ON April 26, 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant lapsed into a spiralling chain reaction and exploded.
Twenty-two years on and the Cher- noby] fallout and a radioactive poison 40 times the intensity of Hiroshima still infects much of Eastern Europe. More than 60 per cent of that fallout fell on Belarus.
Ennistymon man Brother Liam O’Meara was among the first west- erners to visit the affected people in Belarus. Over the last 15 years, the Burren Chernobyl Project has helped restore dignity and ease suf- fering for the thousands of innocent children orphaned by the fallout or abandoned by their families.
‘There are a number of reasons why these children are given up. Firstly, poverty – the mother has to work and can’t afford to have someone at home minding a child. In other cas- es, maybe there is a new relationship and the new husband doesn’t want a handicapped child around.
“Then, in some other cases, the state moves in and takes the children, be- cause the conditions at home are so bad. A lot of the children are better off within the orphanage because the conditions at home are so bad.
“But it’s not just handicapped or special needs children who are given up. Perfectly healthy children are left in these orphanages,” said Brother Liam.
‘There is a tradition of giving away children, it’s a cultural thing. There is a Shame associated with it. A lot of the parents don’t even tell the grand- parents, they just say that the child has died.
‘Mothers would dispose of children very easily.
“The state does give them some help, they do some good work and nobody ever knows about it. The state pays into the children’s bank accounts every month.
“There is so much paperwork in- volved in everything over there so the child could be hungry, literally starving, and the money can’t be spent on what the child needs. They need someone to go out there and do the paperwork at the bank, but a child like that could never do it.
“The villages out there are desper- ately poor. They really have nothing. The orphanages are located away out in forests and out of the way – so that they wouldn’t be upsetting the peo- ple in the village, I suppose.”
The BCP has helped thousands of children and adults affected by the tragedy. Over the last 15 years, they have helped raise the basic standards of living in some of the world’s most difficult locations.
“In the last 12 months, we have had a lot of people working in Tarasik1, an adult place, so we have groups going out all the time working on that. We have also started up a day- care centre in Cherven, which means that mothers can leave their children in during the day when they are at work,’ continues Brother Liam.
“This means that the children can live at home instead of in an institu- tion. We got a building from the state but it was 1n very poor condition so we had groups fixing that up.
“We have finished our work at Kylb, which is an adult psychiatric facility for 500 adults. You can never say that a place is finished, I suppose, but we have done a lot of work in it.”
While each trip to Belarus contains much sadness, happiness comes from the children’s smiles and the knowledge of helping those who cannot help themselves.
“When you leave, you sometimes feel like you are abandoning ship, but then you remember. You can see it in them – the sound of an Irish voice and they light up. It could be someone from Clare or someone
from Galway, from anywhere, but once they hear the Irish voice, they remember,’ continued Brother Liam. “At this stage, we are going back meeting friends. We know them all, all the children. But for some peo- ple going there for the first time, they can be shocked.
‘You would be upset at times. Some- times you might see a child who has been tied up and you think that if
someone had time and patience you could help that girl. She is probably being tied up because she is scratch- ing herself or hurting herself, but if we had more time, then maybe we might be able to help.
“The sad thing is that there are so many people in these orphanages who really shouldn’t be there. Peo- ple who are as gentle and would do anything for you. And these people are going to be locked up forever un- less we can get them out.
“That is the prospect for most of these people. They move from the baby orphanages into the adult or- phanages and that’s that – that’s their whole life.
‘We have to measure our success by how we react when a child cries, not by how many toilets we have built. If a child cries and we still sympathise, then it’s a success. And I think that we always have, and every volunteer always has. No-one will walk away from a crying child.
“More than anything, we would like to thank people for all that they have done. It’s truly been amazing. There has been a huge amount achieved down the years and there hasn’t al- ways been the time to thank the people who have helped. It may be that there are buckets out all the time collecting money but the money has been spent and spent well.”