Chernobyl Children's Project International

100+ chernobyl volunteers set to return home today

Over 100 Irish, Australian and American volunteers will return home today after spending three weeks in Chernobyl affected regions of Belarus. 

We employ about 20 local staff in Belarus, have partnerships with a number of local organizations, and at any given time we usually have volunteers and program directors "in the field."  This trip, however, was a large scale effort many months in the planning. 

Most of the volunteers on this trip were were builders -- carpenters, plumbers, masons, and the like who gave up their vacation time to come and complete work on the Vesnova Asylum in Belarus.  (Here's more about how we help.)  Nurses and therapeutic staff joined the teams in Vesnova, where they trained local caretakers in proper techniques and followed up on care plans for the children, who have a wide range of physical and intellectual abilities.  About 50 very serious ill children live in the facility's "high dependency unit" and require extraordinary care.   

As this work was happening, a management team led by CCPI founder Adi Roche visited projects across the country and met with employees, local partners, and government officials.  Key areas for evaluation were our foster care program and community care program in Minsk.  Adi, joined by Jim Clarken -- our new general manager in Ireland -- and Marie Cox, our medical care program  director, also examined the effectiveness of a new "aid direct" program that provides year round deliveries of necessary supplies for our community centers.  This program improves upon our  annual aid convoy.  Now, we are able to deliver good and supplies as needed, and we are purchasing locally, which puts aid dollars back into the local community to raise the standard of living for all.  Now that certain supplies are readily available in Belarus -- which was not the case when we first started our work in the country -- we are seeing huge cost efficiencies in purchasing locally rather than trucking across Europe! 

The management team visited our completed community centers in Zhitkovichy and Petrikov, and surveyed potential new sites in Glutsk and Buda-Kachalova.  Our community centers and programs target the most under served and at risk communities.  The centers serve a wide variety of community needs . . . therapeutic services for disabled children, child care classes, vocational training and employment services, homework help, computer centers, and more.  Our objective is to give communities the means they need to become self sufficient and avoid the downward spiral of poverty and hopelessness that leads families to place their children in institutions.

We also spent time examining our hospice program in Gomel, to ensure that the needs of families with the most seriously ill children are being properly met by our team of local nurses and psychologists. Meeting these families face to face allows us to hear directly from them whether we are doing a good job and how we can improve our services in the community.

Even as we examined our on board projects, the seeds of new ones were sown in meetings with community leaders across the country who are eager to move forward from Chernobyl.  We'll report back with our progress.

the ultimate "dirty job": chernobyl sarcophagus workers video

I'm a fan of the television show Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel .. and this is a dirty job that beats all. 

A couple weeks ago I posted about the crumbling Chernobyl sarcophagus, and new efforts to contain it before it collapses and causes the next disaster.  We send volunteers to work with communities in Chernobyl regions, and I am sure you are not surprised to hear that this issue of the rickety sarcophagus is at top of mind for virtually all comers.  (I personally just try not to think about it.)

All of this work -- building the new sarcophagus, dismantling the old one, disposing of radioactive waste --  requires manpower.  And believe it or not,  in a region with limited opportunities, there is competition for this very dirty job.  This video, reposted from YouTube, shows the screening, selection and testing process for Chernobyl sarcophagus workers, and the lengths that they will go to to nab this job.  It is both surreal and moving.  The video was made by a student who calls himself Chernobyldoc, but since I don't know his name I can only credit him by pointing you to his blog. I really like his honesty, lack of irony, and disengagement to the political issues that surround Chernobyl.

There's a glibness that I enjoy in the Dirty Jobs television show that is absent from this very straightforward video.  These guys are heroes in many ways they would probably not think of, because they are really guys who just  need a job. Containing Chernobyl is going to be a lucrative endeavor for a number of companies, but the men in the field are offering the sacrifice in cleaning up a mess not of their making.

the grandmother, her dream, and her life saving gift

Sixty-two year old Portland resident Judy Bevilacqua spent most of her life dedicated to her husband, home and children -- she had no regrets and she did well. But two years ago -- while thumbing through a "ladies magazine" in her doctor's waiting room -- she came to the uncomfortable realization that she knew little about herself.  She didn't like this feeling.  But she turned her moment of discontent into a quest to fulfill her unlived dreams.  And she turned one of her dreams into a gift that will, over the coming year, save the lives of as many as 175 children touched by the Chernobyl accident.  This is her story:

