Chernobyl's children find a safe haven in the Dales

Doctors say their stay in the clean air of Craven will even extend their lives.

Reports have come back from families all over the Settle area on how they have thoroughly enjoyed being able to give the children, from Belarus in the former Soviet Union, a good quality of life even if it will only be for four weeks.

Through the Settle Friends of Chernobyl's Children, several families have given a home to 11 children from the town of Mogilev in Belarus, which is approximately 50 miles from Chernoybl. All are aged between seven and nine and are either from one parent families, orphanages or from large families .

It has been predicted that this four week stay in Craven could add a year to the childrens' lives. The visit will give their young immune systems a break from the after-effects of the disaster, which has polluted almost every aspect of their homeland.

In fact, when the reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the Ukraine, exploded in April 1986, the wind blew the fall-out right across not just Belarus but even to the hill farms of the Dales. While the radioactivity has disappeared from this country, back in the childrens' homeland everything including the soil, home grown food, animals and milk is polluted. The land and its inhabitants will continue to feel the affects for the next 24,000 years.

These factors prompted couples in Craven like Jane and Barry Ward, of Riversdale Estate, Giggleswick, to take a break from normal life and dedicate some of their time to helping these children.

Jane, 50, Barry, 55, and their daughter Joanna, 16, have been looking after seven-year-old Alexander Makaevich or Sasha for short, who back at home lives with his grandma after his mother died. So far the family have loved every minute of his visit and a strong bond has developed with Sasha.

Jane said caring for Sasha for this short period of time has not only helped him in many ways but also her whole family.

She added that this was the happiest the family had been in a long time after the loss of their nine-year-old son, Christopher, to cancer, eight and a half years ago.

She said: "The visit has been wonderful and opened so many doors. I did not think I could ever love another boy as much as I do Sasha. He's so loveable and there was a bond there almost immediately."

But with the image of the children returning to such polluted land ever prevalent in the hosts' minds, the Wards know it will be hard to say farewell at the end of the four weeks.

Jane said: "I am hoping to send food parcels out there at least once a month and I desperately want to keep in touch with him until he can come back again. We know he is not our child, but we feel he is part of the family and there has been laughter in this house again.

"The down side of it will be letting him go home, but it is not final and Sasha will be able to come back every year through this scheme until he is 12 years old. Also, I know he is going back to a grandma who loves him. I don't think I'd feel quite as good if he was going back to an orphanage, I couldn't have coped."

Another couple who volunteered to look after a child are Deirdre Cokell, 62, and husband Ernie, 77, from Falcon Close, Settle.

Deirdre, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, said they have loved having seven-year-old Vyacheslav Plesnyor or Slava living at home with them and said he has fitted in like one of the family. Slava also comes from Mogilev and lives with his mother.

Deirdre said: "At first it really was a big undertaking but I don't think you are ever too old to take on board a child if your heart is in the right place.

"Considering we have five grown-up children and ten grandchildren, and another one on the way, we thought we could deal with looking after another one even at our age."

She added: "But the saddest part for me is that Slava will, quite naturally, want to go home in the end. He has left his own family, his mum and grandparents and wants to go home and tell them all about the visit and what he has done. But for us, when he leaves we will be almost unconsolable."

Ernie and Deirdre have noticed that Slava has picked up some English very quickly and they were also amazed with his computing skills.

Ernie said: "He has grasped the language well but if he's struggling he gives signals. If he wants to go outside he makes a sign like he is pulling a zip up and down on his jacket and does walking signs."

Deirdre added: "We have found that Slava is generally more boisterous than English children but this is probably down to the fact that there are about 2000 children to a primary school at his home, and children don't start school until they are seven years old. When they do go though, they attend six days a week and then have a tremendous amount of homework."

The couple added that since Slava came two weeks ago, there have been several funny moments including the time when he poured nearly a whole bottle of Johnson & Johnson's bubble bath in the tub and completely covered himself in suds. Ernie added they have also discovered his favourite foods are ice cream and sausages (not together of course!).

An interpreter, Irina, has been sharing her time between the host families and the children have been enjoying a tight schedule of fun-packed trips around Craven including visiting Skipton, Clapham and the Lake District.

The children return home on March 21.

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