Geraldine Butler, Chairperson of the Chernobyl Children’s Project in Westport, welcomed an historic inter-governmental agreement between Ireland and Belarus, announced last week, which will allow children to travel to the Westport area again—with two children arriving here for the Christmas holidays.
Ireland is the first country to break the ban on children’s travel by concluding an agreement to protect the rights of children to travel abroad. About 12 children affected by the ongoing effects of Chernobyl stay with host families around the Westport area every year, primarily during the summer.
The Chernobyl Children’s Project has been the driving force behind the inter-governmental agreement. It has been actively supported by Micheál Martin TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
“This is an early Christmas present for us,” said Geraldine Butler. The good news also paves the way for the Westport branch’s most ambitious project to date. It aims to raise €50,000 to build a Home of Hope.
This initiative gives children who have been abandoned in Belarus the chance to have a near-normal family life. As well as providing the actual physical house, the project recruits and supports a loving foster couple who care for the children as if they were their own. Its fundraising initiative will get under way in early 2009 with plans to involve the whole town in the unique construction project.
