Chernobyl Children's Lifeline - CCLL - was established in 1992
in response to the terrible nuclear accident at Chernobyl in the
Ukraine, described by the United Nations as 'the greatest environmental
catastrophe in the history of humanity'. As a result of strong
winds blowing in the days immediately after the accident, 70% of
the fallout landed in Belarus and this quickly became the most contaminated
area.
Belarus will
suffer the effects of radiation fallout for hundreds of years. People
who live here have no choice but to work on contaminated land and grow
and eat contaminated food. Experts estimate that the problems
are so severe that just a month away from this environment will
allow a child's immune system to recover enough to give them, on average,
an extra two years life expectancy. CCLL believes that we should
offer that opportunity to as many children as possible, and works through
a network of semi-independent 'links' throughout the UK doing just
that.
About Belarus:
Formally a part of the USSR, Belarus is now an independent country
bordered by Poland, Lithuania, Russia and the Ukraine. The country
covers some 207,600 sq km and has a population of 10 million. Twenty
percent of the population live in the capital, Minsk.
Belarus used to
be a major supplier of food to the Soviet Union but now, with extensive
areas of contamination from the Chernobyl disaster, it has difficulty
selling even the un-contaminated food. With the deprivation of
such a large proportion of its income, the country has huge economic
problems.
Minsk itself
looks like any other proud capital, but under the surface you can see
that it cannot support its previous grandeur. Out in the country the
situation is even worse, most villages do not have running water and depend
upon wells for their water, and even some of these are frozen during the
long, hard, winters months.
In the 3 years following
the Chernobyl disaster, 100,000 people, many simple farmers, were re-housed
from the radiation hot spots, 55,000 ending up in high rise apartments,
specially built for them in Minsk. It was essential to move people
away from these contaminated areas, but no one foresaw the social implication
of doing so. No jobs, no land - just despair.
According to
the World Bank, almost a quarter of the population live below the poverty
line.