Chernobyl Heart

[Cindyluwho]

Last night I watched the world premier of Chernobyl Heart on HBO. It feels like my heart is breaking! This last summer we hosted an 11 year old girl from Belarus, the country that is most affected by the radiation from the Chernobyl accident. We immediately fell in love with her, and she and my 10 year old DD were inseperable the whole time she was here. We did so much research before she came to spend 6 weeks with her but what I saw last night in the film was almost too much to bear. The girl we hosted was healthy, except for the malnutrition (58" tall but only 55 pounds) and she had never seen a dentist. Two exctractions, 3 root canals and numerous fillings later she was able to eat, eat, eat and gained 15 pounds in the 6 weeks she was here. The children in the film make up a great percentage of the kids in Belarus, thyroid cancer, "chernobyl heart"(2 holes in the heart), manlnutrion, birth defects, water on the brain, etc. It just amazes me that there is almost no press on the after affects of the accident. Every year in April it gets a brief mention in the news and then it's forgotten again. With all the nuclear power plants in the US you'd think we'd be better informed. HBO is also showing a short film before Chernobyl Heart about a nuclear plant in the Eastern US that is very vulnerable. I didn't get to watch it but my husband said it was pretty scary stuff. He couldn't sit through the Chernobyl movie, too much for him to take. Anyway, thanks for listening, it's been an experience for our family and we look forward to next year when we can have our little one back from Belarus. She'll be able to come every year until she's 19 and already we consider her part of our family. You can check out the organization we hosted through at: http://www.forworldschildren.org

 

[luvthatduke]

You may be interested in watching this,
if it's still up.
A young woman takes you on a photo journal
of the INSIDE of Chernobyl - she rides her
motorcycle.
It is compelling and haunting.
Takes a while to load and about 20 minutes+
to watch, but is well worth your time.
I hope it's still there?

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/

Edited: I just checked, it's still there just click on the link for "Ghost Town" at bottom of page.

 

[leahannpen]

 

[grinningghost]

I started to watch it, but I just couldn't do it. It was way too sad. Those poor kids.

 

[AmyBeth68]

That was an amazing documentary, I saw it last night and CRIED my eyes out. It was truly devastating to watch.

How wonderful of you to host a child from Belarus! You must have touched that child's life deeply and it's obvious she's enriched your lives as well.

 

[AmyBeth68]

Cindyluwho....do host families need to reside in the state of Washington? Thank you .

 

[Cindyluwho]

AmyBeth, host families do not need to live in the state of Washington. Every state in the US has an organization that brings these children over. If I remember correctly there are about 600,000 children from Belarus that are hosted every summer by countries all over the world. Links to the organizations in your state try the links page of our website. ABRO also has some great links on their website. Have fun researching!

 

[Cindyluwho]

Here's a website with the links for the worldwide organizations that support the children of Belarus:
http://www.belarusguide.com/chernobyl1/chlist.htm

 

[elmosmom]

I saw this program too. It just about broke my heart. It seems so unfair that children have to live like that.