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Chernobyl Children Visit 2009
A number of Haven Rotary members have been
active within the charity 'Chernobyl
Children Lifeline' over the past few
years and this year Robert Lovick and Terry Ashbourne were involved once
again.
Seventeen children from Belarus have just
returned home after enjoying a two and a half week recuperative holiday
in the Great Yarmouth and Waveney areas.
This was a shorter holiday than in previous
years as all the children were recovering from either cancer or
leukaemia and so this was felt to be long enough away from their
parents.
A Russian doctor travelled with the group in
case of any emergencies but thankfully the holiday was trouble-free from
illness.
Robert helped arrange the activities
programme for the hosts and children, while Terry and his wife Pat
hosted two of the girls, Vika and Kristina.
With a bit of help and encouragement from
Haven Rotary Club , the holiday was a great success and helped the
children build up their immune systems to face an uncertain future.
The picture below shows 11 year old Vika on a day out, relaxing and
enjoying a coca cola drink courtesy of Haven.
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 13th
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
20th Anniversary of
Chernobyl.
2006 was the 20th 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.
September
2005
A
Haven for Chernobyl Children
Children
from Belarus and Ukraine have benefited once again from the generosity of the
Rotary Club of Great Yarmouth Haven. In July , a group of 23 children were
brought to the Great Yarmouth area by the Chernobyl Children Lifeline to enjoy
a month-long recuperative holiday away from the problems of their own
countries; both of which are still suffering the consequences of the Chernobyl
Nuclear accident.
The
Haven Club not only funded the cost of bringing three of the children over ,
but four members and their wives volunteered to host six of them and their
interpreter. Other members provided entertainment venues during their stay.
The
holidays help boost the children's immune systems, which have been damaged by
the constant exposure to background radiation levels. By breathing clean air,
eating uncontaminated food and drinking clean water for the month, it gives
them a break from the contamination that they live with at home. They are also
provided with dental checks and eye tests where necessary. Some of the
children live in village houses with outside toilets and no running water.
Some live in shabby concrete blocks of flats with few luxuries. All
the children benefit enormously from their visit to the U.K. It also gives
great pleasure to the volunteer host families to be able to enhance the lives
of these deserving youngsters. The
three children sponsored by the Club had a variety of problems associated with
their contaminated environment but they have returned home happier and
healthier thanks to caring Rotarians. 
(from L to R ) Viktoria, Ilya and Katya. If
other Rotarians would like to help us sponsor a child on the next visit, please
email terry.ashbourne@ntlworld.com
who will provide more information.
CHERNOBYL CHILDREN APPEAL 2005
The Great Yarmouth & Waveney Link of the
Chernobyl Children Lifeline charity will again be hosting a group of children
from Belarus this summer so that they can enjoy a recuperative holiday in
Norfolk & Suffolk. There will be 21 children in all and some of these are
being looked after by Rotarians from the Great Yarmouth Haven Rotary Club. We
are though still in need of one more host family to look after 2 boys
aged between 10 and 12 for a period of two weeks commencing July 28th. This
holiday will greatly benefit the health of these two needy children whose
immune systems have been damaged by living in an environment still
contaminated by radiation. If any Rotarian is able to accommodate these boys,
would they please contact Rotarian Terry Ashbourne on 01493 850202
or email
terry.ashbourne@ntlworld.com
who will provide more information.
Chernobyl Children Lifeline 2004
“Radiation can make
children’s bones brittle. These children in a hospital in Mogilev
have had many broken limbs”
Great Yarmouth Haven
Rotary Club has recently donated £600 to the Norfolk & Suffolk Link of the
Chernobyl Children LifeLine charity. This amount will cover the cost of bringing
two children to England from Belarus - a country still suffering from the
effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. They will be part of a group of 19
children being flown over for a month-long recuperative holiday. By eating
uncontaminated food, drinking clean water and breathing fresh air, these
children will have the chance to build up their damaged immune systems.
The group will be looked
after by volunteer host families in Norfolk and Suffolk and three members of the
Haven Club and their wives will be hosting six of the children.
If other clubs or
individuals feel that they would like to help with this worthy cause, please
email Rotarian Terry Ashbourne
for more information.
Chernobyl Children Lifeline 2003 |
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The Norfolk & Suffolk Link of the Chernobyl Children
Lifeline are currently in the process of raising funds to bring another group of
children from Belarus to the Great Yarmouth area this coming summer. They
will enjoy a month-long holiday away from the problems of their own country
which is still suffering from the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of
1986. By eating uncontaminated food, drinking fresh water and breathing
clean air, these children will have the chance to build up their damaged immune
systems.
As well as general fund-raising towards the
cost of bringing each child over our group is looking for sponsorship
for individual children. It costs £300 to cover each of the air-fares, visas,
insurance and transport from Gatwick to Great Yarmouth. We are grateful to
both the Rotary Club of Bungay and Great Yarmouth Haven for already supporting
us this year with donations of £400 and £600 respectively.
If any other Clubs or individuals feel they would
like to help this worthy cause, please email
Rotarian Terry Ashbourne
for more information.
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