Chernobyl Children in Need Supporting needy children in and around the village of Ozarichi,Belarus.

SUMMARY

Chernobyl Children in Need (C.C.I.N.) is a fully registered Children's Charity formed in 2000 to alleviate the suffering of young people badly affected by the serious effects of cumulative intake of radiation, resulting from the terrible 1986 nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in Northern Ukraine.

The Charity is based in England at Westbury and in Southern Belarus at Ozarichi in the Gomel Oblast (=District), the most stricken large area saturated by nuclear fall-out, where the scale of the ongoing medical problems, especially for young children, due to their weak immune systems, is very serious and still growing.

Serious childhood medical problems arising include enlarged thyroids, blood and skin disorders, mal-functioning internal organs, eyesight and hearing problems, cancer tumours, leukaemia, and appalling genetic disorders, often leading to still-born babies, gross physical and mental disablement and a high rate of early deaths.

C.C.I.N. assists in several ways: through a growing Child Sponsorship Scheme ; through shipment of essential clothing and footwear, toys and sports equipment, and any permissible medical goods to this impoverished region; through funding vital building and improvement projects in the area; and through supporting the Orphanage, the Special Needs School and the Main School at Ozarichi.

THE BACKGROUND TO OUR CHARITY When was it formed? In May 1999 Who by? The Founder and current Chairman, Adrian Walker who lives at Hawkeridge Park, Westbury in Wiltshire

Why did this come about?
Adrian had previously established business and family friendship links with another region of the former Soviet Union at Ufa, a large city in Bashkortastan, east of today's Russia and close to the Ural Mountains. He became increasingly concerned about the severe welfare needs of the inhabitants there, living in the chaotic, emerging market economy of the region since the collapse of the U.S.S.R in 1989.

The link with Belarus, however, and its dreadful specific problems arising from the I986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl (actually just inside Ukraine to the south of Belarus) actually arose through the already established Westbury charity known as Chernobyl Childrens' Lifeline (West Wiltshire branch) for whom he had served as Vice-Chairman for a time. That Charity annually arranges for Belarussian children to be placed each summer for respite holidays into Westbury private homes, with trips, concerts, other events and medical checks laid on for their benefit.

Adrian became convinced that there was an urgent need for aid for the sick children of Belarus within their communities, in addition to the worthwhile U.K. respite holidays scheme.

Why was Ozarichi chosen and where exactly is it?
Ozarichi is a small town (or large village) of around 4,500 people in Southern Belarus, situated just outside the highly dangerous, government-controlled exclusion zone, some 30 kilometres north of the now shut-down Chernobyl nuclear plant.

The Walker family had established a close working friendship with a particular family in this community who now act as dedicated and experienced link workers there, for C.C.I.N..This led to valuable links with the three schools in Ozarichi: a main school of over 300 children for 7 to 16 year olds, a special needs school of about 120 children, and an orphanage of around 80 children, currently. also with various local Officials, including the senior town doctor and the three head-administrators (called Directors) for the town's schools and orphanage.

What are the principal needs for Chernobyl victims?
Adults and children relocated from within the exclusion zone, including from the town of Prypiat which had directly served the nuclear plant have, over the intervening years since the disaster, become varyingly sick through massive radiation contamination, with its many serious consequences.95% of Belarus is still contaminated today, with 'hot-spots' found throughout the country.

Indeed, some 14,000 Soviet firemen alone, who were directly involved at the time of the disaster ,have already died, while hundreds of thousands of Belarussian citizens today are showing various stages of terminal sickness. There are tragic genetic deformities now regularly occurring in the next generation born since the nuclear accident.

An estimated 90% of the whole population of Belarus suffer to some degree from the direct or indirect consequences of the Chernobyl plant explosion, fire and fall-out cloud which was blown over their country in 1986.

Life expectancy for children growing up in the region is greatly reduced, depending on their symptoms and the severity of illnesses already contracted. Those badly affected desperately need medicines and vitamin pills to alleviate their ailments ,as well as more general items like better clothing and footwear to counter the severe winters experienced ,especially among the poorest families in the generally impoverished communities, where wages can sometimes be as low as £15.00 per month (sterling).

Schools in Belarus, generally, are inadequately provisioned due to reduced government funding in a country which is virtually bankrupt following the collapse of the Communist infra-structure. Previously, the country had received U.S.S.R. central government subsidies but now has to survive with an independent economy. The spiralling health costs of the region ,following the Chernobyl disaster ,have also largely contributed to this chronic financial situation existing today, and 25 % of internal expenditure is swallowed up with Chernobyl-related expense. .

