Strong Chernobyl support continues

APRIL 26 will mark the 30th anniversary of the tragic Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Three decades on, the Dublin Outreach group of Adi Roche’s Chernobyl Children International (CCI) continues to provide much needed aid to those devastated by the disaster.

Trina Gilchriest, from Oldtown, north county Dublin, is chairperson of the Dublin Outreach Group. Thirty years after the tragedy, Trina and her group continue to raise funds to provide much-needed aid to those still bearing the brunt of the disaster. 

The Dublin Outreach group has set its focus on two main endeavours this year. The first involves sending volunteers to the Vesnova orphanage in Belarus.

“We’ve been working with Vesnova for the past 16 years,” said Trina. “It was a derelict awful place which they (volunteers) came upon accidentally and they were just traumatised when they walked into this institution and saw the sights that they did. 

“All the children had shaved heads; there was lice; there was scabies; they were sitting on mattresses covered in faeces and urine; some of them tied to radiators. It was horrific. They couldn’t walk away from it and we’ve been involved ever since.” 

The dire conditions in the Vesnova orphanage have been radically improved by the work of CCI who have invested millions of euro over the years to better the conditions. 

“They sort of built it unit by unit, all with Irish funds, Irish builders and Irish volunteers,” said Trina. 

“There’s been about €3 million put into that institution alone now but it’s absolutely made a huge difference.” 

Another initiative undertaken by the Dublin Outreach Group is the Rest and Recuperation Programme. 

The programme provides much-needed respite for children, providing them with a holiday from their contaminated homelands. Trina has taken a child, Maryna, into her home annually for several years and finds it a humbling experience.

“We get as much, if not more, from being involved with hosting children as they would get coming over on a trip,” she said. 

“It really makes you see life in a different way, how materialistic things don’t matter and how lucky we are in life really to be dealt the hand we’ve been dealt.” 

At the end of June, around 16 children and young adults will come to Ireland from Chernbyl to spend two weeks in Dublin and subsequently two weeks in Castlebar. The aim of the trip is to provide respite during the most dangerous time of the year for them to be in Chernobyl as raging forest fires often add to the already contaminated air.

Trina said that while raising funds is always hard work, the Irish people continually support the charity, 30 years on from the disaster.

“It is always difficult, there are so many different Irish charities out there,” she said. 

“Some charities have fallen into the bad press with huge salaries going out and it did sort of dishearten people for a while about giving to charity. And of course we had our own recession which affected all of the charities as well, but I really feel there’s a turn on that now.

“The Irish people are the most fantastic in the world. They’re there for everything no matter what tragedy might be happening. They’re the first to step up. Even in recessionary times maybe they couldn’t give as much, but they gave.”

Meanwhile, the Dublin Outreach group held a very successful fundraiser for CCI on Easter Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry. Fourteen brave lads took part in a Rose-type competition entitled ‘Miss Alternative Rose’.

Although very nervous, they all gave stellar performances and the audience and judges were entertained all night long. MCs for the night were Mr Paul Downes and his partner in drag was Ms Wexford O’Grady. 

The winner was Miss Shangelina Goalie, aka Sean Flanagan, who not only looked stunning on the night sporting a Conchita-style bearded look, but also gave an outstanding performance singing and rapping to Macklemore’s ‘Can’t Hold Us’. In total, €14,000 profit was raised with money still coming in, and the organisers were overwhelmed by the response to the event. 

Katie O’Neill