At this time we are all very worried for ourselves, family and friends here in the UK and we are all doing our very best to support our frontline Healthcare workers in the NHS.

I would ask you to also consider the children in Belarus who, together with their families and friends are also suffering with the problems of Covid 19 and who are desperate for our help. 

We have not been able to bring the children to the UK this summer and have no idea when this part of our program may restart. After their visit to the UK we would normally send the children home with a great deal of aid as well as the hope that the future could be better having been inspired by their time here and the love and kindness of the people they have met. Now even the hope has been taken away.

For the older generations, Chernobyl was a "lockdown" situation they hoped never to see again in their lifetimes but now they feel as if they are revisiting this terrible time again. For all of us this is a very difficult time, for them it brings a terrible feeling of déjà vu, they feel once more they are living in a nightmare, shut off from the outside world. There is no comparable NHS in Belarus and nowhere near the network of support services that we in the UK are privileged to have the benefit of. 

Despite this and the problems they are living with I am receiving daily messages from the parents of children who have been to the UK and their messages are to ask how the families are who have hosted their children, to say they are worried about us in the UK,  think of us often and "please tell us the news that everyone is ok". Those of you who have hosted the children and those who have been to Belarus and met the families understand how much our support is needed and how much it means to the families. 

We may not be able to bring the children but with your help there are ways that we can help them in Belarus. The families are trying their best to cope with very limited, and in some cases non existent resources. 

Our Charity will not qualify for any of the advertised aid for small Charities. We are a registered UK Charity but, like so many others, because we are not a "frontline community" organisation we do not qualify .  With your donations we can arrange financial help for those most in need. There were 18 children coming from the poorest of families to Mid Suffolk this July. They will no longer be travelling - we will no longer be providing the support they were looking forward to. Please - help us to help them and let them know they are not forgotten.