Do you remember watching news coverage of the Beslan school siege? September 1 marked the four-year anniversary of that awful day when terrorists stormed Middle School No. 1 in Beslan, North Ossetia of the Russian Federation. They held 1,100 people—schoolchildren and their families—hostage for three days in a packed gymnasium.
The masked terrorists strung bombs above the heads of the children and families, and shot anyone who questioned them. By the siege’s bloody end, 334 hostages (including 186 children) were dead. And young children had seen hundreds of people—mothers, fathers, best friends—killed right in from of them. Just unimaginable.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ04-0622/Giacomo Pirozzi |
| A young survivor of the Beslan school siege, Luize, looks at the flowers, bottles of water and soda, and other mementos placed in the ruins of the gymnasium of Middle School No. 1, where hostages were held for almost three days. Luize's mother was wounded during the siege. |
I've been thinking about the Beslan siege because of the anniversary, and because of the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia in nearby South Ossetia. UNICEF has helped children and their families who fled the fighting in that region by supporting a number of shelters, including one just 20 miles or so from Beslan.
As the school siege reached its tragic conclusion, UNICEF was already speeding to the scene to begin helping survivors and their families. Upon learning that local hospitals were running out of supplies for wounded survivors, UNICEF rushed medicines, surgical equipment, hospital beds, blankets, bandages, syringes and other aid to fill the need. At the same time, UNICEF began to provide desperately needed psychosocial counseling to parents and children so they could begin to deal with the scope of the tragedy.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ05-1318/Giacomo Pirozzi |
| A boy pauses while drawing a monster-like figure at a UNICEF-assisted rehabilitation center near Beslan. Art therapy helped children cope with the trauma of what they experienced during the siege. |
I've written before about some of the many ways in which UNICEF helps children cope with trauma. From the beginning there was no question that UNICEF would stay as long as necessary for the people of Beslan. UNICEF teams created training programs for 300 local counselors and established support units in nearby schools to help children grapple with their fear that another siege could erupt as unexpectedly and horrifyingly as the first had. And, in partnership with the Ministry of Education of North Ossetia, UNICEF created a center in Beslan called BINONTÆ, which means “Family,” to provide a safe, friendly place for ongoing psychosocial support.
Art therapy can be incredibly helpful to children who have experienced severe trauma. A young survivor of the siege named Soslan, whose brother had not made it out of the school alive, began his work with a therapist by taking a red crayon and drawing page after page of blood. But slowly, things changed. After seven months of intense work, Soslan began to open up about his memories, and his drawing began to shift towards happier scenes.
Four years after the siege, I'm happy to report, the BINONTÆ center has assisted thousands of people like Soslan impacted in one way or another by those unforgettable three days.
