April in Abkhazia is a month of the most gentle greens and intense odors: wisteria is blooming,  fragrans lour, jasmine, lilac, acacia, azaleas and other favorites of the gods.  Choosing April for a visit to Abkhazia, Maurizia Jenkins was fully right - for an Italian lady, who does not imagine her life without flowers, one could not choose more fortunate time.

         Although not only natural beauty drew her to come here - at the turn of the century her husband, a British Ambassador, Richard Jenkins and she were keenly interested in our country. They often came and did a lot for a progress of a free press, NGOs and small business. A little later, Maurizia worked for several years as a senior political adviser to the UN mission and continued to stick to her line – she got international funding for a variety of projects, like a publication of books on the Abkhazian Folklore and  opening of a hairdresser in  Gal district.

         An indefatigable temperament let her meet lots of people and travel all over Abkhazia, going to the remotest places. One winter in a nasty cold, we went to Odish to see some church. She was driving a UN jeep, I was lying in the back seat, as it was forbidden to take strangers, so I moved to the front seat when we went out of town and no one from the UN could see me.

         On a deserted way she picked up two young soldiers walking to their frontier post, shivering from cold with automatic guns over their shoulders. Twenty minutes later we dropped them at the bar, where   also young, a soldier waited for them being hungry for two days. When we drove further, I asked if she was not afraid to take into the car unknown armed men in an absolutely lonely place. She shrugged her shoulders, "Well, nothing happened" (as many foreigners, she omits another, not necessary in her opinion "not").

         This time, Maurizia came to see how projects are developing, for which she had once found funding. To my surprise, there were projects  much more than I thought. People greeted her with warmth and love, even strangers came up in the streets, domino players at the seaside asked her to sit with them, in the bookstore the shop assistant  did not take money for  Daur Nachkebia’s novel "Seaside of a Night",  in the market Rosa Piliya gave  her bananas and grapes for  the interest to Abkhazia.

         Maurizia again rushed across the country - to   the Chkhuartal and Okum villages with  a Vice Speaker of the  Parliament Emma Gamisonia to see how our deputies  work with their  people; to  Kodor Gorge with  Roman Dbar, where they found and cleared the place in which  the UN helicopter was shot down - Maurice planted poppies there; to  Gal region, where the  same hairdresser  is still running; to Pitsunda  to Lyudmyla Lolua with whom  she keeps long-term friendship; and to the church  of Lykhny at Easter with Batal Kobakhia and so on.

         We spent unforgettable hours in a trout farm of  Razhden Agrba. Once in tough times Mauricia could find money for developing the farm and Razhden did not forget it. We feasted in his house, the toastmaster was Roman Dbar, the air was shining of  such refined compliments  of the  toasts - we  said to each other so many   high words, that the excess of love certainly dripped to the trout lapping  in the waters.

         For more than three weeks time Maurizia managed to do so much that her energy surprises. Before leaving, she acknowledged that much of the country changed for the better, but not all has been  done yet. "You have to build an independent state, it is not as simple as you think" - she said, with her own unique accent.

         Six days after her departure some gentlemen from Chkuartal village came to Emma Gamisonia in Sukhum, they found the London phone of  Mauricia Jenkins and called her  to express their warm feelings. Many years ago, Maurizia said: "I understand that when I come here being no longer as the wife of the Ambassador, people will not pay so much attention to me". - "Well, that's normal" - I replied.

         Both of us were mistaken.


                                                                                                           Nadezhda Venedictova