I certainly hope that you write a letter to the editor of the paper or seek out somebody who is very familiar with the topic to write the letter.
This should not go unchallenged.
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 10:42:20 -0400
From: "Franta, Jaroslav" <
frantaj@AECL.CA>
Subject: " Chernobyl's children " [FW]
Amazing claim in this article : children born several years after the
Chernobyl accident ( 5 years in the particular example given ) are "plagued
by disease and deformity" and "although these children weren't yet born at
the time of the 1986 nuclear accident in Chernobyl, many suffer its
consequences.....Thyroid cancer, stomach ailments and leukemia are common
among children."
How does radioactive iodine, with a half life of 8 days, cause thyroid
cancer in someone born years after the release ? ...no doubt a shining
example of metaphysics ?!
Jaro
The Hamilton Spectator
News, Friday, August 2, 2002, p. A02
Chernobyl's children
Beamsville resident Pam Ellens initiated a respite program-- with the
financial support of area rotary clubs-- for the impoverished young victims
of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
Kelly Putter
Special To The Hamilton Spectator
Beamsville - It has taken Pam Ellens nearly three years of sucking it in to
talk without tears about her babies from Belarus.
But her eyes still glisten when she tries to portray the indescribable
emotions that these children of Chernobyl bring to her western world.
"I never thought this would become such a passion," says the Beamsville
resident who brought an international respite program for the impoverished
young victims of the world's worst nuclear disaster to the attention of her
rotary club in west Niagara. "How can you look at those little innocent
victims and not want to he!
lp them?"
The first child was Anastasiya Syargeichuk, an eight-year-old Minsk native
Ellens met two summers ago. Charmed by her humility and gratitude and
horrified by her distended belly, Ellens visited Belarus that winter to try
to comprehend how the little girl lived.
What she witnessed would move her to tears for months after returning home:
one-room hovels, four family members to a bed, a diet of bread, potatoes and
tea, substandard hospitals and orphanages, children plagued by disease and
deformity.
"I would find myself in my office breaking down and crying," she recalls.
"It took me many Rotary presentations before I could talk about the children
without crying."
She's been on a mission of sorts ever since. The Rotary's Children of
Chernobyl program has grown to 13 children this summer who are being hosted
by families in west Niagara.
The program's objective is to provide the children with free medical and
dental care!
, which is painfully lacking in their homeland. But even that
objective went above and beyond dental fillings and new eyeglasses in late
May when 11-year-old Nadezhda Lashuk underwent open heart surgery to correct
a congenital heart defect at Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital.
Nadezhda had been denied surgery twice in Belarus even though doctors said
she'd only live to see her 13th birthday. Ellens pulled strings with friends
involved in Rotary's Gift of Life program and the Herbie Fund, a Hospital
for Sick Children foundation that has brought hundreds of children for
operations not available to them at home.
Accompanied by Anastasiya, now 10, who acted as an interpreter, Nadezhda and
her mother arrived in Canada May 10. Her four-and-a-half hour surgery was a
success and she has spent the summer recuperating at Ellens' home.
"Her mother says her Belarus birthday is March 31," says Ellens. "And her
Canadian birthday is the day of her surgery!
, May 23."
Although these children weren't yet born at the time of the 1986 nuclear
accident in Chernobyl, many suffer its consequences, particularly in areas
of Belarus that were hardest hit from the radioactive fallout. Thyroid
cancer, stomach ailments and leukemia are common among children.
Respite programs have operated around the world and in Canada since 1990,
offering some 150,000 Belarusian children a reprieve from their radiation
contaminated homeland.
Families are expected to cover the cost of hosting a child for the summer.
Area rotary clubs have been sponsoring the $2,000 per child cost of bringing
them to Niagara. The program is open to children aged eight to 17. First
visits are six to eight weeks and subsequent ones last up to 12 weeks. The
doctors, dentists and optometrists of host families typically offer medical
and dental care free of charge. Ellens hasn't yet heard of a child being
turned away.
Ellens admits !
it's hard not to spoil the children from Chernobyl for whom
the basics such as fruit and vegetables are a luxury. And if any single
child bears the bulk of her generosity, it's Anastasiya, who shed tears of
joy last month when Ellens presented her with Britney Spears concert
tickets.
"She's the reason I do this project," says Ellens, who has a 23-year-old
daughter and a 21-year-old son both in university. "She's so polite and
thankful for everything. She's like a third child. She's changed my life
forever."
Another part of the program is donations of medical supplies and equipment.
Thanks to the generosity of area rotary clubs, Ellens carted about $12,000
US worth of stethoscopes, bandages and pap smear testing to Belarus
hospitals servicing the thousands of poor who never get a reprieve.
And as executive director of West Lincoln Memorial Hospital Foundation,
Ellens is well positioned to secure aid and second-hand medical equipment.!
A
used baby warmer and hospital stretcher sit in her basement awaiting her
next visit to Belarus.
Another child is being looked at for heart surgery and a 17-year-old girl
will be attending Grimsby Secondary School this year on a youth exchange
program. The sky, it would seem for Ellens, is the limit.
Illustration(s):
Photo: Photos by Cathie Coward, the Hamilton Spectator
Anastasiya Syargeichuk, left, 8, and Nadezha Lashuk, 11, enjoy drawing with
chalk on Pam Ellens' Beamsville driveway. The girls are among 13 children
visiting the Beamsville area this summer as part of a program for children
affected by the fallout from the Chernobyl disaster.
Photo: Photos by Cathie Coward, the Hamilton Spectator
Anastasiya Syargeichuk, Nadezhda Lashuk and Liubou Kapuza at the Ellens
home.