25 years since Chernobyl  

Fundraiser for Machnovitchi in April   

It’s been 25 years since the Chernobyl explosion in the USSR .  

On April 26, 1986, Reactor Number 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. The explosion and resulting fire sent a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive area. Seventy percent of Belarus, located just 10km north of the power plant, was contaminated by the fallout due to the wind and weather patterns that day.

 The plume drifted over large parts of western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Northern Europe. Large areas in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia had to be evacuated, with over 336,000 people resettled.

 Countries across the world watched the aftermath and immediately took action, sending aid and offering sanctuary to the children affected by the fallout.  

In Canada , the Canadian Relief Fund for Chernobyl Victims in Belarus was founded. In 1998, a small piece of the larger organization broke away and established its own committed group in North Gower – Ottawa Valley Aid for Chernobyl Children.

 Since that time, OVACC and other smaller associations pocketed throughout Ontario , have been quietly and efficiently sending supplies to the beleaguered towns and villages still affected by radioactive fallout, and inviting children into their homes in Canada for much-needed respite care.

 Tina Rudkoski, president of OVACC since its inception, feels it’s the small things in life that count. One of those small things is reaching out to a young child in another country.

 Take, for instance, her introduction to Youlia in 1995, one of the children who visited Canada that year. Youlia was seven, she had been sick on the long journey from Belarus , she didn’t know the language, and was being whisked off to stay in a home with a strange family.  

Tina was prepared with her cue cards filled with the Russian language but it was Tina’s daughter, also seven, who really knew what to do. She offered Youlia a Barbie doll, pulled out a deck of cards and that was the beginning of a fast friendship. 

 Throughout the past 25 years there have been many high points in the OVACC-Belarus link. Two of the children, now young women, have finished university (one in Economics, one in Biology), those who summered in Canada returned to Belarus healthier, food packages have been sent every year, schools and daycares have received boxes of books, time and energy have been given wholeheartedly, money has been raised and sent to small communities. In spite of obstacles, volunteers remained committed, kept going and kept helping.

 Children still come to Canada in the summer – two are coming this June (a far cry from the first 69). But the obstacles of helping – government red tape among them – are growing, and some, like the diminishing commitment of Canadian families, is lessening because of demands from their own families.  

But OVACC still sees the need. In fact, Tina Rudkoski says, if anything, there’s as much need now as ever. The commitment OVACC families made affects a second generation, and possibly even a third. Every cent of all the fundraising that’s done by the small organization goes to projects to help Belarussian children and families. Two years ago, some of the funds went to Natasha, the young Biology student, for an eye operation to correct impending blindness. The operation was done in Canada because Belarus didn’t have the special equipment needed for the surgery.

 But, “between 1991 and 2011 a lot has changed. We, as an organization, have to look at and reassess our own direction. The five pillar families have been there since 1991, and are still there, but…” Tina hesitates.  

In their reassessment OVACC has seen the time commitment of families change. Two parents working, shorter summer vacations, more involvement in their own activities as children grow, these all lend to less time for volunteer work.  

So OVACC’s direction is changing. The organization’s intent, now, is to help small communities help themselves. It is focusing on Machnovitchi, a small village in southern Belarus located 100km from a Chernobyl exclusion zone (where no one is permitted to live because of the dangerously high radiation levels).

 In March 2007, four members of OVACC visited Machnovitchi at their own expense and came away with a picture of the hardships families live through on a daily basis – including outdoor toilets and no hot water.

 OVACC’s future fundraising has been targeted for Machnovitchi to help families raise pigs. . But more immediately, there is an urgent need for building supplies for the school – new windows, new sinks. Both ventures are large undertakings but OVACC sees both as necessary for the future well-being of the people of the small village.

 All of these plans, however, need money. OVACC hopes to make the fundraising project this year a milestone as it’s been a quarter of a century since the explosion and disaster. And staying true to Tina’s belief that small things can effect great change, they plan to kick off a “25 for 25” fundraiser in local and surrounding schools.

 The plan is to encourage children to donate a small amount – 25¢ – for the projects in Belarus . Organizations, associations, groups, families can contribute $25 if they wish.

 The kickoff will take place at Pierce’s Corners Community Centre,

 All media are invited at 4 p.m. Speakers and volunteers will be available at that time to recall stories of the past 25 years with their Belarus children; there will be scrapbooks and reminiscences. Dinner starts at 5 p.m. for guests and media.

 “In spite of many obstacles,” Tina concludes, “we are still committed. We keep going and we keep helping.”

 For more information call Tina Rudkoski at 613-489-3475, or email her at Tina@ovacc.ca. For tickets for the spaghetti dinner and fundraising kickoff, call Nancy Grundy at 613-489-3136. For information on OVACC go to www.ovacc.ca, and for information about the explosion and disaster, just google Chernobyl .