Dedicated to working in Belarus for the benefit of Belarusian children

The Belarusian Victims of Chernobyl charity was set up in South Wiltshire UK in 2001 to fund projects, to provide humanitarian and medical aid and to support sick and vulnerable children in the Republic of Belarus. Since then we have supported a number of children's orphanages and organisations by providing general aid and financial assistance. The aid has included clothes, medical items, toiletries, school equipment, computers, sports equipment, garden tools, seeds, and bicycles in fact almost anything. The financial assistance is given mostly to families either as a long term arrangement over perhaps 5 years or as a short term fix, in both cases the family will be experiencing, for one reason or another, major problems at home, very often because of a sick child.

The charity works with many organisations in Belarus but more often through our partners "Hope to Children in Trouble" who organise our aid distribution and the help we give to families in the Gomel region. For a number of years we gave a lot of help to the Kuliki Children's School and Orphanage until its closure and move to the village of Smilovichi not far away. Since then we have supported the Smilovichi Children's Social Orphanage, but due to some disagreements with the district education department in Cherven we have had to temporarily suspend this help. We try whenever possible through our various contacts in the areas of Belarus where we operate to help children who have particular health problems or those who need mobility equipment, home assistance, medical checks and in some cases operations when the state is unable to help. At Christmas and New Year we arrange through our partners "Hope to Children in Trouble" a Christmas party for the families who are members of the Fund and hand out box's of food, fruit, toys and basic medicine to families who are in most need. In the past it has been possible to arrange recuperation holidays in the UK for children who need a break and a wonderful holiday through Chernobyl Children Life Line, unfortunately due to UK Government now imposing visa charges on the Belarusian children when they used to be free, CCLL are reluctant to offer this to us, but we live in hope that things will change.

Although children will always be our main priority we will do our best to help in any situation that effects both young and old, everybody should have the right to a better life. The government of Belarus through its Health and Education Ministries does an amazing amount of work on behalf of its children, but with sometimes limited resources and with increased living costs families need the help of charities like ourselves to make that extra difference which we are happy to provide. Since our inception, we have worked hard to provide support where it's most needed, but our team relies entirely on volunteer help and the generosity of our friends. We're always happy to welcome new volunteers who would like to dedicate some of their time to our charity. If you'd like to lend a hand, please don't hesitate to contact us, new members are always welcome. Get involved!