right x wrong

["J. J. Rozental" <joseroze@netvision.net.il>]

Today a great deal is to speak about the children of Chernobyl and, without

doubt, news like this alarm us and puts in relevo the discredit.



Jose Julio Rozental

joseroze@netvision.net.il

Israel





http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/223/south/Welcoming_the_wrong_children_fro

m_ChernobylP.shtml

Welcoming the wrong children from Chernobyl



By Mary Mulkerin Donius, Globe Correspondent, 8/11/2002



When Ginny and Jim Hoar heard about the Chernobyl Children's Project from

their parish priest, they thought helping a sick or disadvantaged child

would be worthwhile and a good way to teach their two boys, ages 6 and 8,

about helping others.



The Hanover couple committed to becoming a host family for the month of July

and agreed to take in two boys who were, according to the project's

organizers, suffering physically, emotionally or economically as a result of

the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.



Then they got to work. Jim, a Boston firefighter, refinished an old bureau

and hit yard sales in search of an extra bed frame and mattress, while Ginny

shopped for summer wardrobes for their young visitors.



''When we decide to do something, we don't do it halfway, we take it very

seriously,'' said Ginny, a nurse in the intensive care unit at Massachusetts

General Hospital.



But when their house guests arrived, the Hoars were stunned to discover that

they were neither sick nor impoverished.



The boys, both 10-year-old natives of Ukraine, were not only strong and

healthy but also wise to Western ways, the Hoars said. They hummed along to

the theme songs of cable television shows and played video games with as

much expertise as their own children. What's more, the Hoars said, they

turned up their noses at some of the secondhand clothes they were offered.



''The project's literature warned us that the kids might not know how to use

a toilet. Well, ours were experts on computers,'' she said.



Two weeks into the visit, after the Hoars' suspicions about the children's

medical conditions were confirmed by local doctors, they complained to the

Chernobyl Children's Project.



The project arranged their transfer to another family, Dan and Brenda McLean

of Canton, who had hosted girls the previous two years. Dan McLean had only

positive things to say about their visit, describing the experience as

''awesome,'' and adding that ''the four weeks the kids are here has an

impact all year long.'' The contingent returned home on July 25.



Looking back, Ginny Hoar said, ''Maybe we should have gone along with it.

But that's not the kind of people we are.''



The Hoars had learned from project organizers that a Ukrainian doctor was

giving free trips to the United States to a number of healthy children of

influential families, allegedly in order to ensure the program for the needy

kids would continue.



''If corruption is the price of doing business over there and we have to

tolerate a low percentage of ringers in order to help the kids who really

need it, then [the project] should let everyone know that,'' she said.



The Rev. Bob Bowers, pastor at St. Catherine of Siena in Charlestown, has

been president of the Chernobyl Children's Project for eight years. In that

time, the project, one of the largest of its kind in the United States, has

brought nearly 900 children to the United States and each year shipped

thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies to the region around the

nuclear power plant destroyed in a 1986 accident.



Bowers said that shortly after this year's delegation of 116 children and 14

chaperones arrived in the United States on June 27, it became obvious to

several host families that certain children didn't meet the criteria for the

monthlong, all-expenses-paid trip.



''We got duped,'' Bowers said, ''It's an embarrassment. This project is

based on integrity, and it's a disaster to have this kind of deception.''



Chernobyl Children's Project literature indicates that to be eligible for a

trip to the United States, a child must meet three of five criteria: be

between the ages of 8 and 15; have documented levels of radiation in their

bodies; be economically disadvantaged; live in a contaminated zone; or be

psycho-socially at risk.



Bowers said through medical testing and investigative work, the project

discovered that eight children, all from Ukraine, made it onto the trip

under false pretenses. In the past, most of the visiting children had come

from Belarus and Russia, where contamination levels from the nuclear

disaster are much higher.



Bowers said the project places considerable trust in doctors in the

countries it serves to help in the selection of appropriate children, since

they are the most experienced in the Chernobyl-related problems. The

project's medical team then checks the selected children.



In May, the project's doctors examined the Ukraine children, noted that some

children didn't seem sick, but assumed that the children met other parts of

the criteria, according to Bowers.



He said that Dr. Aleksandr Lyutkevich, from Ukraine, admitted to project

organizers that he had invited healthy children of certain families in order

to get ''special favors.'' In a draft report to the project's board of

directors submitted during the first week of August, Bowers explained that

Lyutkevich ''maintains it was necessary because there were not enough

parents who trusted him'' and the only way ''to secure hospital space for

the American team arriving in May to triage the children was to promise

trips for the hospital administration.''



''This is rare in our project,'' Bowers added. ''We've never had to confront

something like this before. Relative to the scope of our work - 900 children

so far - this is relatively minor to the phenomenal work the project is

accomplishing.''



Daniel Boroschoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy

(www.charitywatch.org), a watchdog group, said this kind of experience isn't

uncommon.



''It's very difficult to deal with people in developing countries and

maintain an efficient system of checks and balances,'' he said. While organi

zations should research their partners very carefully, ''Should you spend 10

grand to check this guy out? That's 10 grand you couldn't use to let kids

participate.''



Boroschoff said corruption is often an unfortunate byproduct of

well-intentioned charity work. ''It happens with any social welfare program.

People manage to take advantage and get through.''



For many of the host families this year, the shadow of corruption that

hovered over the monthlong trip didn't detract from their experience.



Pat Brennan, a single mother of four in Scituate, has hosted four children

during the past two years. She said that most of the turmoil that occurred

during this year's visit can be attributed to ''gossip,'' and that it's the

host family's obligation ''to do what God asked us to do.''



Brennan believes that the project's clear mission is to offer children

respite from radiation, and that anyone who thinks it's something else

didn't read the literature. ''You either open your home, or you don't,'' she

said. The nature of the children's problems, whether medical, emotional or

economic, ''is none of our business.''



Mike Wankum, a meteorologist at WLVI-TV (Ch. 56) who lives in Scituate and

has hosted children for the past two summers, said that his first reaction

to the abuse by the Ukraine contingent was ''how dare they.'' But upon

reflection, he said, he decided that while it ''wasn't supposed to happen,

some good came out of it. The kids still got a chance to see what America is

like and maybe diffuse some negative feelings they may have had toward us.''



But for Bowers, the integrity of the project is the top priority. He is

proposing to the project's board that they refrain from working with Ukraine

in the future, perhaps permanently. And he guarantees the project will no

longer work with Lyutkevich. He also is sending letters of apology to

religious organizations that sponsored the children, and will meet

individually with any host family who would like additional clarification on

the matter. The project's money comes from religious organizations,

individual Catholic parishes, as well as from corporate sponsors.



Bowers said he feels badly for the Hoars. ''The project folded its arms

around them, and I spent hours working with them .... it's no fun being

disappointed.''



Although they are sorry that they didn't get to help someone who was truly

in need, the Hoars are encouraged by Bowers' proposed remedies.



When asked if she would consider volunteering as a host family for the

project again, Ginny Hoar said, ''We'd like to see the program work and work

well. If they make all the changes they say they're going to, we'd think

about it.''





This story ran on page S1 of the Boston Globe on 8/11/2002.











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