Poorly children could be stripped of holidays

Chernobyl Childrens Project - At the top of Winter Hill

Some ‘poorly’ children may no longer be entitled to summer holidays in foreign countries.

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has recently decided to prohibit children who are suffering from illnesses caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster from taking summer holidays in other countries as they have prior to this decision.

This was triggered by a teenage girl who visited the United States and refused to leave at the end of her charity holiday.

On 28th March there will be a National Conference to decide on what will happen about this ban. It is very likely that their will be an age limit put on the children that come over, so that they must be below 14 years of age.

The children can still go to Italy for their holiday, as Italy have already signed an agreement to send back every child that goes there, even if they express a desire to stay.

It has been scientifically proven that a month long holiday away is very beneficial for these children’s morale.

Stuart Carmichael has been involved in this scheme for years, and often brings the children over to England to take part in trips to the seaside, visits to historical towns, country walks, swimming, karting, ice skating, water sports, and much more.

He aims to fundraise £6,000 a year at least to spend on holiday expenses and transport. It costs approximately £500 for each child that comes over.

This year he is hoping to bring 8 children to Rochdale, all less than 14 years old, and some of whom have visited Rochdale before.

However since getting host families and raising the required money has been more difficult, the children will probably stay in Rochdale for a fortnight instead of a month, before moving on to another place. He needs around £4000 to get them here and is about half way already.

For more information on what Stuart and the Chernobyl Children’s Project visit: www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/sites/chernobyl-childrens-project-uk-west-pennine-branch