BESLAN, Russia (ABP) — Thousands of children in war-torn regions of Beslan, Russia, and Grozny, Chechnya, recently received shoes donated through a Baptist charity shoe drive.
Russian Ministries, a Christian group that collaborates with Buckner International, distributed the shoes as part of a larger evangelistic effort in mostly Muslim-populated areas of the former Soviet Union. Based in Dallas, Buckner International is a Baptist agency that ministers to orphans, families and senior citizens.
Gannady Terkun, a pastor and Russian Ministries' regional director in Vladikavkaz, said the group distributed 12,000 pairs of shoes and socks to 28 schools, daycares and internats — boarding schools that include orphanages — near Grozny.
The humanitarian aid went to “thousands of children who have seen nothing except blood and violence during the past number of years,” he noted.
Beslan is the site of the Sept. 1, 2004, terrorist attack on School No. 1, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of children and parents on the first day of the school year.
Orphaned and low-income children in Beslan received many of the donated shoes, which Vladimir Pliev, a deacon for Transfiguration Church there, said “provided a wonderful opportunity to build relationships with thousands of children from all of the daycare centers, preschools, schools and orphanages in the entire Beslan County.”
The effort would make more work in the region possible, he said.
“The most touching and emotional meetings took place while we were distributing shoes … to those whose destiny was changed as a result of the terror attack at School No. 1,” Pliev said.
The shoes bolstered inroads Pliev and other Christians had already made in the community. For instance, Alina Plieva was among the children taken hostage in the 2004 attack. When her parents arrived at the school that day, panicked over the plight of their only child, Pliev urged them to pray to God to save their daughter.
“They immediately responded and now believe that prayer saved their daughter's life,” he said.
Alina was hit by shrapnel but has since recovered. She called Pliev when the shoes arrived.
“She asked if she could bring her two cousins,” he said. “They all came, along with hundreds of other families, and received the wonderful blessing of this free gift.”
The tragedy at School No. 1 has affected the entire community, casting a pall of sorrow over thousands. Oleg Aziev, a volunteer from Transfiguration Church, said he noticed a sad-faced girl in the line waiting to receive shoes.
“I asked her caregivers about her, and they told me that Alana is a true orphan,” he said. “She lost her entire family, except her elderly grandmother, at School No. 1 when it was attacked by terrorists.”
As he held the young girl, Aziev said he was very touched by her plight. “In my culture, it is not acceptable for a man to cry, but I found it hard to hold back my tears.”
Marina Kairova, a Russian Ministries staff member, is a counselor for the organization's Beslan Youth Center. She emphasized that the shoes will do more than reach the children's hearts. They also will reach their minds.
“Ludmila, the director of School No. 6 in Beslan, where many of the children attend who survived … the terror attack, mentioned that many of her students do not attend class because they do not have warm winter shoes,” Kairova said.
A preschool director pointed out shoe recipients like David, a student who “is fatherless and his mother only receives a small paycheck for doing very hard work in Beslan in order to provide for her son.”
And another boy, Khetag, who is 14, also received shoes. Khetag has no parents and five siblings.
“All of these children are being raised by their grandmother, who provides for them by sweeping the streets of Beslan,” Kairova said. “Khetag helps her with this. During the shoe distribution outreach, we gave all six children shoes, socks and a collection of children's literature and cassettes.”
Terkun, the pastor from Vladikavkaz, said as the children received shoes, mothers tearfully hugged and kissed volunteers and repeatedly asked whether the shoes were really a free gift.
“Our workers explained that this gift was given freely by our Christian brothers and sisters in the U.S. on behalf of the almighty God in the name of Isa [Jesus], who many Muslims believe is another prophet of Allah,” he said.
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