Updates Archive
September 7, 2004 Update – Beslan Confronts the
Unthinkable
Dear Friends in Christ,
Russia is today in mourning for the
heart-breaking loss of young and innocent lives. Bit by
bit, the full horror of Beslan will become apparent.
Never before has the world witnessed so many children
being taken hostage. Never before has the world
witnessed so many innocent children slaughtered in
seemingly peaceful times.
First-Hand Account as told by
our missionary Germen Djeriev, located in Beslan, Russia
In Beslan, the physical and
psychological toll of the siege and its deadly end on
Friday continue to mount. Our missionary can only
describe the town as in “pain.”
On September 1, Pastor Taymuraz
Totiev, Pastor of Russian Baptist Union, had five
children. As of today, one daughter is alive, two are
dead and two are still missing. His wife, Ray, is so
badly in shock she has been unable to even begin to cry
and grieve.
His brother’s family had three
children. One child is still missing; and the lifeless
body of one of their daughters was found. One child was
wounded in the eye and the optical surgeons are trying
to save the sight of the eye.
Last year’s Safe Haven Summer Camp
(that Russian Missions ran in this town) included
approximately 40 children from the area. Fifteen of
these children are now with the Lord.
Humanitarian aid has gone out to so
many grief stricken families. For example, although
they are not a member of the local Baptist Church,
Russian Missions has assisted with the funeral expenses
of the Guldaeva family. The mother, Elza, and her two
children were hostages. The mother and the oldest
daughter (Isa) were killed. Alina who is around 10 was
shot in the back. The bullet hit her spinal cord.
The local Baptist Church’s Sunday
School teacher, Sedakova and her son, Zaurk, were both
hostages and killed.
The stories of loss are endless.
Survivors will never totally recover from this emotional
trauma. The rescue workers, who descended on the
chaotic scene and especially the relatives, will always
wrestle with the tragedy. The side effects can linger
for years after such a tragic disaster. Alcohol abuse,
drug addiction, divorce and suicide rates rise as people
try to cope and go on with their lives. A simple thing
like stepping on broken glass can stir painful
memories. The loss of a loved one to a bombing incident
can be more overwhelming than losing someone to another,
more common tragedy. People may need more time to
mourn. Children who lost parents may begin having
nightmares when they return to school or when some other
stressful change occurs in their lives.
Please continue to pray for my
homeland. God’s work has only begun in Beslan.
We have created a humanitarian and
spiritual assistance fund—Beslan’s Youthful
Treasures Appeal. These children and their
families have a multitude of needs in order to return to
something like normal life. You can go immediately
to our website for donation information or call our
office (215) 354-0929. Thank you and God Bless You!
Rev. Alexander Yuchkovski
(Pastor Sasha)
Background
Wails of sorrow echoed through the
streets of Beslan in wake of the hostage-taking that
left more than 380 people dead—nearly half of them
children. Officials said that the final figure would be
even higher. The din of hammers could be heard as
carpenters toiled in the humid air to make enough
coffins for the dead. Stacked outside the town hall,
the crude caskets, hewn from cheap local limewood,
served as a symbol of the atrocity.
The teaching and technical staff of
the school numbered 60. Four of the teachers were
killed. More than 700 people were wounded—mostly
children. Medical officers reported that hospitals were
struggling to cope with hundreds wounded. Twenty-three
of the most badly injured patients were in Moscow and 11
in the southern city of Rosto-on-Don. Over 448 people
remain hospitalized and about 80 remained in critical
condition.
Churches were filled with
shawl-clad grandmothers and relatives praying for their
loved ones caught up in the attack on their school, in
an effort to find solace and some kind of explanation
for the violence that had shattered their lives.
Volunteers, many of them relatives
of the dead, dug graves in a football field-sized area
next to the town cemetery while surveyors across the
road marked out new plots with stakes and string.
Hundreds of mourners many clutching wild flowers,
gathered at the graveside of teenagers sisters Irina and
Alina Tetova. As horns played a dirge, relatives
tearfully embraced the youngsters in their open coffins.
