The work of Adi Roche and Chernobyl Children's Project International is the subject of a powerful and disturbing new television documentary. 'The Children Beyond Chernobyl' was filmed in Belarus this summer as over 100 Irish aid workers returned to the world's most highly contaminated nuclear accident radiation zone.

The documentary, presented and directed by RTE's Western Editor Jim Fahy, follows Adi Roche and teams of volunteers on a journey to remote and inaccessible mental asylums where children and adults exist side-by-side, orphanages where children have been abandoned and neglected and hospitals where operations are carried out without anaesthetic. This journey to Belarus is also one filled with moments of hope and great joy as children - some rescued from brutalised and abusive backgrounds and others with severe physical and mental illnesses - are being given new lives with the help of Irish aid programmes.

The programme also visits the homes of Irish families in Cork and Kilkenny where children from Belarus are now on summer rest and recuperation breaks and are being assessed for life-changing operations in Ireland. Builder John O'Riordan and his partner Moya Kenny have become the 'Irish Poppa and Mamma' to little Krystina and her close friend from an orphanage, Olya Mikitka. The girls come to Ireland each summer and John and Moya have vowed they will do everything they can to help both children.

The documentary also features the story of 25-year old Kilkenny-based Andrea Keogh and her family who are trying to change the life of another 7 year old Belarusian orphan, Maryna Tsitova who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Andrea, a child care worker in the South East volunteers for one month every year in Belarus.

Leading Belarusian scientists and medical experts discuss the problems facing the country where two million people still live in the contaminated zones. Consultant paediatrician, Dr Irena Kalmanovich, of the Children's Regional Hospital in Gomel says 'we face huge problems where we have to do things and perform operations on children which would never be considered in Ireland or any other western country. But that's the way things are in Belarus today. Perhaps it will get better but it will take a very long time'.

Adi Roche, who travelled to Belarus with Ali Hewson, Board Director of the Chernobyl Children's Project International, says 'nothing is stronger than the heart of a volunteer and to see careworkers and nurses working around the clock to meet the medical needs of children who are critically ill, to witness the work of the building teams completely transform the near-derelict asylum, Vesnova and build new 'Homes of Hope' is truly inspiring. We continue to be amazed by the amount of goodwill and generosity of the Irish people who year after year wholeheartedly commit to improving the lives of thousands of children in the Chernobyl regions'.

If you would like any more information on this documentary, please contact us at info@chernobyl-ireland.com