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MINISTRY IN BESLAN, RUSSIA

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Some of the images on this page are graphic and potentially disturbing to some people. Proceed with viewing at your own risk. I include them because I believe it is important that people be given the opportunity to know the whole truth about what happened at Beslan. I will always warn you if there are graphic pictures on this site so you can decide for yourself if you wish to proceed.

September 19, 2004

SOME SAD STORIES TODAY...
On Wednesday evening, Jeff Brodsky joined us. The first place we brought him was the new cemetery where over 200 people are buried who perished in the Beslan massacre. Some of the plots have two or more family members buried together. One grandmother buried her entire family. She is now alone in the world.

My son Jesse shows Jeff around, pointing out the various graves for little children. A place of tears.

Jeff is inspecting a door where a child apparently died at the Beslan #1 school.

This is a ceiling in the school. What is clinging to it was once a human being.

The smell of death was often overpowering throughout the entire school.

Below, we met with the Assistant Director of the Beslan Hospital

This poor woman was an ER nurse at the hospital. She took her two small children to school in Beslan. Only one child survived. Her husband died four years ago, and now she lost her 10-year-old son. Her eleven-year-old lived. This woman has a brain injury from a shrapnel wound to her head. I talked with her and she is going to Moscow for more treatment. We gave her some money to help.

Irena lost her 10-year-old son too. She was taken captive by the terrorists, and suffered for three days with her two boys Arturo and Mark. Arturo was killed by the bombs and died in her arms. She escaped with her son Mark. Her other children were shot at in the family car as her husband desperately drove to safety in a hail of gunfire. The other children were not injured.

In spite of her sorrow, we were invited into her family home to meet her husband, mother, and other children. Although very poor, they just couldn't do enough for us. It was humbling be with them.

This is Mark, the surviving boy. It was great to see how Jeff got him to open up and smile.

This is Mark's sister, and Jeff really had a way with her too!

After our meal, we were able to give the family $500 or 16,000 Rubles to help them during this difficult time. This was a designated gift for a needy family. These folks really qualified.

I'm pointing to some bullet holes in the family car.