If you do something in life, you should do it properly and do your best to earn the highest marks; otherwise you should not do it at all.

Rosa Bataeva was born in Grozny. She graduated from Medical School and earned a PhD in Medical Science. During the war years in Chechnya, she was the Head of Admissions at Hospital No. 9 in Grozny. From 2000 to 2004, she was medical adviser to the Deputy of the Chechen Republic to the Russian State Duma. Actively cooperating with a range of NGOs in the Russian Federation, she has coordinated a number of humanitarian and medical aid programs in the North Caucasus.

In the summer of 1999, Grozny was scene to air raids, bombings, and an endless flow of wounded people. In one of the reception rooms at Hospital No. 9, a young woman is sitting, swaying from side to side, her face expressionless. She is in a state of shock, all covered with blood. She has just lost almost her entire family. Her husband and her little son have been killed. There is a girl on the operating table–her daughter. Doctors have been fighting for her life for several hours, and nobody knows whether or not she will survive. The woman is sitting speechless and gazing into space. She cannot comprehend what has happened. She will understand and realize her unbearable loss only after she recovers her senses. She needs to change her clothes and, at least, drink some water. Rosa Bataeva gives this woman her own blouse and skirt, tries to remain close to her and not leave her alone. Although there were huge numbers of wounded people, both adults and little children, in the hospital admissions department run by Rosa, it is only this woman that she now remembers distinctly. There will be many wounded and dead people to follow. Later, they will run out of medicine and bandages. And so, Rosa will decide to seek help. Together with her brother, she will go to Naltchik, to the office of the Red Cross. Rosa finally arrived in Naltchik with her appeal for help. At once, trucks loaded with medicines, bandages and a generator were sent to the hospital, thus saving hundreds of lives. Rosa remembers tears in the eyes of the ex-pat Red Cross Coordinator for the Chechen Republic. Chain-smoking, he listened to her story in silence. Rosa will never forget his tears, his compassion and understanding. She needed them so badly at that intolerably difficult moment.

Fond komitieta doktorov Garantia (Doctors' Committee Fund Guarantee) Mezhdunarodny komitiet dietiey Chechni (International Committee for the Children of Chechnya) Yaltinskaya initsyativa za mir v Chechnie (Yalta Initiative for Peace in Chechnya)