As the first funerals began,
thousands lined Beslan’s main street clutching
photographs of those they had lost. In the town
emergency workers completed their task of searching for
bodies amid the smoldering rubble of the school where
the bloodbath occurred. Dozens of people crowded around
lists of survivors posted at the local hospital,
searching desperately for news of loved ones who were
not yet accounted for-that number looms at 180 people
still missing. Many relatives are praying that their
missing loved ones will be found among the wounded who
were sent throughout southern Russia’s regional
hospitals
According to our information, 32-35
terrorists had been involved in the hostage-taking; the
bodies of 30 had been found. The school tragedy left
few families untouched in the tight-knit, mostly
industrial town 1,000 miles south of Moscow. The
population of 30,000 still keeps the life in a village
atmosphere in which many leave their doors unlocked.
Most people of Beslan had a relative, friend or neighbor
killed or wounded. Light rain fell on funeral
processions as they snaked through the streets and
weeping mourners placed flowers and wreaths at the
graves. At the school, window sills remained strewn
with red and pink roses and, in the playground;
children’s shoes littered the ground. Grief, anger and
uncertainty mingled in Beslan days after the crisis
ended.
Over the weekend, bodies were laid
out in the yard of the school, most in body bags but
some, lay uncovered beneath a window. Bewildered
relatives gathered at Beslan’s cinema where officials
were due to provide details of the dead and injured.
Many relatives were angry at the way the crisis had been
handled by security forces.
Officials said that most victims
died in the school’s gymnasium on Friday, either from
the explosions that brought down the roof – mined by the
hostage-takers - or the battles between soldiers and
captors that followed.
Benchmark of Strangeness
No matter how repugnant a place
Middle School No. 1 had become, the townspeople couldn’t
turn away. They wandered by the hundreds, leading each
other from place to place. Some sifted through the
rubble and pulled out hints of the terrorists’
preparations: abandoned gas masks, compasses, bags of
dried soup, first aid gear, etc. Uncountable thousands
of bullet holes and shrapnel-marks scarred the walls.
Blood-soaked bandages littered the floor. New badminton
rackets were bundled together among the dust and debris,
as were an assortment of brightly-colored jump ropes.
On the auditorium’s stage, a large cut-out display read
“Happy Holiday.” Dried bouquets of roses and field
flowers brought to the teachers for the first day of
school were tossed aside - never used as they had been
intended.
There was evidence that the
attackers had secreted a cache of weapons or other
equipment weeks and perhaps months before their attack –
possibly during a seemingly innocuous summer
renovation. Holes in the library’s floor, underscored
the sophistication and coordination that have
increasingly characterized the attacks that have
recently shaken the country.
The school will be demolished and
replaced by a memorial to the victims. A new school
will be built elsewhere.
Please monitor our website: russianmissions.org for
current information.
September 8, 2004 Update – Mass Funerals in Beslan
while Russia Mourns
Dear Friends in Christ,
Thank you for your continued
support of Russian Missions, the people of Beslan and
all the people of Russia. I share with you some points
to ponder:
- Iraq war casualties for a full
year - 1,000 soldiers – average age 26 years
- If this had happened in New York
City – There would have been 76,000 deaths
- Beslan’s population is 30,000 –
Deaths to date >380 – one half are school-aged
children
(This
figure increases each day)
I would like to share some updated
information on our Beslan brothers and sisters who are
so dear to our hearts, especially during these past few
tragic days. One immediate impression from our
missionary is that there are no kids on the streets
playing. With so many dead or hospitalized, the whole
town’s soul has been injured. Words cannot fully
express the feeling in Beslan…grief…shock…agony…anger.
Our team is “exhausted.”
On September 1, Pastor Taymuraz
Totiev, Pastor of Russian Baptist Union, had five
children. As of today, one daughter, Louba, was found
among the dead. Daughter Madina who is 13 years old is
alive. Three of his children (Boris, Albina and
Larissa) are still missing. His wife, Raissa, is so
badly in shock she has been unable to even begin to cry
and grieve. Raissa places her hope in the Lord, as
everything is in His hands. In her heart she is
constantly offering up a prayer for her children. His
brother’s family (Sergei Totiev) had three children.
One daughter who died was only 8 years old. A son of
Sergei named Azamat is in the hospital. An explosion in
the school injured his eye badly and the eye had to be
removed. Please pray that his sight in the other eye
will remain strong throughout the medical procedures.
