Banning the use of any sort of weapon–that is what women must demand.

Aishat Magomedova (born 1948) graduated from the Medical Institute of Dagestan in 1968. In 1994, she left her position as department director at the republic's hospital and dedicated herself completely to civic activities. With the support of the local authorities and the Soros Foundation, she created a free hospital and a rehabilitation center for women and children within the framework of the NGO League for the Protection of Mother and Child (LZMR), which she founded in 1993. She is the author of several books dealing with the consequences of violence and war in the Caucasus region.

Children are the innocent victims of the machinations of political manipulators, the strategies of generals, and the insinuations of political technocrats. Vulnerable and defenseless, they are first in line to suffer from the aberrations of history. It is impossible to know what the destiny of the 12-year-old Amina would have been, had some good people not shown her the way to Dagestan, to the organization where Aishat Magomedova works. Amina did not smile, did not talk, she had lost all taste for life. Even the psychology of an adult would have broken down because of the things the child had gone through. Amina was 12 years old when the Russian-Chechen war (1994-1999) killed all her relatives–her mother, father, and uncle. When the remains of her relatives were brought back home, the girl saw a horrible sight: the severed heads of those most dear to her. After that, she blacked out. When she came to, she never smiled or talked again. She ran away from Chechnya, ran away from the horror, but she could never run away from the terrible memories. Eventually, she found refuge in Dagestan with the NGO Liga zashchity matieri i rebionka, the League for the Protection of Mother and Child (LZMR). For a long time, Amina could not get used to people smiling and talking a lot. During the four years she spent at the League, she took part in a psychological healing program. The doctors and the psychologists did their best to bring the girl back to life; they gave her all their tenderness and care. Aishat Magomedova put the girl up at her place and became her second mother. It took years for Amina to learn anew to smile and to enjoy life, but Aishat's efforts yielded their results, and the girl gradually got over her deep psychological shock.

Liga zashchity matieri i rebionka (LZMR)