A Salvation Army trauma counsellor from Edinburgh has returned from a two-week camp in Russia for Beslan children and their families.
The camp was organised by The Salvation Army and the Living Water Christian Group to provide counselling and summer fun for 90 Beslan children and their families, as the one year anniversary of the hostage taking and killing of 330 children and adults in Beslan School Number One.
Louisa Clark, a trained trauma counsellor with The Salvation Army, helped run daily activities which included arts and crafts and sports, as well as days out to local water parks and a dolphinarium.
She described how successful relationships were slowly built up between the SA workers and the children and adults: “On arrival the children were anxious and the adults suspicious. But as we got to know each other better we shared in the fun with the children and the discussions with the adults.”
She continued: “One little boy cried a lot, another little girl did not want to leave her mum’s side, but it is amazing what love and encouragement achieves.”
To see my children laughing and having fun again helps me to have hope.
Mother of Beslan Survivor
Ms Clark, who also worked as part of the counselling support network after the Dunblane massacre, worked at the camp for 5 to 16-year-olds near the Black Sea as part of an international team which also included British psychologist Paula O’Keefe, who has lived in Russia for more than 11 years.
“The highlight of each day was the trip to the sea. None of the children and many of the adults had never seen the sea before and so this was a great adventure,” said Ms Clark. “The younger children did not want to put on bathing suits because of showing their dreadful injuries but as they relaxed this stopped being an issue and they too enjoyed the beach.”
Ms Clark also spoke with the parents about their suffering over the past year, helping them to open up. “Their stories were harrowing, she said, and they kept saying, ‘You must go back and tell your people how we have suffered; we want the world to know what happened to us.”
She also told of how much hope the camp had brought to the children and their families. One mother commented at the end of the camp, “To see my children laughing and having fun again helps me to have hope.”
One 13-year-old girl at the camp said: “I hope we do this again next year – it was just the best.”
The camp was sponsored by British newspaper The Sun through donations from readers and other supporters.
