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September 2003
The Newsletter of Spinnaker Club, Ringwood
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September 2003 |
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The Newsletter of Spinnaker Club, Ringwood |
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Chernobyl children As summer passes into autumn, and the second group of Chernobyl children returns home, hopefully invigorated by their visit to England, ready for school, and fitter to face their awesome winter. It is calculated that a month in a healthy environment will benefit the child by extending their life by a year, on the basis that their immune system is restored.
This is the sixth year
the Verwood link of the Chernobyl Children's Life Line has invited
children to our shores. The Link was originally formed by John and Kathy
Leader, and is one of many links run independently throughout the country,
and in parts of Europe. The Links are centrally administered in the UK by
Victor Mitzy, who has subsequently been honoured by the Belarusian
Government for his massive contribution in helping the children of the
Belarus area after the accident at Chernobyl. Something like 5000 children come to the UK each year, centrally administered by Victor Mitzy’s team of about five people. To put this into perspective there were about 750,000 children affected by radiation fallout. After seventeen years many are now adults, yet many children, those that come to us now, were not born at the time of the accident, and a high level of cancer is reported in this descendants group. The cost of bringing the children over is funded by the various links. Block bookings, for air fares, help keep down the basic costs, currently running at £300 per child. An average of 15 children per group, plus the interpreter, works out at £5,000, a major fundraising exercise. (x two groups per year!) In Belarus each child within a group is recommended by schools and the medical authorities, selecting most deserving cases, for their first visit. Each child only comes once to the UK, unless the original hosting parents invite the children back as private guests. In this case their air fare is paid by the host family. The Verwood link has this year been renamed the Silver Birch link, and is now chaired by Sue Molden, greatly assisted by husband, Chris Molten, who is well known at Spinnaker for putting the final roasting touch, to the juicy chicken and sausages, for the hot dogs. I am not sure, if it is the BBQ or the sailing that attracts the children each year, I think it’s both, or it may be the thought that one week on from our 'Sailing Sundays' they will be heading back east to see their friends and to tell them all about their adventures in the New Forest and particularly their special day at Spinnaker. For the last five years (of the six), the children of the Verwood group have been enjoying both sailing and canoeing (in recent years) by each two groups coming over. The hosts’ children have taken advantage of the situation and joined the throng, plus a few Hosts themselves. Each Chernobyl group comprises around fifteen children, about as many as we can manage. Host children bring the total to about 50 new sailors each year, and although I set the event up with the 'powers of Spinnaker' as a once off 'Special', I have been as surprised as anyone else at its popularity. Few of the children have ever sailed before, but provided the wind is not blowing too hard, back they come, time and again, onto the pontoon. This year when time was called at about 4.15pm, six children, were still waiting for 'one last trip', before their BBQ Alan Copestake could not be persuaded otherwise, even in Russian! Our sailing team, throughout the five years, has remained surprisingly constant, with John Noble kindly arranging subtle things, with racemasters, safety boats, and course markings, of which non sailors, such as myself, have little knowledge, John Clarke, and Alan Copestake, have been regulars, and have been able to carry on a dialogue with the children they recognised from previous years (privately hosted children). The Baileys (Jo and Mark), and Sophie, Tom Glasson, Paul, Jack Noble and others have all generously helped to make these events a great day out for the children and their extended families.
Canoeing has become increasingly popular, managed by Ros White of Sandleheath Sea Scouts. The Baileys, Paul Pickering, Mike, and others. The Sea Scouts also supply the buoyancy aids, and the canoes. In the last two years, this has led to a dramatic increase in available buoyancy aids of the right size (the children are mostly in the 10 to 14 year old range, and a tremendous improvement in turnarounds as the children are already kitted up. Many keep the same 'aid' throughout the afternoon, and pass from sailing to the canoes, and if they had their way, probably the BBQ as well. It is good to see the children’s faces after the BBQ, and as they compare, their experiences of the afternoon, A group photo tells its own story. As the children return home, and the dust settles, a new cycle begins for the organisers Fund raising is key to the life cycle of the Links, and of course getting a new set of Host parents for the next year, some original hosts, invite again in the subsequent years, but generally new hosts need to found, and vetted. Hosts are located, volunteer, cadgoled!, or by word of mouth, local press, and articles such as this, reaching new eyes and ears. Much work has to be done to obtain funds, initially to pay the fares of the first of the groups, coming in June. Trinity Church regularly run a super lunch at Greyfriars, in March, then individual contributions, some generous companies help, also in funding other special events, throughout the year, collection boxes are placed at strategic points! Apart from the work of the 'Links', some Chernobyl families, who are particularly vulnerable, and live in desperate situations, particularly in the cruel Russian winter, can benefit from money contributed by a special arrangement, called the '1000 Families Scheme'. A direct debit is set up, with Mr Mitzy’s team, for say £15 per month, and this is matched to a family, who are known to have particular problems, single parent, little income, or disabled parent, etc. The team passes the funds directly to the family, (as you can imagine they don't have bank accounts) on a quarterly basis, to help pay for food fuel, etc. Many families survive on an income of $50 a month, or less, and their costs are rising because of inflation. It is only because they have a family allotment to grow food for the winter, that enables them to survive at all! Finally, on behalf of the children of Belarus, I would like to thank Spinnaker Club and its members for making this a very enjoyable event, each year. For the future, I hope
that the Silver Birch Link will continue to gain support, finding new
hosts, and the funds to make it all happen for the children. After a
successful, and ongoing relationship with the Spinnaker Club, and its
members we fervently hope they will continue to provide the venue, the
sailors team, and their kind help, so we can continue offering 'Spinnaker
Sailing Sunday' as a special treat, for each group at the end of the
children's holiday in the New Forest. Peter Harper |
