Story number 1 for 11 Jan 2001

By January 11, 2001

Our newscast begins today in the small Dutch town of Volendam, where funerals for the New Year’s cafĂ© fire victims were held this week. In addition to the ten deaths, more than 180 other teens were burned, several critically. The International Bible Society’s Geert Oosterhuis says the town of about 20-thousand is in shock. “The people involved would all be below the age of 20. Many of them would be below the age of 15, and the two youngest victims were only 13 years old who have died. And so, people will come back from the hospital after one or two years and they will have scars for life.” Oosterhuis says because the impact of the tragedy was so strong, IBS found a way to help. “We had this little booklet in English, and so we had it translated, published and printed and delivered within four days to the schools, to some churches there to hand out to all the victims, and their relatives that have been affected by this disaster. The people are still not really grasping what has happened. This booklet is the only suitable spiritual help available to them.”

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