Makvala Micava

Makvala prepares a lunch of sulguni, a salty cheese, and gomi, an oatmeal-like paste, in the walled-in porch of her room at the Hotel Iveria. She arrived here with nothing and has been working to acquire the basic necessities ever since.

"We are trying to go home," she says, but harbors no illusions about a return to Abkhazia. "Maybe in another 10 years."

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