After a longer than usual summer break, a result of the conflict with Russia that sent shockwaves through the country last month, it is finally time for Georgian pupils to return to the classroom. But what heralds hope and excitement for schoolchildren in Tbilisi, ushers in a new phase of uncertainty for thousands of people uprooted by the conflict who have been living in the capital's public schools for the past six weeks.

Now, they all must go, once again.

The Georgian government is planning to relocate people like Gurami who don't yet feel ready to return home - or cannot return home.

Gurami is a fifty-two year old Georgian man from the South Ossetian village of Avneni, kilometers away from the heavily attacked town of Tskhinvali. He tells me that he does not want to move from the Academy of Agricultural Science in Tbilisi where he and his family are now living.

"Moving again will be the cause of yet more stress for my family, we have already suffered a lot. I think we are better off in Tbilisi. Some people are being moved to other places in the country like Gori but we will not feel as protected there - we do not know anyone. Believe me I am happy to live in tent but in my village and next to my destroyed house. I do not want to go anywhere else. I hope that we will be talked to before we are moved and given options."

We are interrupted by a group of men who have started to gather around us who learn that I'm reporting on their situation.

"Can you make our voices heard and let people know that we want to work instead of laying on the floor and doing nothing else but think about the problems we are facing?" they ask me.

Gurami nods his head in agreement with the men and then continues.

"I feel like I am still in the midst of this war. Since we fled our village of Avneni I have slept for no more than three hours a night. The nightmares about what I saw on my journey here haunt me. I cannot get the horrific scenes of people dying out of my head... We are all worried; we know we won't be able to go back to our houses or what is left of them for a long time because our village is occupied by Russian troops. My home has been burnt down with all the other houses in the village. The only three houses left standing belong to Ossetian residents."

"When the shooting started on the 6th of August me and my fellow villagers gathered and came to an agreement that women and children should flee first. We crammed as many people as we could into our cars and decided to accompany them to safety. A bullet punctured the tyre on the minibus leading the convoy. It had to continue, it was that or death. Somehow, we made it to a safer village nearby where we repaired the bus before going on to Tbilisi. It was a living nightmare. The roads were so dusty that people couldn't see the cars coming from the opposite direction. Our neighbours crashed into a car. Thank god they are still alive. They did not leave unscathed, one of them has seriously injured his back."

Gurami changes the subject and starts talking about his three children. His look changes to one of pride.

"They are all good students. One of my daughters even appeared on the famous TV show 'Etalon' (an education game of knowledge for young children) and won first prize, just a few days before the conflict started. As a prize, she received a ten-day tourist package in the resort town of Borjomi. She could go anytime she wanted."

It was only when Gurami arrived in Tbilisi on the 7th of August that he remembered this.

"I gave a call to the priest who had given the prize and asked if the gift was still valid given the current circumstances. He said 'of course it is' and invited my whole family there."

Thinking that there would be better conditions there for them, Gurami sent his wife and three children to Borjomi for ten days. He, however, went back to his village in solidarity with his neighbours who remained.

"All the men stayed there until the last moment. Nobody wanted to leave the place and make the aggressors think that we were afraid of anything. We did not realize that the conflict would continue. On the ninth of August we realized that it was useless for us to stay in the village. Russia air attacks were taking place and even the Georgian soldiers had pulled back. They asked us to leave. The journey was frantic. We went through fields and were shot at from both sides. Bombs dropped. We jumped into ditches, laid and crawled on the ground. I felt a fine line between life and death. My clothes quickly became torn and I walked for the rest of the way half naked."

Finally Gurami reached Tbilisi together with his neighbours. After a few hours he found out that the forest in Borjomi where his family were staying was on fire. Panic set in but Gurami managed to arrange for his family to reach Tbilisi.

After the family's experiences it is no surprise that they want to stay put or at least find out a bit more about where they are going before they are moved, once again facing an uncertain future.

Oxfam International and its partner NGOs are currently assisting displaced people in Georgia who fled areas of conflict. Oxfam would be prepared to help any civilians affected by the conflict, whether they are in Georgia, South Ossetia or North Ossetia, if granted safe access to assess the situation and if assistance were needed. Russia has said it is managing relief operations in South and North Ossetia.

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