Another daughter of Sergei named Dzerra, is still
missing. Another child whose family was from the Beslan
Baptist Church bled to death after a piece of explosive
seriously wounded his head. The Kingdom of Heaven
belongs to these children and we know that God has drawn
these children to Him in love and peace.
This past Monday there were 162
funerals, on Tuesday 60, and the scheduling of the
funeral services continues. Our latest number of
missing persons is between 250 and 300.
“It
goes in stages: first crying, depression, hysteria. Then
helplessness. As time goes by, if they keep crying,
it’s good. Otherwise, if they don’t cry, they keep it
inside and souls change.” – Ekaterina Burmistrova,
psychiatrist with Moscow City Psychological Pedagogical
Institute.
Six
children and ten more later this week were selected for
flight to a specialized hospital in Speransky because of
the seriousness of their burns.
They
are from 2 to 12 years old. Their conditions range from
excruciating to merely serious. Some may be able to
make painstaking recoveries over months. It is an open
question whether many of them will be able to ease back
into something like a routine life. For example: The
eleven year old Zoma slept fitfully swathed in
bandages. He had given the ambulance workers the
thumbs-up and said he would not cry because it would not
be fitting. “In Ossetia, I’m already a man,” He hasn’t
spoken since. More than 400 other children are
hospitalized near Beslan.
Russian Missions has created a
benevolent fund for these children: Beslan’s Youthful
Treasures. It will be designated for humanitarian
aid and spiritual guidance. I ask you to open up your
great heart and support this good Christian cause. You
may donate through our website:
www.russianmissions.org or send directly to Russian
Missions, PO Box 754, Richboro, PA 18954.
Let us humbly pray to our Lord God
that He will help these innocent victims, their families
and friends, and safeguard the community of Beslan.
Thank you. God bless you.
Your Brother in the Lord,
Pastor Sasha
(Rev. Alexander Yuchkovski)
September 9, 2004 Update – Russian Town Mourns
Dear Friends in Christ,
Your continued support and prayers
have aided me during this unbearable situation. My
heart is burdened with the news from Beslan. The town
will forever be changed. No children are playing in the
streets. So many children are dead, so many are
wounded, so many are listed as “missing.” The families
who have been blessed with living, healthy children are
keeping them close to their homes. This closely-knit
community is in shock.
The government put the official
death total so far at 328 children and adults. That
count could easily climb to 500. Since there were over
1,200 hostages and 727 received medical treatment.
Virtually every survivor was taken to a hospital or
given emergency first aid.
Relatives in Beslan continued to
call hospitals and morgues looking for missing loved
ones. 233 bodies had been identified, leaving 95
undetermined. Others were likely incinerated or blown
apart in the explosions that destroy the school gym.
Our Christian team has been
encouraging those who faced with such personal tragedy.
They providing comfort and are a shining example of
God’s love and caring.
You Asked How You Can Help…
You are our most important
resource. There are several ways that you can help,
none of them require very much time or money. First,
pray for our ministry and for the Russian people.
Second, spread the word about our ministry and our
Beslan’s Youthful Treasures appeal.
Embedded in this link is a flyer describing our ministry
and Beslan’s Youthful Treasures appeal. Please click
here for our link You Asked How You
Can Help.
Compassionate Notes …
Another new aspect of our website
is our Compassion Notes
page. When you link to it, you will be able to send a
personal message to the people of Beslan. Our office
will transcribe your letters and send them to our
missionary and our partner church, Beslan Baptist
Church. In this way you can express your love to this
hurting community.
Beslan’s Youthful Treasures…
We have created a fund for
spiritual counseling and for humanitarian aid. Your
donation can be designated for Beslan’s Youthful
Treasures. Donations can be made through our website or
mailed to Russian Missions, PO Box 754, Richboro, PA
18954.
Please feel free to contact my
Churchville office: (215) 354-0929 for more details.
Your Brother in the Lord,
Pastor Sasha
(Rev. Alexander Yuchkovski)
I share with you a poem from the
Internet by Sophia Hunt:
They went back to school that
morning with hope in their hearts & flowers in their
hands.
Summer holidays were over,
Time to go and see the little new kids arrive in the
youngest class.
Dance steps had been practiced; speech in pocket, music
was playing on September 1st.
Balloons had been prepared; Moms had made cookies and
cakes for the festivities.
Now a discarded shoe lies in the ashes,
On the floor of the gym, and fresh flowers have
Been placed on the burnt out windowsills.