When Judy started to feel her rumblings of dissatisfaction, her good friend Nikki suggested that she start to keep a journal of her dreams. (Nikki, along with Judy's daughter Rebekah, are pictured with Judy above.) Her husband, Jack, further encouraged her to turn to turn her dreams into action.  He told Margie Boule in last month's issue of  The Oregonian, "It was a wonderful thing to read her dream book and help remove the obstacles that might keep her heart from being alive." 

One of Judy's dreams was to swim Hood Canal.  Not a natural athlete, she trained hard and found it difficult and  monotonous.  To spark her motivation, she went back to her dream book, and saw that one of her dreams was to help children with birth defects.  She realized that she could accomplish two dreams with one swim. 

Judy's friend Steve Cagan, of Restoring Hope Foundation of Southern California, had raised $20,000 in a Chocolate Festival last year, and donated those funds to Chernobyl Children's Project International for a life saving children's cardiac surgery program in Belarus. Hearing about this program, Judy found  her inspiration. 

On September 1st, with her husband rowing beside her and holding up laminated photos of Belarusian children in need of heart surgery, and sponsors and supporters cheering her from the shore, Judy pushed her limits and swam two miles for the children of Belarus. "I don't have to be a Michael Jordan or a marathon runner. I can just be an elderly housewife who wanted to do this one little thing.  I have a mission."

Today, 2500 - 3000 children are on a waiting list to receive surgery to repair genetic defects of their hearts. These defects have increased in incidence since the disaster in 1986.  Chernobyl Children's Project International has funded Dr. William Novick and a team of volunteers to go to Belarus to perform these surgeries and train local physicians.  Hundreds of lives have been saved through this program. 

Judy's donation will be used to purchase a Somanetics Cerebral Oximeter -- a piece of equipment that will allow surgeons to non invasively monitor oxygen levels in a young patient's brain and kidneys while they are on bypass during surgery.  In doing so, surgical teams will be able to tell -- before the damage is done -- if the child is in danger of going into heart failure. We are purchasing this equipment right now, and Dr. Novick will take it to Belarus at the end of next month.  The equipment will save as many as 175 young lives a year. 

I think the best way to end this post is with a photo of one of the children who has benefited from cardiac surgery in Belarus.  More photos are in the gallery to the left of this page. We'll report back in December when the Cerebral Oximeter arrives and goes to work.

tea with the savins

The nine small children sat at the long wooden table in the kitchen of a home in the Mogilev region of Belarus.  They chatted  happily as they slurped their tea with spoons.  The table was spread with sweets and cakes. Their foster mother, Tamara, moved around the table filling plates while her  husband Alfred reminded them to watch their manners in a gentle, no-nonsense voice.  It all was so natural and  comfortable. It was hard for me to imagine that two years ago, there was no family at all -- that each child had been living in a bleak orphanage. 

It took a bit of a miracle to bring this family together. About three years ago, Tamara and Alfred Savin had a newspaper delivered to them by mistake.  They almost didn't open it -- Alfred's position as an economics teacher kept him buried in books and grading papers, and Tamara was working full time as a diamond polisher. When Tamara finally looked at the newspaper she was stunned by the story of a baby boy who had been rescued from a latrine at a local milk farm.  His mother had given birth prematurely while on the job and had abandoned the child.  Her coworkers found little Valeriy where she left him, wrapped him in rags, and took him to the hospital where doctors were able to save his life.  The Savins were moved by the story . . and Valeriy -- who appears in the right corner of the photograph wearing green and blue coveralls -- became the first of their nine foster children with the help of CCPI's foster family program. 

You would think that a family with 9 small children would be chaotic, but Tamara's warmth is matched by Alfred's professorial formality and sense of order. The children played in the yard with abandon, but at Alfred's word they ran inside, removed and lined up their shoes, washed their hands and sat at the table. Alfred led them in prayer before they took their tea.  After tea, the children led us to the parlor where they entertained us with songs and poetry, and played Belarusian traditional instruments.  As we were leaving, Alfred took myself and Sherrie Douglas aside to let us know that he had the house inspected, and the electrical system did not pass code.  By luck, Chernobyl Children's Project International had a team of volunteer builders from Ireland working at the Vesnova Asylum, half an hour away.  Adi Roche was able to contact their head electrician and arrange for him to bring a team out that week to fix the problem. 

