Bringing hope to the forgotten children of Belarus

On the 26^th of April 1986 one of the four nuclear reactors, at the Ukrainian, Chernobyl power plant, exploded. The explosion released more than 400 times the fallout from the Hiroshima bombing. It remains the worlds worst ever nuclear disaster, rated 7 on the (0-7) International Nuclear Event Scale.

The Belarus border is ten miles north of Chernobyl. The prevailing wind carried around 60% of the radioactive fallout into the mainly agricultural land of Belarus, heavy rains then brought it down. The contamination meant that dozens of villages and towns were uninhabitable. Over 336,000 people were evacuated and relocated because of the disaster.

In the north-east of Belarus is a small border town called Mstislavl where an orphanage looks after homeless and abandoned children from the surrounding area. The scale of the disaster is immense, the ground water is contaminated and will remain so for thousands of years. Fruit and vegetables are contaminated but the people have no choice but to eat them.

In the summer of 1991 the plight of the children of Mstislavl was noted by a group of friends from Blyth. The friends formed Medicine & Chernobyl (Blyth) and brought five children over from the orphanage for a month’s respite and convalescence. Each year they brought more children, eventually bringing more than thirty each year to stay with host families.

In 2007 the Blyth charity disbanded and in November of the same year…  COG Medicine & Chernobyl Amble was formed to carry on the good work.

Aims & Vision

TO RELIEVE SICKNESS OF CHILDREN AFFECTED BY RADIATION AND TO PROVIDE SUCH AID AS IS APPROPRIATE TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF MEDICINE AND CHERNOBYL (BYELORUSSIAN MEDICAL SOCIETY FOR CHARITY INITIATIVE NO: 220064) IN THEIR WORK WITH CHILDREN IN PUBLIC CARE IN BYELORUSSIA…

In 2010 we intend to bring nine children and one interpreter from Mstislavl for four weeks respite and convalescence in Northumberland.The children come to Amble in July which is the worst month for airborne contamination in the hot dry summer of their home town. We give them a month of good wholesome food, especially fresh fruit and milk. More than this they get a month of love and individual care, plus enough warm clothes to see them through the harsh Belarusian winter.

Once here the host families meet all of the costs of feeding and clothing the children – who quite literally arrive with only the clothes they stand up in. Everyone connected with the charity works on a voluntary basis, every penny raised goes directly to helping the children.

Our main expense is the cost of flights from Minsk in Belarus to Manchester. The cost of travel from the orphanage to Minsk and from Manchester to Amble also has to be met from charity funds. Travel costs for each child currently run at just over £400.

All contributions to the COG fundraising effort will be gratefully welcomed.