Meditation 1/15: Anastasia Kvashilava
Grace Yang / The Exonian
By MARYN BOWMAN, KAROLINA KOZAK, AMERSON LIANG, V MURDAYA, and ANNIE ZHU
On a bright winter morning, current one-year senior Anastasia Kvashilava gave the second student meditation of the year. After the melody of ※მე ვარ საქართველო§ (“I am Georgia”) resonated in the air, Anastasia opened her speech with this statement: “I am from Georgia, and 20% of my country is occupied by Russia.” In her talk, Anastasia spoke about her tumultuous yet meaningful role in protesting for her home country, Georgia.
As the only student from Georgia at Exeter, Anastasia knew the importance of sharing her story—a story she hoped would “spread the message about what’s happening there right now.”
“This is a huge part of my identity,” she explained. The meditation was an opportunity to raise awareness about her home country—a place she says “a lot of people don’t even know exists.” Anastasia expressed hope that her words would “invoke some kind of empathy within the students and spark interest in political situations or crises around the world.”
“A lot of people are oppressed in their own ways,” she noted, highlighting the challenges faced by marginalized communities, including those at school. “I hope they learn that they can stand up, and standing up is always the right choice.”
Anastasia continued to speak about the difficulties of protesting for her country’s rights, emphasizing the mindset that continued to motivate her fight against oppression. In one instance, gas bombs were thrown at Anastasia and her friends during a protest, causing her to fall unconscious. Her friends later told her of her cries while they carried her to safety. “I was screaming that, oh, we will survive. [That] we literally will not die. Because some of those moments genuinely felt like the last minutes of our lives.” When asked whether she regretted putting herself in an unsafe position, Anastasia replied, “I never regretted it for a second because if there’s one thing that I’m willing to sacrifice anything in my life for, it’s for the better of my country and the future generations.”
“It felt devastating,” she adds. “It felt very hard. It is what taught me survival in life in general. But also, right away, after the gas bombing, it always felt very prideful. I was always proud of myself and of everybody who was around me. That sense of pride is different from academic achievement or personal life achievements. It was a pride of being a part of that community.”
When asked about the balance between protesting and being a normal teenager, Anastasia stated that it was difficult to maintain. “[Sometimes], I would get consumed, and I remember pulling all-nighters in front of the parliament during the protest. I would go back home, and I would be so tired.” Anastasia also found it difficult to balance her social life with her other duties. “Everything I did—for example, going to my friend’s birthday party or to a cinema—brought guilt because I wasn’t standing at the protest at that moment,” she adds. “I always felt this huge sense of guilt with me because I was being happy while my country was falling apart.”
However, Anastasia also stated that through all the chaos, balancing different elements of her life in Georgia helped her prepare for the Exeter lifestyle. “It taught me how to manage time, how to care about multiple things together, how to not get lost in my academic self. It made managing different aspects of life way easier for me later on. And in that moment [of my life], it posed a lot of difficulties, but later on, it taught me a lot of very valuable qualities that are very useful in my academics and in my real life.”
Anastasia spoke about the difference in perspective between advocates for Georgia’s independence from Russia and those unfamiliar with Georgia’s history. “Russia, our government, and, in general, people who oppose us view us as the new generation who has been taken over by being too liberal. Also, the government of Georgia calls us satanic. They think that we’re satanic, and they try to spread this propaganda that Russia is very famous for. They try to portray us as a big cult who wants bad for Georgia—kids who don’t know what they want.”
No matter what, Anastasia is certain that “In reality, this generation, even though many people question it, is one of the most determined that I’ve read about in history or that we’ve seen around the world. The people that are standing there [at the protests], they know what they want, I know that, and I know that we’re going to get it. Even though Russia and our government portray us as these evil symbols of destroyers of a good future, that doesn’t stop us. The good thing is the world outside of Georgia sees the good part of this.”
Kvashilava highlighted how even the members of the European Parliament have visited Georgia, consistently expressing their support for the country. “That is very motivating,” she explained, reflecting on the encouragement Georgians draw from such international recognition. “That is one of the reasons that we keep standing for this long right now as we speak.”
Heather Hernon, Kvashilava’s art instructor and one of the visitors at her meditation, described her as “a student with a lot of passion, not only for art and politics but also with a true devotion to her country and its people.” She added, “It has been inspiring to be her teacher.”
Kvashilava also expressed gratitude for English instructor Mercy Carbonell, who teaches the Art of Protest senior elective. “Her spirit and her determination to listen to everything, like global situations, and her support to [share] my perspective has been so helpful.” She described their collaboration as a “match made in heaven,” emphasizing the importance of having a teacher who listens and ensures that the student expresses their spirit fully.
Kvashilava reflected on her homeland, conveying her deep gratitude and love to “everybody who’s right now outside standing in Georgia,” calling them “the most beautiful people inside and out I’ve ever witnessed around the world.” She added, “Those people are what kept me going every day… I see the bravest people standing outside for 48 days already.”
For Kvashilava, their courage embodies the reason why “this small country has not already disappeared for centuries.” Her meditation served as a powerful tribute to Georgia’s resilience and the indomitable strength of people who inspire her to stand up for what she believes in.
