Chernobyl children visit Diss

30 July 2010

It is difficult to image living in a place where the air is polluted and the soil is contaminated.

But a dozen eastern European children, who live under the cloud of the world's worst nuclear disaster, have had their long-term health prospects boosted after beginning a summer holiday in Diss.

The Belarusian children, who live in a city affected by the fallout of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, have started a four week vacation in the town, thanks to the efforts of a local charity.

The 12-year-olds, who are staying with local families, have begun a whirlwind programme of activities, including fruit picking, swimming, arts and crafts, music workshops and visits to Norwich, Southwold and Pleasurewood Hills, as part of a timetable devised by the Diss branch of the Friends of Chernobyl's Children (FOCC).

The charity, which has been welcoming youngsters from Belarus for the last ten years, was only able to fund this year's trip after local residents helped meet a £6,000 shortfall.

The children, who come from underprivileged backgrounds from the industrial city of Mogilev, Belarus, have also received dental and eye check-ups as part of the project to boost the health of young people affected by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in Ukraine.

David Hannant, co-ordinator of the Diss FOCC, said it was very rewarding to see the children grow up.

“Bringing them for the year is a good holiday, but if it is a month for five years between the ages of seven and 12 and they are eating clean food and breathing fresh air, it is a substantial boost to their immune systems and a benefit to their long term health. Chernobyl happened in the 1980s, but in terms of radiation we are talking thousands of years before it is gone.”

“A lot of them love being with their host families. It is a second home for some of them. It is quite demanding to have a child for one month for five years, but there are a lot of kind people out there,” he said.

Iryna Lemeshkova, who became an English teacher in her home country after spending five summers in Blackburn with FOCC when she was a child, acts as a translator for the children and host families.

“The children benefit from taking vitamins, healthy food and breathing fresh air and are seeing interesting things. Thanks to these visits I decided to learn this foreign language and to continue my studies,” she said.