Alfred and Tamara Savin are a kind, capable, and hardworking couple who had room in their hearts to raise children without parents of their own.  We are committed to finding more parents like the Savins, and taking as many children as possible out of orphanages and placing them in families. 

the gudkovskie family: "all together we have our future"

This spring we stopped in to visit with the Gudkovskie family of Stariye Dorogi in Belarus.  We'd just spent a couple days at a local orphanage, and to see children in a loving family environment was a jarring  and welcome contrast. The Gudkovskies were CCPI's first foster home -- a program in which we take children who are living in orphanages and place them into carefully selected homes where they can thrive in a loving environment. To date we've placed 40 children in such homes and the program is accelerating.

Three years ago, Natasha Gudkovskie was working at an orphanage.  She couldn't stop thinking about the sadness of children without families, and their bleak prospects for the future. One girl in particular made an impression on Natasha  -- a pre-teen named Katya.  Katya and her sister Irina had been placed in the orphanage after their father was imprisoned and mother started abusing alcohol.  The sisters made many attempts to run away from the orphanage.  Natasha and her husband Sergei were struck by the girls' will for a happy life, and took them in as their own children.

The family grew when Natasha and Sergei took in another  girl, Inna -- a friend of the sisters.  Inna had grown bitter and aggressive and had not been able to be placed in any family.  Her brother Oleg soon followed, and then Ivan, a kindergartner who was abandoned by his mother in Minsk.  Finally, they were joined by two year old twins Anton and Julia.  Katya told us how after her birth father was imprisoned

...my mother started to drink alcohol and she did it more and more often.  We children were starving, begging on the streets. Later on, I was placed in an orphanage . . . there were strict regulations and no care for a child's personality.  I wanted to return to the days when I had a family.  Now I've found a new family where I feel very happy.  I know that all together we have our future. The main treasure I have is our family. 

The family prepared a big celebratory meal to greet us, with Sergei grilling meat outside, and a table spread with every kind of sweet and savory. The children, especially the girls, doted over Sergei, a handsome man with a striking mouthful full of gold teeth.  We look forward to seeing them again. 

everything we make wears out: paul fusco photo essay

Photographer Paul Fusco has traveled with us and in this incredibly affecting multimedia photo essay captures the human side of the Chernobyl tragedy.

I've only been involved in this work for 5 years but it seems to me that the "Chernobyl" issue (big quotes intentional) always seems to get bogged down in politics -- nuclear politics, environmental politics, UN politics, post Soviet politics ....  And it's sad, because "Chernobyl" has been taken over by interest groups (both pro and anti). These groups are asking really good and important questions, but never really getting close to the human heart of the matter and maybe even avoiding it on purpose.

It takes an artist like Paul Fusco to point out that however you might feel about nuclear politics, this disaster forces us to stare at loss, and at how our best inventions and intentions can fail us --  and there is no point in denying it. Click here to see some of what happened after, in Paul's words,"some guy hit the wrong button at the wrong time. And there was nothing he could do about it."

meet sasha levkin

Sasha Levkin is one of the many children with whom we work.  Although he is mentally fit, he lives at the Vesnova Children's Mental Asylum in a rural area of Belarus. Your support allows us to improve the lives of many children affected by the Chernobyl disaster, as well us to provide hope for the future.  We do this largely by working on the community level.  But, by getting to know Sasha through his story, we have the chance to appreciate that behind every statistic, there is a unique human being who deserves to be acknowledged.  I know Sasha, and I am very moved by his dignity and positive outlook in the face of unusually difficult challenges.  The photo shows him with CCPI volunteer Suzanne Reese.

