Just like many other parts of the world, the school year will start soon in Tbilisi. This means that thousands of people now living in kindergartens and schools will have to move out in a few weeks. Those who cannot return home because of fear or because their houses have been destroyed don't yet know what their future will hold.

Hamlet is adamant that he won't be returning at all. "I do not think I will ever go home. Over the last few days, I have started to accept that maybe I will live here forever," he tells me as he looks at the walls of the crumbling building we are standing in. "My aunt who decided to stay in our village was buried a few days ago. I do not want any of my family to suffer the same fate. My father arrived here only yesterday. He saw his very own house burnt to the ground."

Hamlet's village of Avreni lies in the "buffer zone" and is still full of Russian troops. He is now living with two hundred other people in a dilapidated disused building surrounded by what looks like an abandoned construction site off a main road leading out of Tbilisi.

Not all rooms have electricity and the only source of water trickles out of a small drinking fountain outside. The sewage system isn't working and there's nowhere to wash. The public health officer that I am with tells me that there is a risk that people living here will contract water-transmitted diseases. This is why Oxfam has decided to work here providing water and sanitation, and why I am here talking to Hamlet.

In spite of the deplorable environment he is living in, Hamlet considers himself privileged. "We are among the lucky ones. At least we have somewhere permanent to stay and will not have to move," he says.

A lady sitting with us invites me to see her new home. I am led down a long dark corridor. As we pass the toilet, the smell of a blocked toilet in the heat is unmistakeable. She stops at a door further down where she has written the number three. I later notice that all doors have now been crudely numbered.

The door opens into a small dingy room which serves as a kitchen, bedroom and living room for her and her family of four. Her daughter is fast asleep on a makeshift bed in the corner, cushioned by one of the blankets that Oxfam delivered for the family last week. A few salvaged toys surround her and above her head crinkled posters have been put up in an attempt to make this room seem more like "home".

The woman then takes me to what they are calling the "living room", one of the few spaces that has a supply of electricity.

A group of men are gathered around a television. They are anxiously watching out for news that may one day announce that they can go home - that is, if their home is still standing.

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.

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.