salomeU2000
The Fly
[SIMG]http://bonovox.interference.com/cause/ccpthumb.jpg[/SIMG]
By Devlin Smith
It happened in the middle of the night, an explosion at a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl plant, releasing 30 to 40 times the radioactivity of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirty-one lives were lost immediately, and hundreds of thousands of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians had to abandon cities and towns within a 30-kilomoter zone of extreme contamination. Incidences of cancer, genetic damage and other illnesses began appearing in the area soon after.
Five years later, a fax arrived at the office of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament with the simple message, ?SOS - For God?s sake, help us get the children out.? Adi Roche, a full-time volunteer with the campaign, received the message and organized for children from affected areas, many of whom had been born after the disaster, to visit Ireland for medical treatment or rest and recuperation. The Chernobyl Children?s Project was born from this involvement.
Based in Cork, Ireland, CCP operates and manages 16 programs throughout affected regions including summer rest and recuperation, life-saving operations and medical care, humanitarian aid, orphanage building, medical and nursing programs, education and awareness, and research. Additionally, the organization has also brokered an agreement between Irish and Belarusian agencies to help children orphaned by the disaster be adopted by Irish families.
Outside Belarus and the Ukraine, CCP?s mission is to maintain awareness of the disaster and its long-term impact. ?The main work outside of the affected area is awareness of the ongoing problems in the region by public and media relations campaigns, lobbying of politicians, engaging in a whole series of fundraising campaigns to fund the work of the Project,? explains Emmett Coffey, public relations officer for CCP.
Even 17 years later, the full scope of the disaster has yet to be realized. ?The disaster will continue to have harmful affects, in fact there is a body of evidence out there which suggests that the worst is yet to come,? Coffey says. ?The radiation released by the explosion in 1986 has seeped into the land, the water, the food chain. The people of the area live, breathe, eat and drink this contamination.?
Helping to maintain the profile of the Chernobyl explosion and CCP is Alison Hewson, the organization?s patron. ?Over the years she has undertaken a number of fundraising events for CCP which have raised large sums of money that allow us to continue our work and expand the aid programs we offer to the victims and survivors of the Chernobyl disaster,? Coffey says. ?In addition she has been a passionate advocate for the child victims of Chernobyl, has visited the regions on a number of occasions with CCP and has seen for herself the devastation caused by the Chernobyl disaster. Her advocacy has ensured that the disaster has not been forgotten.?
There are opportunities for people from all walks of life and all over the world to help CCP. Within Ireland there are opportunities for fundraising and volunteering with CCP outreach programs. Donations can be made through CCP?s Web site and the Project also has New York-based sister organization Chernobyl Children?s Project International it engages in joint ventures with.
For more information on Chernobyl Children?s Project visit http://www.adiccp.org .
By Devlin Smith
It happened in the middle of the night, an explosion at a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl plant, releasing 30 to 40 times the radioactivity of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirty-one lives were lost immediately, and hundreds of thousands of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians had to abandon cities and towns within a 30-kilomoter zone of extreme contamination. Incidences of cancer, genetic damage and other illnesses began appearing in the area soon after.
Five years later, a fax arrived at the office of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament with the simple message, ?SOS - For God?s sake, help us get the children out.? Adi Roche, a full-time volunteer with the campaign, received the message and organized for children from affected areas, many of whom had been born after the disaster, to visit Ireland for medical treatment or rest and recuperation. The Chernobyl Children?s Project was born from this involvement.
Based in Cork, Ireland, CCP operates and manages 16 programs throughout affected regions including summer rest and recuperation, life-saving operations and medical care, humanitarian aid, orphanage building, medical and nursing programs, education and awareness, and research. Additionally, the organization has also brokered an agreement between Irish and Belarusian agencies to help children orphaned by the disaster be adopted by Irish families.
Outside Belarus and the Ukraine, CCP?s mission is to maintain awareness of the disaster and its long-term impact. ?The main work outside of the affected area is awareness of the ongoing problems in the region by public and media relations campaigns, lobbying of politicians, engaging in a whole series of fundraising campaigns to fund the work of the Project,? explains Emmett Coffey, public relations officer for CCP.
Even 17 years later, the full scope of the disaster has yet to be realized. ?The disaster will continue to have harmful affects, in fact there is a body of evidence out there which suggests that the worst is yet to come,? Coffey says. ?The radiation released by the explosion in 1986 has seeped into the land, the water, the food chain. The people of the area live, breathe, eat and drink this contamination.?
Helping to maintain the profile of the Chernobyl explosion and CCP is Alison Hewson, the organization?s patron. ?Over the years she has undertaken a number of fundraising events for CCP which have raised large sums of money that allow us to continue our work and expand the aid programs we offer to the victims and survivors of the Chernobyl disaster,? Coffey says. ?In addition she has been a passionate advocate for the child victims of Chernobyl, has visited the regions on a number of occasions with CCP and has seen for herself the devastation caused by the Chernobyl disaster. Her advocacy has ensured that the disaster has not been forgotten.?
There are opportunities for people from all walks of life and all over the world to help CCP. Within Ireland there are opportunities for fundraising and volunteering with CCP outreach programs. Donations can be made through CCP?s Web site and the Project also has New York-based sister organization Chernobyl Children?s Project International it engages in joint ventures with.
For more information on Chernobyl Children?s Project visit http://www.adiccp.org .
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