The children have gone. They will not return. All that
remains is grief.
September 14, 2004 Update – Sharing The Lord’s
Strength
Dear Friends in Christ,
The following excerpts are from
recent conversations with our missionary, Gherman
Dzheriev:
A new, fresh cemetery marks the
entrance to my town. Graves are being added quickly by
heavy equipment. Flowers are traditionally are laid at
the grave sites. However, what is also found there are
bottles of water. Standing at the grave site, one
mother said, “My child died thirsty. What I can’t do in
life; I now can do in death.”
The streets are either filled with
mourners or eerily silent. Amid this beautiful day,
there are no children playing outside in the sun. They
are either dead, wounded or being kept securely in their
homes with family members.
The constant question being
discussed in every household is: Could this have been
prevented? Feelings of anger, abandonment and betrayal
are flooding the community and Russia as a whole. Police
and troops have been out in full force in North Ossetia
and Ingushetia as the Beslan hostage tragedy inflamed
old hatred between regional ethnic groups and raised the
threat of war. Ossetians’ initial shock has turned to
rage—at law enforcement for failing to protect the
people, at the government for lying about the number of
hostages, and at their old rivals, the Ingush.
There are a lot of appeals and
funds being set up for the people of Beslan; however,
nothing is filtering down to the people who need
immediate assistance. One French journalist saw the
poverty and gave a widow $200. She was immediately
besieged by relatives who wanted to borrow money from
her just to buy groceries. The Russian government has
decreed that each person affected by the tragedy would
receive 100,000 rubles or an equivalent of $3,000. That
would be a good sum to receive, but nothing has trickled
down to the people who are hungry. Our missionary is
doing as much humanitarian aid as possible. He is with
his people and is tightly monitoring any financial
resources available to him to distribute directly to the
needy.
Update on
Pastor Sergey Totiev and his
son, Boris. His son has lost the injured eye. If
financially able, the family would like to bring Boris
to America. First, his son needs to be medically
evaluated and, if he is deemed eligible, he will be
placed on an eye transplant list. In addition, he has
incurred a hearing problem that needs to be evaluated
also. I spoke with him this past week-end and Pastor
Totiev is so very grateful to Russian Missions as well
as to churches and individuals who have kept his family
in their prayers.
The Beslan Baptist Church:
It had 244 members. That membership will be decisively
dropped as final death statistics are made available.
One testimony is from Irina Koieva and her two children
who were among the hostages. During the explosion and
following storm, Irina tried to escape from the school.
Her son, Arthur, 9 years old was killed before her
eyes…She was holding another younger child and they
managed to escape. If you would like to pray for an
individual child, please link onto
our Sunday School List from Beslan Baptist Church.
Compassionate Notes:
Thank you for your loving notes
expressing your sympathy and Biblical words of guidance
for the people of Beslan. If you have not done so as
yet, the link is repeated here
Compassionate Notes. When you link to it, you will
be able to send a personal message to the people of
Beslan. Our office will transcribe your letters and
send them to our missionary and our partner church,
Beslan Baptist Church. In this way you can express your
love to this hurting community. Perhaps your church or
Sunday School would also like to be included in these
expressions of Christian love. Feel free to check out
our link to see what others
have written.
You Asked How You Can Help…
You are our most important
resource. There are several ways that you can help,
none of them require very much time or money. First,
pray for our ministry and for the Russian people.
Second, spread the word about our ministry and our
Beslan’s Youthful Treasures appeal.
Embedded in this link is a flyer describing our ministry
and Beslan’s Youthful Treasures appeal. Please click
here for our link You Asked How You
Can Help.
Beslan’s Youthful Treasures…
We have created a fund for
spiritual counseling and for humanitarian aid. Your
donation can be designated for Beslan’s Youthful
Treasures. Donations can be made through our website or
mailed to Russian Missions, PO Box 754, Richboro, PA
18954.
Friends, let us pray to God for
comfort for the people of Beslan…Let us pray for those
who are still missing…There is hope that missing
children might still be in other hospitals…Oh God, we
cry out to you on behalf of Beslan.
