This section is maintained by Chris Broome tel. 01629 824512 Bonsall Link Chairman
The Chernobyl Children Life Line - Bonsall Link was formed in December 2002. Our aim is to bring a group of children and an adult leader/translator from Belarus to the Bonsall, Matlock and Wirksworth area each summer for a month's respite care. The children stay in pairs with volunteer host families.
The Link raises funds to pay for the children's travelling and medical insurance costs and organises and funds a programme of recreational and educational visits for the group whilst in the UK.
Their 4 week stay with us helps to repair their immune systems and offers a respite from the relentless bombardment of radiation ingested and inhaled which still afflicks large areas of Belarus today.
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Background to the Chernobyl Disaster and Founding of the Charity
In April 1986, the forth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, 12km south of the Belarusian border, exploded. Belarus was the region worst hit by the disaster, with 70% of the fallout landing on its territory and around one-fifth of its area seriously affected. Thankfully, the nuclear plant was closed in December 2000 yet our work continues. It is currently estimated that it will take 400 years to rid Belarus of contamination. The radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident was 90 times greater than that from Hiroshima.
Doctors and scientists are now discovering that many children are not only battling thyroid cancer and leukaemia as a result of the disaster, but are now finding they are ingesting so much contamination there is a steep rise in reported cases of intestinal cancers and heart defects. Post mortem examinations on children are revealing that their organs resemble those of 70-year old people rather than young children.
It is estimated that today more than 2-million people in Belarus still live in contaminated areas - there is no access to "clean" food. People still till their fields, herd their cattle and eat the contaminated produce of their labours, which includes of course the children. The charity, Chernobyl Children Life Line was founded to help the children of Belarus. The charity is voluntary - there are no overheads, with the exception of postage, stationery and telephone bills - and no salaries, all donations go towards helping the "Chernobyl children".
The charity currently brings over 4000 children to the UK each year from Belarus for respite care. It is thought by some doctors that one month with a family here in the UK boosts their damaged immune system to such an extent that it gives them upwards of 2-years on their life expectancy. It costs around £400 to bring a child to the UK, which covers the cost of their return air fare and other expenses incurred by the Links. To bring a group of 10 children to Bonsall therefore, £4000 has to be raised in the community from fundraisimg events and donations. There are currently around 180 Links throughout the country.
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