Chernobyl Children International
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Mission Statement
Chernobyl Children International (CCI) was established by Adi Roche in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Since then, the organisation has delivered over €108 million worth of medical and humanitarian aid to the region and brought 26,000 children to Ireland for life-enhancing Rest and Recuperation. None of this work would have been possible without the tremendous support of donors and volunteers worldwide. This accident continues to affect millions of people in the surrounding regions. Since 1986 we have affected some truly wonderful changes in the lives of Chernobyl’s children, but the need is still great.
About This Cause
How it all began: Chernobyl was the world’s deadliest nuclear disaster. The April 26 1986 explosion released 200 times more radiation than Hiroshima & Nagasaki. The accident - which was immediately surrounded by denial and cover up - affected the lives of 7 million people in Ukraine, Belarus & Western Russia. Radiation levels were so high that 3,000 towns and village, were demolished and buried beneath millions of tons of earth. In the five years following the explosion the Soviet Union tried to conceal and minimise Chernobyl’s lethal legacy of death, disease, deformity and social upheaval. But in January 1991 a group of Belarusian doctors revealed to the world – in a desperate three line fax – how frightening the situation in the Chernobyl region really was. The fax to the offices in Cork of a small nuclear disarmament group, Irish CND, begged “someone, anyone” to airlift children from Chernobyl’s highly contaminated environment to Ireland. The doctors believed the levels of radioactivity in their bodies would be greatly reduced through rest and recuperation in Ireland’s clean air. Many had genetic defects and diseases scientists believe were caused by Chernobyl’s deadly radiation. The appeal galvanised a young volunteer, Adi Roche, into action and led to the establishment of an organisation that would focus global attention on Chernobyl’s lethal fallout. Initially Chernobyl Children International concentrated on airlifting children from Belarus to Ireland. Later volunteers became involved in mounting humanitarian convoys to Belarus. They soon encountered hidden orphanages and mental asylums across the Chernobyl region where children lived in appalling and frightening conditions. Adi Roche was numbed by the horror of what she saw in the orphanages. “Death and the smell of death, disease and decay was everywhere. It was utterly shocking that little children could be abandoned in such conditions; tied to beds, unloved, uncared for, brutalised”. Her immediate reaction was to pledge to devote the rest of her life to the welfare of the abandoned and abused children of Chernobyl. For almost 30 years CCI has led the world’s response to the plight of the children. It has raised almost €100 million to fund its programmes in Belarus and Ukraine. Today these programmes reach almost half a million people changing lives forever. Medical Care The services CCI provides have reached out to almost 1 million children and their families. Our volunteers have transformed the once frightening Children’s Mental Asylum at Vesnova, 175 KM from Chernobyl, into a world class child care centre from which we direct many of our medical care programmes. Every month Irish and US medical and nursing teams travel to Vesnova to oversee the ground breaking rehabilitation work pioneered there and to help train local staff. It costs €1 million a year to fund this work. A donation will underwrite care for a child like 12 year old Andrei in Vesnova. Andrei suffers from multiple birth defects and the care CCI provides has changed his life forever. Hospice and Community Care The long shadow of Chernobyl has fallen across the lives of tens of thousands of children in affected areas. Scientists believe abnormally high levels of mental and physical illnesses are linked to radioactivity levels. CCI operates a huge Community Care and Hospice programme to help young victims of Chernobyl and to allow them to be cared for in their own homes. Children like 4 year old Liza who is hydrocephalic needs round the clock care. The burden on their parents of keeping them out of grim institutions is enormous. But we make that possible despite the severity of their disabilities. These are some of the most vulnerable children in the world. A donation to fund therapeutic services would transform their lives beyond recognition. Deinstitutionalisation – Independent Living There are still almost 300 orphanages and children’s institutions in Belarus where thousands of abandoned children live lonely and forgotten lives. Many eventually end up in adult mental asylums. But CCI, in keeping with Adi Roche’s initial pledge to devote her life to the Children of Chernobyl , is working to change that forever. Following high level talks with the Ministry of Social Protection new laws were introduced to allow the children to be moved into Independent Living Units when they reach the age of 18. Two of these units - the first ever in Belarus - have been funded and built by CCI at Vesnova. Here boys and girls are learning to live independently with the help of life skill workshop training. Two of Vesnova residents Sasha Leuvkin and Sasha Holdyau have gained international celebrity from their many TV appearances and from the articles written about them. Sasha “Blonde” is writing his authobiography; Sasha “Black” dreams of becoming an artist as CCI pioneers rights for the disabled. Cardiac Surgery Every year, 6,000 children in Ukraine are born with the genetic heart defect known as “Chernobyl Heart.” If untreated 1 in 3 will die by the age of 5. Responding to this crisis CCI has initiated a “Flying Doctors Programme” which sees teams of internationally renowned cardiac surgeons fly in to carry out life-saving “open heart” operations on the most critically ill children. Irish people have raised €3 million to fund 4,200 of these operations. Surgical teams fly in 4 times a year and working round the clock with local hospital staff carry out 35 to 40 operations over a 14 day period. One of the children who owes his life to the programme is 10 month old Artem. His mother has said that CCI donors are guardian angels who have saved her son’s life. Since 1986 CCI has achieved the following ✓ Medical Care – Over €108 million delivered in humanitarian and medical aid ✓ Building & Construction Programmes – Refurbishment of Orphanages & Institutions; building Day Care Centres each serving 60,000 people ✓ Rest & Recuperation – 26,000 children flown to Ireland for respite Holidays ✓ Hospice & Community Care – Providing professional care previously unavailable for 1,000 disabled and terminally-ill children and their families; Establishing new Baby Hospice programme ✓ ‘Homes of Hope’ – Pioneering ground-breaking foster parent programme for children committed to orphanages. 30 “Homes of Hope” built across Belarus; 300 children transferred from orphanages and state institutions. ✓ Independent Living Programme – CCI has built Belarus’s first Independent living homes, allowing young adults with special needs to integrate into their local communities ✓ Child Cardiac Surgeries – Funding 6 flying doctor missions to Ukraine annually. 6,500 lifesaving operations delivered ✓ Nursing Care Programme – expert nursing and therapeutic care for 170 institutionalised children; training / upskilling of 24 nursing staff ✓ Life-saving operations - 4,200 surgeries undertaken ✓ Dental Programme - Reaching over 170 institutionalised children annually