Lela is making Aliyah with her husband Paata and two children – daughter Nato and son Nika. Lela tells their story:
“I have been waiting for this for a long time and I know that in this strange time worldwide my family is taking the right steps in going to Israel. It is very important for our future and for our children’s future.”
“We only decided to make Aliyah this year. When we saw the Consul and he saw our documents, he immediately gave us visas. Previously we had never thought about leaving. My husband had his own business in Gori and had been involved in that since 2000. We were living well and enjoying life. In 2008 when there was war with Russia that was a big challenge on our economy and, of course, also for our business. Year by year the situation got worse. My grandmother became ill and my mom is still caring for her. That’s why we could not take her with us – she decided to stay with her mom. One month before our flight she broke her leg, and we had some crazy situations! But we had already made our decision to start something new for our children and their future. We know that they can get a good education there and we will do our best to work and help my mom and grandmother in Gori. We have relatives in Israel and know it’s a very promising country. As a Jew it seems good to me to be there.”
“I know everything will be fine if we work hard but the main thing is that I want my children to be happy and achieve their goals. We had contact with Ezra International some months ago when the Consul was in Georgia. We didn’t know how to start the process of renewing our documents and the Ezra team gave us advice. Later, after all the advice, they covered our expenses and also paid for our document translation, notary certification and apostilles.”
“Gori is a very friendly city and there were many Jewish families here historically and we’ve also had a good relationship with Georgians. We were all in tears before the flight. I will miss my Mom and grandma and will be praying for them to be healthy and to see them soon. We will also miss our yard and neighbours and friends. It’s not easy to put several years into some bags and move to another country!”
“If it was not for Ezra International’s help, we would have had no chance to fix our document problems so quickly. And the amount paid for that is a huge help to our family. We thank all those who are involved in that work and all those who support your work.”