Anyone ever had children from the Chernobyl Disaster to stay with them?

[Twinkie1]

Watching Long Way Down last night and broached the subject with DH that it would be something we could do, have big enough house, lots of time (I do now am not working) and would love to do something for someone else for a change. He is fine with it - obviously may need to learn basic Russian!

Or maybe an inner city child who is having a hard time or a child carer?

Anyone have any ideas - I will get CRB checked etc and so will DH, we have 2 DCs and I thought it could be something we could do to give something back to society.

I think the chernobyl children usually come with one of their parents so the CRB check wouldn't be necessary anyway.

It's all organised through charitable groups. I'll do it when the kids leave home.

Ignore that post above Twinkie I'm talking out of my bottom.

It appears the children do come alone so obviously you'd all need CRB's. Don't know what I was thinking of.

My friend had two children from Chernobyl and was extremely disillusioned by it. THe children both came from very wealthy families and were very rude to my friend and her family. They turned their noses up about the activities etc, moaned about everything.

We've had a child to stay via Friends of Chernobyl's Children for the last 7 years.

They come over in a group (no parents) with 2 interpreters, stay for a month, see GP/dentist/optician, have lots of activities &, in our group, one big outing a week. CRB checks are necessary for any over-16s in the house they stay in.

Ours are not at all wealthy, sha, & appreciate everything they receive.

Our group is from Mogilev in Belarus - it's just S of Chernobyl & is where the winds took the radioactivity in 1986. The ones who come are pretty healthy though.

families from the church i used to attend took children from chernobyl for 2 weeks each summer (almost straight after the original disaster). Apparently those two weeks would add years to their lives.

I have a girl from Belarus staying with us for the next three weeks. We are members of a Chernobyl charity based in N Ireland.We had a girl and a boy last year, the experience is very worthwhile - the kids do appreciate all that they are given/get to do, but do get a bit homesick near the end of their visit - which I suppose is only natural. They have no English but we have a good phrase book and can communicate basically. Its really about giving them a healthy break to boost their immune system - lots of fresh air and good food. I have 3dc so they all muck in together and I can't imagine it would be that much fun for them if there were no other children in the host family. Do a bit more research to see if there is a similar organisation near you and give it some serious thought.

i had some friends do it for the first time last year- every thing that Multi has said really- VERY worthwhile cause to support.

You can always volunteer to help out with the outings with another host family to get the feel of what goes on?

nametaken, IME the Russian children have more fun & learn more English in a family where there are younger children - more toys, more playing, simpler language.

Our Russian boy (an only child, & an orphan) is younger than ours, & they are obsessed with football & he isn't, so he tended to spend a lot of time on the playstation - he was quite happy doing that mind you

An excellent book to have in is Usborne's First Thousand Words in Russian - lots of pictures to point at

WW, I didn't think of it being easier to have them when there are kids of my own here but it does make sense. Gonna look into it, thanks.

Right am going to go for it - am going to see if we can do it as a village witht he 2 out lying villages, the school has said they will send feelers out in the newsletter to see if anyone would be interested. I hope people as a whole will want to do something, it is pretty affluent round here so lots of people with time and money on their hands and spare rooms and there are lots of things for the children to do

Scarey but I am sure it will be very worthwhile.

Good luck Twinkie!

Oh BTW a lot of the kids come over with next to nothing clothes/cuddlies wise so nearly new clothes donated by anyone are often gratefully received- the organisers will fill you in on that sort of thing.

Ours always arrive just in what they stand up in; we always have clothing collections in local schools, plus fund-raising buys underwear/pyjamas/toiletries. (Fund-raising v important btw - it costs c £250 per child to fly them over & outings & transport cost a lot too.)

Twinkie, do get in touch with FOCC (my earlier link) as they have loads of expertise with setting up local groups. Good luck, it is hard work but well worth it

Am setting up the group through FOCC so they can help me out - I am scared but think as a viallage it will be a really good thing for us all to do.

Will keep you posted!

Please do Twinkie-it's a wonderful thing to do!

I have thought for a long time about doing this as a family but would be interested in the "whole Village" idea as I think our village could do the same!!

Are any others still doing this? I am interested to hear other experiences. A friend of ours has asked if we fancy doing this (well, she's hinted!) and I'm not sure at the moment.

We have just started making enquries about this for next year. We live in the SW.

Let me know how you get on, and I'll report back too SorrelForbes. We're going to find out at some point this week and get more info. If we go ahead, we'd be a host family for a Chernobyl child April 2013.

I will do. I know the group here has had their visit for this year so I am hopeing the next one will be around April 2013 as well.

i remember friends of one of the families i nannied for had some children from there.

Whoever it was did it every year. They took the children to some event that I was at (hence talking about it) and the children seemed very lovely and obviously enjoyed every minute.

I cant remember much about what they said, other than they just could not eat enough fruit and "healthy" food but especially fruit.

The area co-ordinator is visiting us on Friday morning to run through all the details of the scheme, after I phoned this morning to enquire about it. Will probably make the decision over the next week as she's going out to Belarus in October to select which children will be coming over next April. Was told there are two other families in the near vicinity who are going ahead with it, so I think that gives me some confidence that we wouldn't be isolated next year if we do go ahead with it. Hope to post again by the end of this week/beginning of next with more information/updates.

We're going ahead with it! Had a long chat with the area co-ordinator, asked loads of questions about the area, children, their lifestyles and various other issues. We are over the moon about it! Looking forward to the following few months, as the co-ordinator for our area selects the children in October when visiting Belarus and we'll find out in November what our child will be called for their April/May visit next year! Cannot wait!

well done

what a fantastic thing you will be doing for the child

thanks nannyl we're really looking forward to it all!