Holiday of a lifetime
"SHEFFIELD is a big city. It's very nice and beautiful," says Veronika Kurarevick, aged 11. "There are nice houses and very nice people in Sheffield."
Veronika has formed this opinion in a little over a day after arriving in the city from the town of Stolin, in southern Belarus.
She is one of a party of 16 children who'll be staying in Sheffield for the next month in a 'holiday of a lifetime' trip organised by the Sheffield link of the Chernobyl Children Life Line charity.
The youngsters, aged between nine and 12, all live nearthe Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which exploded in 1986 sending radioactive fallout carried by the wind into Belarus.
Many areas will remain contaminated by radiation for several hundred years and the children of the area have to breath the still radioactive air and often eat food and drink water from radioactive land.
These children are susceptible to illnesses such as leukemia, thyroid cancer and tumours, which are still on the increase in affected parts of Belarus.
"The health benefits of the trip are hard to measure," says trip organiser Louise Shaw, of Chernobyl Children Life Line.
"But when they return their parents say they're looking healthier. And a doctor from the region has calculated that having a one-month holiday out of the contaminated region will extend these children's lives for two years, because they'll be able to eat healthy food and it will allow the radiation in their bodies to be discharged."
For these children, says Louise, the trip to Sheffield will be the holiday of a lifetime.
Mick and Janet Ring are Veronika's host family and had already taken her and her friend Alena Dranko to Meadowhall after arriving in Sheffield.
"They were fascinated by the array of shops," said Janet. "And they liked the escalators, because they don't have them in Belarus."
"It's very basic over there," added Mick, who visited the area after hosting another Belarusian girl last year. "The biggest town is Stolin and you could probably fit that inside Meadowhall."
Ten children under the age of 11 from Stolincame to Sheffield last summer in the first trip organised by the new Sheffield link of the Chernobyl Children Life Line, which was formed in 2006.
The national charity brings around 4,000 children a year to Britain, thanks to the support of host families like the Rings who look after one or two children for a month.
Tuesday's visit to Millhouses Park was the first group trip for the children. They had a chance of paddle boating, pond dipping, tennis and tea provided by the Pudding Ladies' caf.
"We have a set programme for the children while they're hear and it's rammed," says Louise Shaw.
The children will visit local parks and countryside and take part in sports such as swimming.
"They think Ponds Forge is a phenomenal experience and they all comment on the trees and woodland in the city," says Louise.
The charity is already looking for potential 'host' or 'support' families for next year's trip (support families help out on day trips and take children on for a few days to give other families a break).
Mick and Janet Ring have enjoyed looking after Chernobyl children and recommend the experience. "You're helping to make these children happy and to improve their lives," says Mick.
And Veronika is already helping the Rings, too, says Janet. The children are always very polite, she says, and they always keep their things tidy and say 'thank you very much'. "On the first night Veronika came into the kitchen and said: 'May I help you'?"
Louise remarks that the children are often quite shell-shocked after their arrival, with tiredness from their journey and sometimes tears of homesickness.
"Why do we do it?" she says. "I think because you can see the difference you can make" and she points to a small girl running up and down the side of Millhouses boating pond with a fishing net laughing and giggling, who last night had been crying for her family back home in Belarus.
'Here it is wonderful," says Veronika Kurarevick. "The air in Sheffield is clean.".
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -4 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 2 C
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