On 1 February 2016, Administrative Boundary Line and Human Security Team patrol in Field Office Mtskheta (FOM) handed over Georgian – Ossetian dictionaries to the public library and to the school library in the village of Ksovrisi. As the patrol was told during a previous visit to the village, the public library in Ksovrisi is the last library on the Tbilisi Administered Territory (TAT) side before entering into South Ossetia. There is also a rather big group of people with Ossetian roots living in and around the village.
The Field Office Mtskheta patrol was received by the village representative of the Gamgebeli in Mtskheta, the Head of the Library and a couple of teachers from the local school. All of them showed great enthusiasm in the dictionary and the teachers noted that it was very well written.
“To have the possibility to both see in writing and to learn the Ossetian language is important for your identity, not least for the younger generation who have not yet had the possibility to visit South Ossetia”, said one of the teachers. In addition, they expressed their gratefulness that EUMM is patrolling in the area on a regular basis and, thus, contributing to the security and stability and hoped that the EUMM will continue with its presence. “I always wave to you when I see your cars driving by and I have been dreaming about to meet you in person, but I never thought it should happen until today when my dream became true”, said one of them.
They also said that they in the near future would like to organise an event together with the Ossetian population in the village to raise awareness around the Ossetian language and to celebrate the donation of the dictionaries.
Teachers inspecting the dictionary
Supra afterwards!!