Holiday Camps for Special Kidz: This is supplementary to the White Dove programme and is hugely successful and popular both with the Irish volunteers that travel to Belarus and more importantly, the families of the Children being cared for, in this very important programme. This is a wonderful way for volunteers to engage directly with these special Children & usually means that the volunteers travel in a group from Ireland to spend one week at a time living in the camp. Volunteers provide care & entertainment for the Children and a little respite for the parents so that they too can have a little holiday from the difficulties and stresses of round the clock care for their very precious Children.

Alternative to Orphanages: Children’s (Pedagogical) Centers: This is a relatively new concept in Belarus and implements progressive initiatives in the prevention of permanent institutionalisation of Children, as was traditionally the norm for Children from ‘problem’ families. A Pedagogical Center is a type of ‘Halfway House’ whereby children from families with social/economic difficulties are placed in care for a maximum period of six months while the family difficulties are dealt with by social workers. The idea is that the Children should be returned to the family unit at the earliest opportunity and thus prevent institutionalisation in a state orphanage. Generally, the centers are very well run but lack resources and equipment and sometimes the buildings are in a poor state of repair. Chernobyl Children’s Trust is committed to supporting the Pedagogical concept and the closure of orphanages and works with both local organizations and the Belarusian dept of education to achieve this. We have renovated a number of buildings in various locations through a series of building projects, in addition to the provision of playgrounds, humanitarian aid and equipment to progress this very effective alternative to orphanages in Belarus.