owner is planning to make an extension.
"Yesterday I organized a small feast here – what other entertainment do we have in the village? I lit a fire, fried a barbecue, invited neighbors and we all sat down. When I need help with construction, they will definitely come to the rescue. Here we are like in a family – all together in sorrow and in joy.
Merab is renovating a house for his grandchildren. He thinks he should give it to them in good condition.
"I have two grandchildren, the eldest will go to school this year, the youngest is three years old. They live in Gori. They love chicken very much. And here I am looking after 45 chicken for them. When the children arrive, they give out names to the chickens and play with them. Now it will soon become..."