Children of Chernobyl Program
Click here to read about the 2010 visit
About the Program
The Children of Chernobyl mission at Christ
Church is in its 17th
year. The founder of the program was the late Joe Bailey, a photographer for
National Geographic, who went to Belarus after the Chernobyl nuclear
disaster that occurred in April 1986.
Moved by the desperate situation of
the people of Belarus, particularly the children whose immune systems were
seriously compromised by radiation, he returned in 1992 to distribute needed
medical and food supplies. While there, he learned about international
efforts to evacuate children for recuperative trips to western nations, and
determined to involve Christ Church in these efforts.
For more than 15 years, the Children of Chernobyl
mission at Christ Church brought children ages 8-12 from the radiated
areas of Belarus each summer for a six-week health respite. Our mission
work has been complicated by political tensions between the two
countries, and during the summer of 2009 we hoped in vain for a
resolution to the political impasse that prevented more than 2,000
Belarusian children from coming to the U.S. As disappointing as it was
for our host families, the cancellation was devastating for our
Belarusian children and families, who rely on the winter clothes and
pharmaceuticals we send back with the children each summer. Please keep
them in your prayers.
Challenges also bring new opportunities and the need
to adapt to changing circumstances has led to some exciting new
directions for our mission. In the summer of 2010, Children of Chernobyl
hosted 13 children from Boyarka, Ukraine for a six-week summer health
respite. In switching from a 15-year presence in Belarus to neighboring
Ukraine, we entered into a new partnership with Boyarka Center, one of
five initially UN-funded centers established to offer families
psychological counseling after the Chernobyl disaster in April of 1986.
It is supported by the Ukrainian government
and a U.S.-based aid organization (FOCUSS), and offers programs for more
than 10,000 children and their families coping with the issues resulting
from Chernobyl exposure.
The Ukrainian children who came last summer lived
with host families, ate healthy food not grown in the radiated ground
around Chernobyl, attended Vacation Bible School, and received camp
scholarships, free dental work amounting to several thousand dollars,
and winter clothes to take home for them and their family members.
Additionally, this year the committee was pleased to be able to send
approximately $3000 for in-country expenses to Boyarka Center, which was
greatly appreciated. The funds were used on much-needed renovations of
rooms used for counseling at the Center and the purchase of a computer
that families could use when they came to the Center to Skype with their
children on the 2010 summer program.