Conciliation Resources

Conciliation Resources’ Radio Diaries project started in 2002 and involves 20 radio stations and over 40 journalists working in Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh.

Every month, dozens of 3-5 minute diaries recorded by ordinary people talking about their lives and challenges after war are broadcast on radio stations in the region. The idea is to break down stereotypes and influence public discussion in communities long divided by conflict.

Teams of local journalists edit these real life stories. Exchange visits and training have brought together those from separate sides of the conflicts, sometimes for the first time.

Instructions: click on an image to scroll through the photos at a larger size.

Between Two Mothers (from Azerbaijan): In a village close to the frontline with Karabakh a young Azeri tractor driver is shot dead. In revenge the local people take four Armenians hostage. One of them is an eight-year old boy called Edik. An Azeri woman takes Edik in and looks after him for a week until a hostage exchange can be organized. They form such a close bond that when Edik is returned to his mother, villagers on both sides of the divide are reduced to tears watching him say a heart rending goodbye to his Azeri "mother" and make his way back across the front line to his real mother waiting for him on the other side.

After The War (from Armenia): A young woman from Armenia woman tells a chilling tale of bride kidnapping which ruined her life. At the age of 15, while still at school she was abducted by a local man, who held her captive for a week after which her reputation was considered dishonoured and her family forced her to marry him. Her new husband turned out to be a violent alcoholic and during five dreadful years of marriage she had two children who both died, and was regularly beaten by her husband and father in law. Once she dreamt of becoming a gynaecologist. Now the highlight of her life is to visit the graves of her two children.

The Jolly Corpse (from South Ossetia): A drunken husband fakes his own death in order to get back at his nagging wife. His distraught wife finds him hanging from a rafter in the shed and calls in a neighbour. The neighbour finding herself alone with the "corpse" takes advantage of the situation to pilfer some ham from the shed. The "corpse" shouts at her to put the ham back. She runs out screaming, falls over something and knocks herself out. The local policeman arrives to find out what the commotion is. He tries to bring the "corpse" down and in the process trips over a stool and breaks his arm and leg. The end result is one neighbour and one policeman in hospital, one drunken husband arrested on assault charges, and one very angry wife.

Life Without Legs (from Armenia): A young Armenian man is confined to a wheelchair after an accident. At first he feels that his life is over and sinks into a depression. But gradually he begins to accept his disability and to rebuild a new life for himself. It's a story with a happy ending. Eventually he gets married and has a son, and now 17 years after it all happened he reflects on how his wife has helped him to believe in himself and to believe that anything is possible.

Unforgettable Melody (from Azerbaijan): Kifayat, an 'Internally Displaced Person' from Kelbajar region in the north-west of Azerbaijan remembers the day at the height of the Karabakh war when she and her family had to leave their home. In the last minute scramble to take whatever they could carry, her father's lute was left behind. Now years later the lost lute has come to symbolize everything about their old life that was lost, and all the lives that the war swept away.

Tea for 45 manats (from Azerbaijan): It's a story about the poverty which has become a fact of life for many older people across the South Caucasus. An elderly lady who's worked all her life as a nurse, finds it impossible to make ends meet now that she's retired. To earn some extra money she sells glasses of tea to people waiting at bus stops. It's a hard life, and she's constantly being moved on. If she stands outside all day, come rain or shine, she'll just about make enough money to buy a couple of kilos of flour.