Chernobyl Children Visit 2008

Fourteen more children from Belarus will be hosted by the Great Yarmouth & Waveney Link of Chernobyl Children Lifeline this year.  Eight girls and six boys aged between 10 and 12 years old will be arriving on July 13^th for a month-long stay with local host families.  Rotarian Terry Ashbourne, now Treasurer for the local group of the charity, said the reason for a smaller number of children being invited over in 2008 was down to increasing costs.  Transport and Airport Tax being the two major financial requirements which cannot be avoided and add £1,000 to a group invitation.

The lucky 14 will be enjoying fresh air, uncontaminated food and clean running water while in the U.K.  Back home things are quite different and the constant exposure to background radiation can lead to damaged immune systems.  A holiday in England gives them a break from this contamination and they generally return home much healthier. They also receive dental checks and visit an optician if needed. Living conditions for the village children can be very basic and the picture below shows a typical roadside well which serves a whole village street in Belarus.

More details about the Charity can be obtained by emailing terry.ashbourne@ntlworld.com

Chernobyl Children Visit 2007. 

 The Great Yarmouth & Waveney Link of the Chernobyl Children Lifeline charity hosted 20 children from Belarus this summer for a month-long recuperative holiday. Most of the children in the group came from the south-east region of Belarus which was heavily contaminated by the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. Growing up in an area still blighted by levels of radiation which can affect their general health and sometimes cause illness, the children benefit greatly by coming to the U.K.

These holidays are only possible because of the generosity shown by organisations such as Rotary who help sponsor the cost of air-fares. This year Great Yarmouth Haven sponsored three, and North Walsham Club paid for another child.

Rotarian Terry Ashbourne who helps run the charity locally visited both the Ukraine and Belarus earlier in the year to visit some of the children who have been hosted in the past. The village children generally live in very basic conditions as the picture below shows. This is one family’s ‘bathroom’ in their back yard. The ladder is used to fill the metal drum with cold water.

More pictures of conditions in Belarus can be seen on the website www.ccll-gtyarmouth.co.uk

2006

20^th Anniversary of Chernobyl.

      2006 was the 20^th anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear accident.  Sadly, the years have not diminished the problems caused by this catastrophe and children in Belarus today still need our help. Haven Rotarian Terry Ashbourne has witnessed at first hand the children in the Baby Hospitals, Orphanages and Cancer Treatment Centres dotted around the country and with ongoing support from Haven is trying to alleviate some of these problems. One way is to bring children to the U.K. for recuperative holidays to help their damaged immune systems to recover, giving them a better chance of a healthier future. The Great Yarmouth & Waveney Link of the Chernobyl Children Lifeline charity has pledged to bring another 20 children over next summer.  The cost involved will be £300 per child and so financial help will be needed to attain this goal. If any Rotarian is able to provide some financial assistance toward this would they please contact Terry on 01493 850202 or email terry.ashbourne@ntlworld.com  for more information. Every pound raised is spent on the children – there are no admin’ costs with this charity.  

Mother and child in one of the Cancer Hospitals in Belarus.