From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
IOCC REACHING OUT TO CHILDREN OF BESLAN, RUSSIA
From
Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date
Mon, 21 Feb 2005 10:52:26 -0800
INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES (IOCC)
110 West Road, Suite 360, Baltimore, Md. 21204 Tel: (410) 243-9820 Fax:
(410) 243-9824
Web: www.iocc.org E-mail: news@iocc.org
For immediate release
February 21, 2005
IOCC REACHING OUT TO CHILDREN OF BESLAN, RUSSIA
Baltimore (IOCC) Grief, doubt, anger, fear. And still more grief. The
aftershocks of the events of September 2004 continue to affect the people
of Beslan, Russia, five months after gunmen attacked School No. 1, killing
more than 300 children.
As the people of Beslan face the reality of life without many of
their children, International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) and the
Russian Orthodox Church are redoubling their efforts to offer counseling
services, educational opportunities, and other forms of assistance.
IOCC is helping the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Rostov expand a
counseling center that is serving the Beslan survivors and other victims of
trauma in the war-torn region. The center provides long-term grief and
trauma counseling through a staff of psychiatrists, psychologists, social
workers, priests and nuns.
Rostov is a city in southern Russia where victims of the violent
conflicts in the region, including those from Beslan, have gone for
treatment and counseling. IOCC has worked in southern Russia and the
northern Caucasus for more than 10 years, providing a broad range of
assistance to war victims there.
The Diocese of Rostov is very interested in maintaining its help to
those affected by this tragedy, and they have space available to expand
their services, said George Antoun, IOCC regional director for Russia and
the Middle East.
After the terrorist incident in Beslan, many injured children and
adults were brought to the hospitals of Rostov, Antoun said. The city
hosted immediate family members and relatives of the people who were
injured or killed in the course of the tragedy.
The counseling center will include a 24-hour crisis hotline staffed
by volunteers.
In partnership with the Church, IOCC also is helping schools in
Beslan deal with the influx of students from the destroyed School No. 1
through the provision of 18 computers and two photocopiers. The equipment
will expand educational opportunities for the children of Beslan and
improve the quality of education offered by the schools.
So that counseling services remain available for the long term, IOCC
is organizing the training of qualified Russians in trauma counseling
techniques. The training will be provided by the Seminars on Trauma
Awareness and Recovery (STAR), a joint project of Church World Service and
Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
IOCC is overseeing the translation into Russian of a training manual
that the STAR graduates will use to train other mental health professionals
and clergy in Russia.
Since the September 2004 attack in Beslan, IOCC has been providing
short-term and long-term assistance to the suffering people there. IOCC
continues to implement other relief and development programs in the
troubled Caucasus region.
Founded in 1992, IOCC is the official humanitarian aid agency of the
Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA).
###
For media inquiries, please contact IOCC Communications Associate Stephen
Huba at 1-877-803-4622 or shuba@iocc.org.
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