BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/10/2007

Volunteers begin major building works in Belarus

OVER 100 Chernobyl Children's Project International (CCPI) construction and medical volunteers flew out from Shannon last week to join Australian and American teams in Belarus.

The group of nurses, care workers, physiotherapists, carpenters, plumbers, electricians and chefs boarded one of the last scheduled Belavia flights to Minsk to begin major building works in Vesnova Children's Mental Asylum.

County Roscommon volunteer Christopher Keane joined the many other volunteers from Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Meath, Wicklow and Antrim. Several first time volunteers, husbands and wives teams, brothers and family members, joined the list of thousands of volunteers working with CCPI to alleviate the suffering of those whose lives have been most affected by the Chernobyl disaster. Work will begin on corridors and stairwells, storage facilities and workshops and classrooms, foyers, offices, electrical upgrades and exercise rooms.

"This is a historic and memorable day, when we will wave off the volunteers who will start the first phase of major building works at Vesnova," said Adi Roche. 'This is our 10th major building project team visiting Belarus, accompanied by our medical volunteers and aid workers.

Next year, we will be publicly thanking all of the volunteers nationally and internationally by making a public call for nominations for awarding the outstanding contributions of our volunteers. We hope to give back to those who every year make enormous sacrifices to give their time for free to work for the children of the Chernobyl regions."

Adi Roche also said: 'While the teams of volunteers are out in Belarus we are rolling out our next 'Aid Direct' deliveries to all of the day care centres, orphanages and institutions.

This year alone we will have delivered over ?500,000 worth of essential food and medical items. We will also be delivering the last of our in-country physiotherapy training sessions for Belarusian nursing teams. To further our ambition of 'one by one' shutting down orphanages, we will be purchasing more 'Homes of Hope' and moving children into loving foster family homes of up to 10 children in each.

Source:

http://www.roscommonherald.ie/news/story.asp?j=6693&cat=news

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