BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/02/2008

The FEB with children from Belarus: Lipniki to have a basketball school

25.02.2008 The FAB Delegation of Seville has made a social agreement with the Gelves Association of Temporary Foster Care for Children from Belarus.

For several years now, the Association of Temporary Foster Care for Children from Belarus in Gelves (GELANIB) has been taking in children affected by the nuclear explosion in Chernobyl in 1986 into their community of Gelves, a suburb of Seville. Around 800 children visit the province of Andalusia, and about 25 of them stay with temporary foster families in Gelves. These families, along with the local basketball team, prepare 45 days of recreational activities related to basketball, culture, and education within a program called " Vacations in Health." According to experts, the 45 days that these youth, between seven and twelve years old, spend in Spain could increase the life expectancy (set at 45, due to the nuclear disaster in the neighboring Ukraine) by around two years.

The kids welcomed in Gelves come from a school in Lipniki, a town with a population of 2,000, near the Ukraine and about 250 kilometers away from the nuclear accident.

After receiving the request from this association, the FAB Delegation in Seville wanted to take further steps and become more involved by providing follow up and continuity for these children. Therefore, with the collaboration of the C.B. Gelves team and the GELANIB Association, the Andalusian Basketball Federation will be sending athletics gear and educational materials to Lipniki in order to create a basketball school. Specifically, basketballs, game and practice jerseys, caps and technical c.d.s, along with other material that will help teachers implement this initiative, will be sent this week thanks to the Spanish Federation.

For the Delegation, this initiative corroborates the social transcendence of basketball and the commitment that it has with society to improve the quality of life; in this case the quality of life of children who are suffering in their own bodies due to breathing contaminated air and eating contaminated food.

Source:

http://www.feb.es/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=11&ItemID=18188

Google