INTRODUCTION

Chernobyl Children’s Life Line was founded to help the children of Belarus which was worst affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in the Ukraine. The charity is organised into locally based links of which there are currently well over 100 in the UK.

The North Pembrokeshire Link was formed in 2002 and invites a group of 12 and more children in February/March each year as well as smaller groups during the summer months. In February the weather in Belarus is at its coldest, continuously below freezing, and children often remark upon arriving here that it is already spring.

The local links are funded from voluntary donations. The funds raised go straight towards the cost of air-fares, transport, to bring the needy children to this country for respite holidays, usually of one month’s duration. These holidays are thought to assist in extending the children’s life spans by up to two years. We know that the two years following the visit that their immune systems cope with winter illnesses much better and vital school attendance increases. The locally raised funds are also used to buy some clothing and pay for some of the outings which the children share together but the host families themselves receive no payment for their hospitality.

The charity takes sensible precautions and Host Families are vetted and CRB checked to ensure the children are safely placed. Hosting in same gender pairs is preferable but not essential and generally the children are always placed in pairs for their own comfort of having someone to talk to in their own language.

The children usually come over in groups of 10-15, with Belarusian leader who can speak English. The leader visits the children in their host family homes whilst here and helps with communication.

Over 4000 children now visit the UK each year via the many links of this charity.

In general the children are very well behaved and when they are staying with the Hosts they become, and are treated as, one of the family. Some of them are subsequently invited back for further holidays for which all the costs are borne by the host families themselves as the charity will support only a single visit. Even if they do not return  friendships are often formed and letters regularly flow back and forth.

Some host parents take the further step of accepting the hospitality of the children’s parents in Belarus when invited, and cross-cultural friendships are formed.

If you feel, as we do, that this is a very worthwhile venture why not consider joining the local North Pembrokeshire Link either as a host family or fund-raiser and help bring a lot of happiness to the children of Belarus.

The national charity is involved in other projects in Belarus, we have concentrated on describing the hosting of children. All information regarding the main charity may be found at Chernobyl Child Life Line