Fighting traps grad student

Photo Courtesy of Mika Manjgaladze / Photo by Davit Bochorishvili

A woman carries a child through the streets of Gori, outside of the province of South Ossetia. Gori was targeted last week during a Russian bombardment.

Photo Courtesy of Mika Manjgaladze

Mika Manjgaladze, a grad student at Emporia State University is trapped in her hometown of Batumi, Georgia.

An Emporia State grad student is trapped in her Georgian hometown because of the fighting with Russia.

“It was 3 in the morning when they started bombing,” the student, Mika Manjgaladze, said in an email interview. “We were sleeping and the first thing we heard was sound of airplane and then it was such a huge sound that our apartment complex started shaking like (in) an earthquake…We were safe but after bombing, apartment windows were broken. We are emotionally depressed and afraid.”

Manjgaladze graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in international business and was accepted into the MBA program for this semester. She had also been granted a graduate assistantship at the Center for Student Involvement.

Known to many on the ESU campus as Miranda, Manjgaladze was trapped while visiting her hometown of Batumi, a port city on the Black Sea. In last week’s interview, Manjgaladze was unsure if and when she would be able to come back to the U.S.

“U.S. embassy stopped issuing visas for 10 days,” Manjgaladze said. “My return ticket (was for) Aug. 25. There are no international flights because it (the airport) was bombed so right now I am not sure if I will be able (to come back).”

Manjgaladze lost her chance of getting the correct visa when the U.S. embassy workers were evacuated along with other Americans in Georgia according to a staff member of the International Education office in the Memorial Union.

“She can’t do anything,” said Gloria Swift, administrative specialist in the office of international education. “She can’t get out because she can’t get a visa.”

Manjgaladze was an exchange student during her senior year of high school and graduated from school in Olpe in 2004. She was involved in several organizations during her undergraduate years, including the International Choir and International Club.

“We’re really concerned about her,” said James Harter, assistant vice president for international education. “We want to know that she’s safe…we want to get her onto her graduate program and allow her to continue with her goals and we want to be a part of that.”

According to Harter, Manjgaladze’s circumstances are not that uncommon.

“This happens every year, depending on where there is an unforeseen circumstance like this one,” Harter said.

Students and staff on campus have been worried for Manjgaladze’s safety.

“I’ve come to think real highly of her and I’m worried about her,” said Mary McDaniel, assistant director of student wellness.

McDaniel first met Manjgaladze her freshman year, when McDaniel was doing outreach work in the residence halls. Manjgaladze later worked as a student assistant for McDaniel in the Student Health Center. McDaniel has been keeping in touch with Manjgaladze through emails and by frequently speaking with Manjgaladze’s high school host mother from Olpe.

“She’s just such an optimistic person and a very religious person as well,” McDaniel said. “A lot of her messages to me are just requests to pray for her and for the country and for the situation. It’s been kind of limited contact, but I’ve been glad to hear anything at all.”

For McDaniel, knowing someone overseas who is directly affected by this conflict has had a tremendous effect on her world view.

“I guess what really has been the biggest thing to me is that I think we’ve been kind of insulated in this country because these kinds of conflicts or wars or whatever you want to call them crop up all the time,” McDaniel said. “It never has really struck me with the intensity that it has this time because this is the first time that I’ve had someone that I really knew and care about who is involved. It makes a big difference and it really makes you stop and think about how fortunate we have been.”

Although various reports and statements by the Russian Federation claim that they have pulled the troops out of Georgia, Manjgaladze says otherwise.

“No, it is not true (that they left) after that fact they were still bombing,” Manjgaldze said. “They bombed Gori, Poti, and Borjomi forest. Russian soldiers are robbing everything from invaded territories.”

The conflict began on Aug. 7, after Georgian troops attacked separatists in the breakaway province of South Ossetia. After that attack, Russia sent in troops to fight the Georgian troops within the province. Although there was a peace agreement between the two countries, several counties, including the US, have accused Russia of breaking the ceasefire agreement.

“We’re trying our hardest to get her back over here,” said Lynda Denson, Manjgaladze’s high school host mother. Everything has got to fall into place, but we’re hoping to have her back here by the fourth of September.”

The Denson family hired a private plane to take Manjgaladze from Batumi to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Manjgaladze is unable to travel by train because bridges between the two cities have been bombed.

She plans on staying in Tbilisi for several days with relatives until she can get her visa. The Densons have also arranged Manjgaladze’s flight from Georgia to the US, which could cost up to $10,000. On Sunday, a U.S. destroyer carrying humanitarian aid in the form of baby food and bottled water reached Batumi. Denson is concerned that Manjgaladze and her family may not be safe after the destroyer leaves because of the possibility that Russia may attack the city in an act of retaliation.

“She’s come through things people in our country have never had to experience,” Denson said. “This kid has had major miracles in her life… She has a very strong faith in God.”

While an exchange student at Olpe, Manjgaladze shared a room with another student who was from Russia. Although the girls did not get along at first, Denson said, they became more accepting of each other over time. According to Denson, who keeps in contact with both students, the Russian student does not believe that Georgia has been attacked; instead, she believes that the attacks are U.S. propaganda.

“The only thing we have left is a strong faith,” Manjgaladze said. “We all pray and we believe in God. Church is our strength.”

Manjgaladze has not personally seen much of the attacks in the city of Batumi, but she has heard of the attacks from others. A friend of hers, Davit Bochorishvili, had shared photos he took of war dead in Gori.

“They bombed suburb(s) of Batumi only once,” Manjgaladze said. “They bombed (a) military base, old military base from the Soviet period.”

With Russia’s presence in South Ossetia and parts of Georgia, some speculate that Russia is attempting to annex the area of what once was part of the Soviet Union. Manjgaladze, however, says she wants Georgia to remain free.

“I want everyone to know that Georgia is a small country with an ancient history,” Manjgaladze said. “It is independent country and it is not part of the Soviet Union anymore. We are a small nation with old traditions and we want to keep our traditions and we want to exist as Georgians and have our own democratic, free country of Georgia.”

Manjgaladze believes that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has done a good job trying to preserve peace in Georgia.

“From our history, these conflicted zones, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, were part of Georgia,” Manjgaladze said. “Over 20 years we were suffering from this conflict and I think President Saakashvili did everything to solve the conflict without war. This conflict has to end and I think that Saakashvili had a peaceful strategy for this.”

Manjgaladze hopes that the current conflict will end soon and that other conflicts can be avoided in the future.

“I want world peace,” Manjgaladze said. “I want people, no matter what nation, to love each other. For (the) 21st century, war is not the right decision to solve the conflict.”

In the email interview, Manjgaladze thanked everyone in Emporia and Olpe for their “great love and strong support.”