Without food, clean water or shelter, some, including children, died of exhaustion and hunger. When one family fled a village during a shelling, the children watched as their aged grandparents, unable to flee, were left behind to perish. One father, fleeing through the mountains at night while carrying his two children, stumbled in the darkness and dropped one child down a cliff to his death. But the father had to keep moving. There was no time to stop and recover his son's body.
Eyewitnesses report the maiming of children.
Gouging out their eyes and cutting off limbs was a means of intimidating families to vacate their homes and villages. Missionaries help displaced families by supplying food, clothing, bedding and basic household items. As Christians, we feel a deep sense of responsibility to minister to these hurting people, all of whom are Muslim. Many have only the clothes on their backs. When our personnel visit them, they share the gospel, read the Bible and pray with them.