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By Simone Schramm
The Chernobyl Children?s Project, founded by Adi Roche in the early 1990s, recently gained notoriety in the United States due to the recent Oscar win for the documentary entitled "Chernobyl Heart."
The documentary won the Oscar for best short documentary. The film, produced and directed by independent U.S. filmmaker Maryann De Leo features the extraordinary work of staff and volunteers from the organization.
The documentary took approximately two years to film in Chernobyl-affected regions. It depicts the terrible effects of radiation, and the high levels of cancer, birth defects, and heart conditions suffered by children over there.
"It is a very great honour for our organization to be associated with an Oscar-winning documentary," said Roche after she accepted the Oscar. "We hope that the exposure gained for this great win will help re-focus attention on the continuing desperate plight of the victims and survivors of the Chernobyl disaster."
Currently, the organization plans to distribute the documentary on the wider scale. Plans are now being made to make "Chernobyl Heart" available to the general public and to broadcast it on television in the United States and abroad.
"We hope that soon audiences everywhere will get the opportunity to view this documentary. It is a powerful testament to a forgotten tragedy and it gives us the opportunity to raise awareness, especially in America, on the issue and plight of the Chernobyl victims," said Roche.
The CCP recently created a sister group in the United States, Chernobyl Children's Project International (CCPI) giving the group a better chance to spread the message there and raise urgently needed funds.
"It was really great news for our organization to be associated with something so high profile," said Emmett Coffey, public relations representative for the CCP. "It has brought awareness of the Chernobyl issue to a US audience for the first time which is a major breakthrough."
The new branch is based in New York City and it will allow the United States to focus more on Belarus, which sustained about 70 percent of the radioactive fallout. According to http://www.ccp-intl.org/, most existing U.S. charities that provide aid to the region focus almost exclusively on the Ukraine because of the relatively large Ukrainian population in the United States. Ukrainians have formed several successful organizations that deliver humanitarian aid to their homeland.
"The country of Belarus, where most of our work is carried out, is still on its knees and we are endeavouring to help as many people as we can," said Coffey. "But it is an ongoing and onerous task."
On April 27, the 18th anniversary of the accident, the UN and CCPI remembered the disaster with a screening of the documentary at a special session at United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
During the session, CCPI announced two new long-term medical missions to Belarus, a five-year partnership with Operation Smile to perform surgeries and training on the unusually high incidence of cleft-lip/cleft palate disorder seen by so many victims there. Additionally, they announced a 5-year partnership with Dr. William Novick who, along with his surgical team was portrayed in "Chernobyl Heart." The organization will provide his team with financial and logistical aid three times a year to perform life-saving heart surgeries on children in Belarus.
On April 20, 2004, CCP and CCPI sent a convoy containing food, medicine, ambulances, building and medical supplies for the first joint Operation Smile-CCPI to the city of Minsk. The aid was worth approximately $5 million.
For more information visit http://www.ccp-intl.org or http://www.chernobyl-ireland.com.
By Simone Schramm
The Chernobyl Children?s Project, founded by Adi Roche in the early 1990s, recently gained notoriety in the United States due to the recent Oscar win for the documentary entitled "Chernobyl Heart."
The documentary won the Oscar for best short documentary. The film, produced and directed by independent U.S. filmmaker Maryann De Leo features the extraordinary work of staff and volunteers from the organization.
The documentary took approximately two years to film in Chernobyl-affected regions. It depicts the terrible effects of radiation, and the high levels of cancer, birth defects, and heart conditions suffered by children over there.
"It is a very great honour for our organization to be associated with an Oscar-winning documentary," said Roche after she accepted the Oscar. "We hope that the exposure gained for this great win will help re-focus attention on the continuing desperate plight of the victims and survivors of the Chernobyl disaster."
Currently, the organization plans to distribute the documentary on the wider scale. Plans are now being made to make "Chernobyl Heart" available to the general public and to broadcast it on television in the United States and abroad.
"We hope that soon audiences everywhere will get the opportunity to view this documentary. It is a powerful testament to a forgotten tragedy and it gives us the opportunity to raise awareness, especially in America, on the issue and plight of the Chernobyl victims," said Roche.
The CCP recently created a sister group in the United States, Chernobyl Children's Project International (CCPI) giving the group a better chance to spread the message there and raise urgently needed funds.
"It was really great news for our organization to be associated with something so high profile," said Emmett Coffey, public relations representative for the CCP. "It has brought awareness of the Chernobyl issue to a US audience for the first time which is a major breakthrough."
The new branch is based in New York City and it will allow the United States to focus more on Belarus, which sustained about 70 percent of the radioactive fallout. According to http://www.ccp-intl.org/, most existing U.S. charities that provide aid to the region focus almost exclusively on the Ukraine because of the relatively large Ukrainian population in the United States. Ukrainians have formed several successful organizations that deliver humanitarian aid to their homeland.
"The country of Belarus, where most of our work is carried out, is still on its knees and we are endeavouring to help as many people as we can," said Coffey. "But it is an ongoing and onerous task."
On April 27, the 18th anniversary of the accident, the UN and CCPI remembered the disaster with a screening of the documentary at a special session at United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
During the session, CCPI announced two new long-term medical missions to Belarus, a five-year partnership with Operation Smile to perform surgeries and training on the unusually high incidence of cleft-lip/cleft palate disorder seen by so many victims there. Additionally, they announced a 5-year partnership with Dr. William Novick who, along with his surgical team was portrayed in "Chernobyl Heart." The organization will provide his team with financial and logistical aid three times a year to perform life-saving heart surgeries on children in Belarus.
On April 20, 2004, CCP and CCPI sent a convoy containing food, medicine, ambulances, building and medical supplies for the first joint Operation Smile-CCPI to the city of Minsk. The aid was worth approximately $5 million.
For more information visit http://www.ccp-intl.org or http://www.chernobyl-ireland.com.
