“I am infinitely grateful that I am part of this huge, charitable movement of good deeds. For more than twenty years I have been part of the wonderful organization of the Red Crescent of Uzbekistan. Prior to that I worked as a deputy chairman of Women of the Navoi region in Uzbekistan. There I dealt with issues protecting motherhood and childhood and tried to help as many women with problems around their health and creating and maintaining a family. But in 1999 I decided it was time for something else and joined the Red Crescent. Today I am the Chairman of the Navoi Regional Organization of the Red Crescent Society of Uzbekistan.

Once I spoke for a crowd of around 10,000 people. I was talking about the Red Crescent and all of a sudden a woman wearing traditional mourning clothes, a long white shawl covering her head, stood up from the audience. She had tears in her eyes and expressed her heartwarming thanks to our organization. Her husband and son had had an accident after which they had to stay at the intensive care unit for one week. Our volunteers and donors had helped her during this difficult time. Sadly, her husband and son were not destined to live after the accident. However, this woman felt huge gratitude towards our organization for being there when she needed it the most. It was a moving and significant moment during my time with the Red Crescent movement.

While serving as a chairperson, to exchange experiences, I was appointed as head of a group to travel to Turkmenistan. We travelled over land and when we arrived at the border there were people everywhere. It was so crowded. But when our delegation appeared with the movements emblem on the vehicles, everyone parted and let us through. We heard them say: “This is the Red Cross Red Crescent”, “They help”, “They urgently need to pass, apparently someone needs help over there”. For me, this moment speaks of high respect for the charity work of the RCRC movement.

Finally, I want to congratulate all the young workers within our movement. You take the right decisions. I wish you do good, remain honest, sincere and faithful. I wish you keep listening without interrupting, because while a person speaks, he or she will already feel relieved and at the end of the conversation he or she will already feel better than before. I hope you are able to make quick decisions, especially in emergencies, when the life of a person can depend on your decision.”