“White Dove Over Chernobyl” Gomel Trip March 2008
The Belarusian public organization (N.G.O) in Gomel, Southern Belarus “White Dove over Chernobyl” is dealing with seriously ill and disabled children and their families. Many of these families have chosen to care for these unfortunate children at home in the family unit rather than give them up to state care which is the norm with such children in Belarus. Many of the families concerned are destitute from supporting their children at home and are in dire need of help. The organization is doing their best to help them but their resources are very limited.
The Chernobyl Children’s Trust was approached by “White Dove over Chernobyl” to assist in making recommendations and by providing resources to make it possible to assist and enable the organization to carry out a programme to help such children and their families.
On the 19th of March 2008, a small team of medical professionals travelled to the city of Gomel in Belarus to carry out an assessment and make recommendations in order to decide how best to progress this programme. Over the following days over twenty children were visited in their family homes and an individual assessment was carried out on each child’s and their family’s needs. It soon became apparent that many of the needs of these families were achievable. Perhaps one of the most uplifting aspects of the trip was that each and every child we visited was surrounded by affection and love from their families no matter how desperate their situation appeared. The dignity and poise of these families was rock solid!!
Many of the families will benefit from assistance in providing basic supplies such as food, clothing, bed clothes and some medical supplies. A huge request was made by all of the families we visited for assistance to help cover the cost of nappies, this appears to be a huge drain on the families meagre incomes. A number of specialized items of medical/Physio aids are also required and we have promised to provide these items to the best of our ability as soon as possible. For one family we have committed to provide funds to enable their little girl to have vital surgery. We hope this will transform the worry of the financial burden on the parents to a future of hope for an improved quality of life for their little girl.
Perhaps one of the most unfortunate aspects of the programme is the extreme lack of support that the families of these beautiful children receive. Many are living in huge concrete apartment blocks with little or no wheelchair access – In fact, if there is a family with a disabled child in the block, they are almost guaranteed to be living on or near the top floor……much to the joy of the team, who are now well fit for the European games!! However, no matter how dismal and gloomy the shabby stairwells and corridors of these blocks were, once the doors to the family apartments were opened we were welcomed into the warmth of the family home, which was sometimes just one room serving as living, kitchen and bedroom.
It soon became apparent that these families needed home support. Many of the mothers hardly left their children for a number of reasons. For some their partners worked long hours for small incomes just to survive. Many of the children were cared for by single mothers who had been left to rear the child on their own. Some had extended family to help out. However, the majority of the mothers were isolated and relied heavily on the good will of their neighbours to watch their sleeping child – just so they could get their messages in. Naturally some of the families appeared a little reluctant to accept the offer of home nursing support, this is after all “an alien concept” to them and they fear, especially in the presence of their child having severe seizures, that a stranger might not be able to cope with their child’s condition. However, having explained the concept of home respite to the families we are confident that in time it will become a lifeline and the benefit will contribute greatly to their quality of life.
At the end of our trip we held a meeting with the director of “White Dove” who had accompanied us on our journey over the few days and agreed that it was a very worthwhile programme indeed. We have agreed to employ a small team of nurses to provide home nursing care to support and provide respite to the families we met. The programme will have a co-coordinator to ensure each family’s needs are being met to the best of our ability. Transport will be provided as soon as possible, in the form of a wheelchair accessible minivan to ensure that staff have access to the children and also to transport children i.e. for hospital appointments etc. Humanitarian aid will be provided in the form of food, clothing, medical supplies and nappies. “The Trust” has made recommendations on how best to monitor the programme to protect and ensure the needs of all involved are being met to a high standard. Representatives of this team will travel to Belarus on an ongoing basis to ensure these needs are being met and the standard of care maintained.
In conclusion “The Chernobyl Children’s Trust” is privileged to accept both the honour and the challenge to become part of this extremely worthwhile project. Already, we hope we have contributed to improving the quality of life of the children and the families involved in this programme. We wish to sincerely thank everyone who continues to support us on this project.
Sunday World
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