Remember Chernobyl Charities

A highlight of 2007 was the ‘Bikeaid’ trip to Belarus, which not only raised us £15,000 but provided a fabulously exciting experience for the children living in orphanages at Svetlagorsk and Rechitsa. The children at Rechitsa have cerebral palsy but every child had the chance to sit on a huge and gleaming motorbike.
LloydsTSB Business Development team adopted us for the year and raised £30,000 to support the children of Zhuravichi orphanage. The most disabled children in Gomel Region live at Zhuravichi and we organised our tenth annual holiday for them at Ptich sanatorium, with 35 volunteers going out to make sure the children had a great time.
We have increased our co-operation with other charities and activities include:

On several occasions we have been able to respond to SOS requests from the Children’s Cancer Hospital at Barovliani for expensive medication which is not available in Belarus by sharing the cost with Chernobyl Children Lifeline. We have also co-operated with other charities, such as Chernobyl Children Rye, in the purchase of medicines
Chernobyl Children Lifeline sponsored 10 disabled children and their mums to take part in our sanatorium holiday. Victor agreed to do this at last year’s Remember Chernobyl Conference.
We have a joint project on ‘Leaving Care’ with an Italian charity ‘Forum’ where we deliver training and they are setting up a support centre
A training at Kalinkovichi is planned for the Spring, to help the education department with placing children into families. This will be funded by Chernobyl Children in Need.
Chernobyl Children Outreach have channeled funds through us to support the Psychiatric Hospital in Gomel, where we have set up a programme of training and exchange visits.
Our aid convoys often deliver goods for other charities and Alan Wade of CCLL is a regular participant in the convoys
In our newest project we will be working jointly with ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ seeking to prevent the abandonment of young children and to find new families for babies in the Baby Home in Gomel . The eventual goal is to close the home, and to set up a medical support centre for children with severe health problems and their families.

From the beginning of 2008 much of the funding of the Mayflower Respite Care Centre which we set up four years ago, has been taken on by Social Protection, leaving us free to support new initiatives.