Eighteen year old Sasha Levkin, a resident of the Vesnova Children's Asylum in Belarus, stays indoors for months each winter because his wheelchair cannot be maneuvered in the snow.  To mentally escape the boredom of the asylum he spends time looking at a small photo album he always carries with him in a black bag hanging from the back of his wheelchair.  He shows the album to all newcomers. Inside is a picture of his sister Katja, who has not been to visit him since early summer as she has no means of  transportation.  He also has photos of his cousins, his godmother, and his aunt.  None of them visit more than once a year, but he says he thinks of them every day. 

Sasha's father committed suicide when the boy was 9 months old.  His mother , who was also an alcoholic, began to beat him when he was a toddler, until he was sent to live with his aunt in 20o1.

My mother didn't care about me, she didn't feed me -- she is an alcoholic, always drinking vodka and then hurting me.  I never want to see my mother again.  She didn't hit me when I was very little.  At that time I could crawl and could get up from the floor to the sofa by myself, but then she started to beat me and I could no longer do such things.

Sasha liked living with his aunt, but unfortunately his physical disabilities were too great for her to take care of him. 

So, he is happy with his life at Vesnova, where the other kids see him as a leader, one of the cool guys. 

I like it here at Vesnova, this is home to me, I like the director, but some of the smaller kids drive me crazy.  In the future I would like to be a translator.  It looks like a good job and then I could help CCPI.

I gave Sasha an English-Russian language program on CD, and he picks up new words and phrases with ease.  Since he is not able to use his hands, he gets some of the younger kids to change the disks for him. He and his friends like to sit in a circle repeating phrases, and they take their studies very seriously.  When I last visited him in April, he was using some of his new language skills to flirt with the volunteers. Sasha was even confident enough to patronize me a bit -- he told me my Russian language skills were improving "quite nicely."  I was chagrined that I could barely thank him in his own language!

Sasha is eighteen years old now, and he will soon be moved into an adult mental institution, where his prospects for survival are very poor.  "I don't want to leave Vesnova.  I have friends here and don't want to leave what has become my home."  We are extremely concerned about Sasha's future, but not quite sure what we can do to help him.  I'll continue to post updates.  The image on the right shows Sasha when I woke him up in the middle of the night to show him that his photograph was published in PEOPLE Magazine last year.  He was beyond pleased. (And I still think he should have been on the cover, instead of whats-her-name Tom Cruise's latest wife.  Go figure!)

crumbling chernobyl sarcophagus: repairs please?

Right after the 1986 Chernobyl accident, military conscripts -- and many volunteers -- hastily poured concrete over the exploded nuclear reactor.  This shell, called "the sarcophagus," was meant to be temporary and was designed with a maximum lifetime of 20 years.  (That was almost 22 years ago -- a bit of unpleasant math that is hard to put out of the mind when visiting the region!) Ominously, the sarcophagus to started to crumble and leak radiation 10 years after it was constructed. In 2003, Russian atomic energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev reported that the shell was in "real danger of collapsing at any time." 

A couple of weeks ago, AP reported that Ukrainian officials had signed a $505 million dollar contract with the  French-led consortium Novarka to build a new shelter for the reactor.  An international fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is funding the $1.39 billion project, which is now expected to be completed in 5.5 years. The price tag and completion date have been moving targets for many years.

The photograph shows CCPI founder Adi Roche suited up in protective gear when the  Chernobyl Heart crew was  filming a segment near the Chernobyl reactor in 2002.

racing in hope: chernobyl's hero

It wasn't the most unusual donation offer we ever had -- that honor would have to go to the group of lactating mothers who offered their breast milk.  (And we just couldn't figure out the logistics for that, not to mention how to explain it to Belarusian customs agents!)  But when long-time supporter Bill DiScala offered us a racehorse, it got our attention.  We figured that the horse -- who we named Chernobyl's Hero -- would at least raise awareness to a whole new audience. Bill has a special heart for orphans, and noted that Chernobyl's Hero's mother (who had been well-loved by his whole family) had been killed suddenly by a lightening bolt.  He noted that in this case, an "orphan" will run to help orphans in across the ocean to find loving homes of their own.   

A year later, we are surprised and delighted to say that Chernobyl's Hero has won thousands of dollars that Bill and his company Karakorum Racing have donated to support our programs in Chernobyl-affected regions.  Bill, thanks so much to you and Karakorum -- and to Chernobyl's Hero, a horse with true heart.