How can C.C.I.N. help?
In three main ways: -

1) Through individual sponsorship for sick and poor children identified and selected by a panel of medical and welfare experts in Ozarichi.

2) Through raising funds for specific projects identified as in urgent need either within the area or specifically linked to the three schools.

3) Through sending lorry-loads of donated medical supplies, toys, clothing and other much-needed goods, destined for both individuals and the three childrens' institutions at Ozarichi, comprising a main and special-needs school and an orphanage.

Why choose C.C.I.N. to support?

*It is a local, British charity run by local people
*It is staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers
*It is operated from a private residence,not costly commercial premises
*It has a dedicated enthusiastic team of helpers and trustees
*It has a well-equipped office with full I.T.and communications equipment for direct
contact with Belarus
*It is fully registered,approved and listed by the Charities Commision
*It is part of a national network of Chernobyl charities with growing links to certain other local groups who are combining to provide an effective co-ordinated approach
*100 % of your sponsorship moneys for Belarus children go directly to the children concerned
*Other donations are channelled directly into projects in Belarus,and not to invisible overheads or administration charges which are funded from other sources
*In the case of child sponsorship ,you are given full details of the individual child you are assisting and why, with periodic written feed-back from the beneficiaries themselves and/or their parents or carers
*In the case of donated goods, these are guaranteed to reach the intended destination via the well-established container-transit route run by another Chernobyl group
*In the case of monetary gifts, you can choose exactly what scheme or purpose you would like it to go towards, with progress news fed back to you in due course from Belarus
*You will receive our C.C.I.N. News Broadsheets ('Ozarichi Despatch') from time to time with up to date news of the Charity's work within the Ozarichi region
*The Charity has direct weekly contact with the Belarus base and our hard-working distribution team at the other end, who keep close communication with our Westbury headquarters
*We are a democratically appointed and organised charity who will always welcome helpers, ideas, support, constructive criticism and responsibility-sharing

Aid to our Charity

This can be in the form of a one-off lump-sum, periodic sums, sponsored events, donated new or second-hand goods, child-sponsorship via Standing Orders, and donated prizes for our annual, nation-wide Grand Draw.

Other Chernobyl Children Charities
A distinction should be made between C.C.I.N., the Westbury branch of Chernobyl Childrens' Lifeline and Children of Chernobyl, since our thrust is directed towards aid projects within Belarus (currently focused on building much-needed sanitary school toilets at the Ozarichi Main School) ; also, sending much needed goods and moneys to the most affected regions of Belarus and thirdly, finding individual child sponsors for serious Chernobyl victims, whereas the Childrens' Lifeline network provide assisted passage and U.K. guest homes for children from Belarus for short periods of respite care, i.e. operating only from outside Belarus and the Ukraine and only for one principal function.

Local Presence
In short, we believe that through direct links with our C.C.I.N. workers in Ozarichi, through regular visiting of the region and by all the methods of support outlined above, we can, to a degree, alleviate the suffering of many badly affected children within a most dangerous (Gomel) region around the now-closed down nuclear plant.
Our direct link, via an experienced and highly-motivated panel of influential workers at Ozarichi, comprising the local senior doctor, head teachers and our interpreter, is fully established, operational and effective in the area, while our Chairman, Adrian Walker, regularly visits the region, and the workers and officials there acting as courier, as well as co-ordinator for the main thrust of work achieved by the charity.

Direct Donations
All donations of goods or money, and all sponsorship monies, go directly to Ozarichi. All our helpers, including our Officers and Trustees, give their time completely free of charges or any expenses. All donations are fully used for the purpose specified, since our administration costs are paid for from other sources.

Raising funds
C.C.I.N. raises funds primarily in the South-west of England (excluding Westbury, itself, for reasons given below),though we do extend as far north as Hull and Durham ,thanks to helpful contacts or agents there. Westbury, in general, we leave out of sensitivity, since there is another older Chernobyl charity already operating there (but with wholly different objectives) and so we look further afield for the main thrust of our fund-raising - hence our approach to yourselves and other possible sources of support.

We aim to help in 3 principal ways:-

1.Through seeking British sponsors for individual very sick and poor children living in and around Ozarichi, the base for our operations.

2.Through collecting donated medical goods, vitamin, pills, clothing ,footwear and other useful items which can be used to good effect by Belarus children.

3.Through fund-raising to launch much-needed local building projects which will benefit children's health while living in the contaminated zone.