- Scenes from Belarus
“Children of Chernobyl” Summer 2003
“Summer
2003” was our seventh summer to bring children to the Kansas City area.
This year 12 children and 2 interpreters arrived on June 3 and were with us for
7 weeks. As usual, our Belarusian partner in this effort was Medicine and
Chernobyl.
Once again the children attended VBS, went on family vacations with their host families, received medical and dental care and had a great time. In 2003 there were 32 families from the community involved in caring for the children.
This year a new dimension was added and our “Enrichment Program” provided the children an opportunity to see their artwork use in actual production of merchandise. They then took part in the selling of the product with each child taking home $100.00 for his or her participation. They loved that money!!
This will
potentially give them a vision of what they might be able to do in their own
country some day. Also, we wanted to help them to be part of a charitable
endeavor and to have the experience of giving to other children. Three
facilities have been designated to receive humanitarian as a result of the
“Enrichment Program” and our summer visitors will take part in the
distribution.
Philanthropy is not the norm in Belarus because of the very difficult economic situation. We believe this will truly be an impacting experience for them!
The medical care was once again an important part of the summer. Dr. Michael Kasper, of Pediatric Associates, has been our “Children of Chernobyl” Medical Director since the beginning of the program. He has donated more than 100 office visits over these past years. So once again he saw the children, ordered lab work and made a variety of referrals as needed.
At a later date
we hope to list all of the participating medical professionals to highlight
their wonderful contributions to Project Restoration. Approximately 20 
professionals
have donated their services in multiple specialties during these years.
The program would not be what it is today if not for the care, concern and willingness of the medical professionals in the Kansas City area to help the wonderful Belarusian children.
In addition to the care in Kansas City, four children received a total of eight prostheses at Shriners Hospital in St. Louis.
The total of donated professional services was approximately $50,000 for 2003, including the prostheses.
Project Restoration wishes to thank
the SCCF for the grant given for the development of this site.
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All content and images copyright ©2003 by Project Restoration International,
Inc.