In 20 years, CCI has effected some truly miraculous changes in the lives of Chernobyl’s children—and in the world’s awareness of the tragedy. Working together with the Belarusian government, strategic partners such as the United Nations and our many dedicated volunteers, we have been able to deliver medical and economic aid to the affected region, fund important research and campaign for greater awareness of the issues.
Highlights of our accomplishments include:
- We have given 22,000 children recuperative holidays among caring Irish families. Being able to escape a toxic environment, even for a few weeks, extends each child’s life by an estimated two years, and reduces their contamination levels by 30 to 50 percent.
- We have delivered more than €91 million in direct and indirect aid to the communities of Belarus, Western Russia and the Ukraine, making us the largest sole purchaser of aid for the area.
- We mobilised more than 6,000 volunteers who donate their time, skills and energies to raising funds, providing medical care, building homes and facilities, offering a loving environment and more for Chernobyl’s children.
- We funded innovative scientific research by the late, highly respected independent scientist Professor Vasily Nesterenko, a member of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus and a Director of the Belarussian Institute of Radiation Safety. The resulting Mobile Radiation Monitoring Unit was a major breakthrough in scientific research, allowing children from the contaminated zones to be monitored on a long-term basis.
- We funded and coordinated 20,000 life-saving surgeries for children suffering from a heart defect known as “Chernobyl heart.” Thousands more will receive treatment between 2010-2011.
- We flew 300 children to Ireland and other parts of the world for various life-saving, specialist surgical interventions.
- We purchased a Somanetics Cardiac Oximter, an essential piece of equipment that saves the lives of as many as 175 children a year who must undergo bypass surgery.
- We renovated and refurbished Vesnovo Children’s Mental Asylum, transforming a substandard, unhygienic building into a thriving facility that was voted the best orphanage for children with special needs by the Belarus Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the Republic Committee of Trade Unions.
- We pioneered an Independent Living Project that allows teenagers with special needs to live independently, undertake life-skills training, therapeutic sports activities and vocational workshops. Six new homes have been built for young male adults and work will begin on new terrace homes for young female adults in 2011.
- We improved and refurbished day-care centres throughout Belarus. We have almost completed work on a new, modern, purpose-built day-care centre in Glutsk, and will complete work on another centre in Buda Kosheleva in 2011. These centres provide a complete range of vital social, economic, medical and educational facilities to impoverished communities, reaching up to 67,000 people per centre.
- We provided more than 250 children with “Homes of Hope,” allowing them to live with a loving family of their own instead of an institution.
- We contribute research and guidance to the United Nations International Chernobyl Research and Information Network (ICRIN) Implementation Plan, which supports the ongoing efforts towards a sustainable development in the affected territories.
- Our aid programs are now a model for the United Nations’ own international aid programmes for the children of Chernobyl, and our expertise contributes towards helping them generate a meaningful response from the international community.
- Our founder developed and co-produced with Board Director, Ali Hewson, a multi-award-winning documentary on the effects of Chernobyl: “Black Wind, White Land - Living with Chernobyl.” Roche also researched, planned and co-produced “Chernobyl Heart,” which received an Academy Award in the Best Short Documentary category.
- We have visited hundreds of schools in Ireland, delivering presentations to students on the Chernobyl disaster, its ongoing legacy, and the benefits of using alternative power sources.
Learn more about what we do in each programme area by clicking on the links to the left.