Your Brother in the Lord,
Pastor Sasha
(Rev. Alexander Yuchkovski)
September 20, 2004 Update – A Town that Has Stopped
Smiling
Dear Friends in Christ,
Last week began Beslan’s school
year… two weeks late…and a very emotionally charged
opening. First of all, the children from School
No. 1 – where hundred of terrified children and adults
had been held by militants—have been granted stays,
along with their families, at resorts in the Black Sea
and other locations.
Other students from the district
began their school day with a minute of silence and the
town’s seven schools would have a shortened day.
The children were dressed up—boys in their suits and
girls with colorful bows in their hair. They were
accompanied by concerned relatives and met by school
officials. What was added to their surroundings
were security guards and armed police troops.
Classes had been scheduled to start earlier in the
month, but authorities were taking extra security
measures including daily armed patrols of schools.
Many regional students are still suffering from shock
and stress and were not expected to show up for classes.
Update from Gherman Dzheriev,
Our Missionary
“Every day I attend a funeral.
This past week we buried a lady and a 13 year old boy
from our church. Look around this town, no one
smiles any more. All one can see is people dressed
in black. Black will be the color each family
member will wear during the traditional 40-day mourning
period. As a matter of fact, the attire of the
town is black. You might be interested to know
that the average wage per month is $100 - $120.
The people of Beslan are faced with overwhelming expense
of a funeral. A very modest funeral (without a
permanent headstone) costs $1,200 to $1,500.
Wooden markers are being used for temporary purposes to
designate and separate the rows of burial plots.
This is an agricultural-based area, the main crop is a
plant that is used in the production of vodka. A
bottle of vodka costs less than a loaf of bread.”
Political Reforms
President Putin has ordered
sweeping political changes to Russia’s political system
to help combat terrorism. The Kremlin leader said
he wanted a new election law to limit the number of
political parties and to have full control over
nominating regional leaders. Critics say that it
is further proof that he is rolling back democracy in
post-Soviet Russia. This may be a forewarning of
negative changes that will affect religious activities
throughout Russia.
As Christians, we all know the
power of prayer. Our Lord, please grant your peace
to all those families who lost loved ones, are in need
of healing both in body and mind and spirit. Grant
healing to those harmed those in fear, and those in
grief. Grant wisdom and power to those who would
bring peace to this area.
Your Brother in the Lord,
Pastor Sasha
(Rev. Alexander Yuchkovski)
September 23, 2004 Update
Dear Friends in Christ,
I have just gotten off the phone with our missionary, Gherman Dzheriev, and I wish to share some updates on our Christian families in Beslan.
The following are excerpts from this morning’s conversation:
The most important request I can ask of you is to keep Beslan in your prayers. Previously I shared with you that a young 11 year old girl named Alina Gouldaeva was shot in the back in two places. The first wound is in a fleshy part of her back and is not in a dangerous area. However, the second bullet is lodged in her neck and is very close to her spinal cord. At the present time, the doctors are very reluctant to operate on her as there is the possibility of paralysis after the surgery.
Amina Khadartseva, 8 years old, was seriously wounded. Her life is in damager. Four days ago she almost died. This child also needs constant prayer support. Amina’s father, Zhorik, has a serious head wound. Please pray for God’s protection, grace and recovery for both family members.
I have previously shared with you the events surrounding the death of Zallina’s son. Three days ago she passed on a message to me through one of her visitors. She asked me to visit her. My wife, Madina, and I immediate went to be with Zallina. She said, “I don’t want to be angry with God. I don’t want to ask him WHY? I don’t want to rebel against God any more. I want to confess my sins to Him. I want to love Him and give my life to Him. We cried together and prayed together. Zallina received salvation that day. Thank you for your prayers for this hurting mother.
The two children of Pastor Taymuraz Totiev remain missing as of this date.
Blessings
An owner of a local Beslan cafeteria has allowed me and some others to open a rehabilitation center inside her cafeteria. The owner is not even a member of the Beslan Baptist Church but was moved to assist the needy people of her town. It will be opened from 10 Am until 6 PM each day. The center will focus on emotional, spiritual, financial and social aid. An ad has been placed in the local newspaper advertising this free service.
I thank you for your continued support for the people of Beslan and my homeland, Russia. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I shall try to keep you, my Christian friends, abreast of current news. Thank you and God Bless you.
Your Brother in the Lord,
Pastor Sasha
(Rev. Alexander Yuchkovski)
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