The Gomel region of Belarus is in the far south east corner of the country bordering the Ukraine and only 100km from Chernobyl. The radioactive cloud formed by the explosion 27 years ago drifted over Belarus and in particular the Gomel region and was encouraged to deposit its contents of radioactive dust there rather than drift further north and east towards Moscow and further afield. As a result the land became heavily irradiated and impossible to live on and everyone was forced to leave their homes.
Many 1000's of families and complete communities were driven off their land where they lived a very basic rural life for generations and brought to live in the outskirts of the city of Gomel and other cities throughout Belarus without work and without the ability to cope with urban life, a totally alien existence which some embraced but by which many were driven to despair and many became very ill. Vodka is very cheap and it is all too easy to drown your desperation.
Twenty-seven years on, the children we now support were born into these families in the city and its suburbs. Their parents have illnesses related to the Chernobyl fallout as do many of the children and so the orphanages and schools which we support specialise in looking after those children with many challenging conditions such as sight problems, learning difficulties, blood disorders, leukemia, thyroid problems etc.
In the next few days, members of Brighton Lions Club will be delivering goods to the warehouse set up by the District ready for a further delivery of aid.
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