Roza
In September 1999, Roza was working on her PHd in her hometown of Grozny, in Chechnya, when Russian bombs began to fall once again on the capital. For Roza, this signalled the start of the second Chechen war, and she fled to Poland and asked for asylum.
"I realised it was the next phase of the war and decided to rescue my children..... I was thinking about the shelter we -me and my children - would receive, about safety. This was my only dream..."
Roza's application for asylum was initially refused and she had to leave the state-run reception centre where she had been learning Polish. Roza prefers not to talk about this anxious period in her life, but focuses instead on her family's adaptation to life in Poland.
Listen to Roza tell her Story (1.37 MB)
Full story (95.54 KB)