Chernobyl Children's Lifeline - Mid Surrey Link

We visited log cabins – small, single-storey, square buildings built of timber with a Russian stove at the heart for warmth, cooking and rubbish disposal. They were open to all, with neighbours popping in freely – no ringing a doorbell! I was touched to see how often old friends were visiting Ivan’s grandmother, now bed-bound with arthritis. Several times a day a short, stout, well wrapped, wrinkle-faced old woman would appear – a different one each time, but all looking the same - and amble in to see Babushka with a nod to the family in passing.

We visited dilapidated tower blocks with sulky lifts, and squat blocks of flats with no lifts. It was unusual to see a child with a room of their own; they shared with siblings, parents, grandparents. Beds were unusual too – everything multifunctional, they slept on sofa beds, the bedding cleared away during the day. We coped with earth closets in falling down wooden shacks (and were grateful that the weather was dry!) and “conveniences” that were dignified with the name of lavatory, with a bin by the side. I drew the line at the public convenience in Stolin – a hut in the middle of some waste land with two doors and two holes at ground level.

We spent time with Larissa in Zhlobin, and with nine of the twelve children who visited in 2003. We spoke to mothers worried for their children’s health: thyroid problems, no energy, anaemia. We saw Inna’s grandmother, bent over with arthritis, supported on a staff. She needs a pacemaker and a hip replacement, but cannot afford either. She lives alone on a smallholding, and I watched her raking the winter debris off the strawberry patch in the company of a cat and a couple of chickens. Her food is kept in the winter cellar under the house, accessed via a homemade ladder through a trapdoor. We met Lana from 2004, and were sorry that we did not have time to travel down and visit the children who came over last year.

We visited the Sanatorium that CCLL proposes to support just outside Minsk, and were impressed with its facilities and the way the country is trying to improve the lives of the children.

Most of all we saw a genuine, warm welcome. We met people we did not know and were welcomed by them. We ate too many times a day – nobody would let us leave without feeding us. We were shown around schools, the teachers dropping everything to escort us round and show us every detail. We were inundated with gifts.

It wasn’t easy to reach Belarus, or to get into the country. The officialdom doesn’t make life easy for visitors – but then it doesn’t for the citizens either! Nonetheless, the question to be answered is not whether we return, but when!