BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/12/2008

Lynda on Christmas mercy mission to Belarus

By Staff Copy

A CHARITY worker from Grimsthorpe has returned from Belarus where she helped to hand out shoeboxes packed with gifts to some of Europe's poorest youngsters.

Lynda Wilson was part of the Samaritans Purse team distributing seasonal gifts, including 132 collected at Edenham Primary School and the churches at Edenham, Witham-on-the Hill and Swinstead.

Lynda (46), who is a teaching assistant at the Edenham school, said: "I thought I would be really emotional but surprised myself and only a couple of times did it affect me."

She was part of a 15-strong team who spent four days in the country that emerged from the USSR when communism collapsed almost 20 years ago. They visited schools and orphanages near the capital Minsk and close to the fallout zone of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

She said: "We went to the edge of the Dead Zone - 30km from Chernobyl - which is as close as you are allowed. Lots of people there still have thyroid cancer caused by the accident."

But everywhere the team went they were greeted with smiles.

Lynda said: "Most could not wait to open their boxes and were overjoyed to get something. The best experience was staying in a children's home. We did sports, gave out the presents and stayed the night."

She added: "They all put on shows for us. One school put on a show in English. It was amazing."

The British visitors also saw poverty that shocked them.

Lynda said: "We visited some houses and one old lady did not even have running water.

"You appreciate things a lot more after seeing that."

Source:

http://www.bournelocal.co.uk/news/Lynda-on-Christmas-mercy-mission.4831076.jp

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