the family found a military convoy that helped get them to the convent, which has provided food and medicine to refugees. Thirty tons of supplies have poured into the convent from the Russian Orthodox Church alone.

"We are working around the clock," Mother Nonna said. "We drowned in the flood of refugees."

Recently washed children's clothing is strewn across the railings outside the convent, which functioned as a summer camp for the Communist youth group during the Soviet era and now includes a special rehabilitation center for children who survived the 2004 terrorist siege of a school in nearby Beslan.

Dzara Kumeritova, an assistant at the convent, said that the refugees from South Ossetia all arrived terrified, most of the children too scared to eat for the first day or two.

"Somebody slammed the door and the crowd shivered," she said.

The article continues... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26206516/