Beslan’s Surviving Children Go on Israeli Healing Trip

A group of children that were injured and held hostage during the Beslan siege over two months ago now, are in the middle of a three-week visit to Israel in efforts to heal the scars of the disturbing experience.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have reported that eighteen children, along with their parents, were invited to Israel by the Mayor of the coast of Ashkelon, a coastal city. The trip was only made possible through the sacrifice of various Israeli volunteer organisations and companies that contributed.

The City of Ashkelon’s spokesperson, Anat Weinstein-Berkovitch stated, “After the Beslan attack occurred, Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mahatzari sent a letter of condolences to his fellow mayor in Beslan. He knew the people there weren’t used to dealing with traumatic events like this, and in the letter, he offered to host children from Beslan in Ashkelon for a vacation to help with recovery. He wasn’t thinking only as a mayor, but also as a father.”

Beslan’s ‘School Number 1’ became the scene of a violent 3-day stand-off three months ago in early September, when armed terrorists seized the school and held more than 1,200 parents, teachers and school children hostage. The captives were held in the school gymnasium, and after chaotic scenes, the result was that more than 330 people were killed, with a great majority consisting of children.

At the beginning of the week, eighteen children, seventeen parents, a doctor and a psychologist set sail from Odessa. Ashkelon mayor Mahatzari, and Moshe Mano (of Mano shipping) who provided the transportation for the voyage, expressed their hope that they would be able to provide their precious guests with three weeks filled of great experiences that would allow them to deal more easily with the tragic events they had taken part in.

Weinstein-Berkovitch said, “They’ll be seeing a lot of the country – thanks to the generosity of the Israeli people. Both the Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion municipalities have offered to host them; they’re going to visit the Dead Sea and the Ramat Gan Safari Zoo. Everyone’s been great with their offers to get involved.”

The adventure began early this week, and on Tuesday, the 18 children visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, where some believed the body of Jesus had been buried.

However, the Ministry have stated that sightseeing and relaxation is just one aspect of the visit; “What the Israeli organisers hope is that the medical and psychological care that the children will undergo will have a long-lasting impact on aiding their overall recovery.”

During the first days, the children also visited the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon to undergo medical checks and psychological evaluations. Weinstein-Berkovitch said, “We’re going to provide them with art therapy as well, which we hope will help them to communicate, as it’s difficult for them to verbalise about what happened. We have so much experience in dealing with terror and trauma, so we want to offer our help to the children to enable them to speed their recovery.”

Specialists from SELAH, an Israeli Crisis Management Centre, which was founded in 1993 to help immigrants in crisis, will also help with counselling the young children.