For Shota Nozadze growing nut is an all-family business, literally. Every summer, as the nuts ripen and begin to drop, his wife and 11 children join the harvest to rake the fruits up, polish them, and sell them - the money would support the whole family, allowing them to buy clothes, books and other school items for the children. Yet, the 2017 harvest has not been a joyful one. Nozadze’s hazelnuts as well as those of hundreds of producers in Guria and Samegrelo, the regions in western Georgia where nuts are a precious commodity, have been hit by the halyomorpha halys, an insect that has dragged small producers to the ground.  

Sixty-three-year-old Genadi Bosikov and his 67-year-old wife, Svetlana, are the only inhabitants of Qobi, a Georgian village a few kilometers away from the disputed administrative border with South Ossetia. Bosikov, an ethnic Ossetian, has stayed here to look after his ancestors’ land. He works hard to harvest garlic, onions, beans and wheat, and is happy to share his crops with a guest. People rarely visit the Bosikovs because they are the only family living here. The couple’s children live in Austria and don't visit Georgia often. Bosikov misses the time when the village used to be full of people. He also misses his family. But it’s the lack of information, not the solitude, that scares him most. For this reason, he worries about not having electricity. He thinks that Russian soldiers might occupy the village unexpectedly. Yet he refuses to leave.  Qobi is where his ancestors lived, and, therefore, so will he.  

Kurshubadze, who has cerebral palsy and a learning disability, expresses himself not only through theater. Each afternoon, he takes arts-and-crafts and speech classes after his regular lessons. The regional government, which pays for his breakfast and lunch at school, provides his transportation home.

An estimated number of 200 Udis live in Georgia, mostly in Zinobiani. They are struggling to preserve their cultural identity and save the Udi language.