Dzhidzha Araeva, Autobiography

Dzhidzha recounts her story of how her family was exiled to Siberia. She recalls that the carriage they were put in was full. At one of the stations Dzhidzha and her 17 year-old sister saw a room full of frozen corpses. Her family ended up in Kozulskiy rayon, in a small village 12 kilometers from the train station. Soon Dzhidzha’s two younger sisters died. Having found a job as a seamstress, she and her mother did not go hungry, although some people around her did. Later Dzhidzha worked in a factory that produced railways which had three shifts. If they missed the production target, the workers were punished. After Siberia, Dzhidzha returned to her native village of Khavtkha where she worked for 5 years on the grain field. In 1962 she got married. Today she has 3 children, 6 grandchildren and 1 greatgrandchild.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi