A Direct Appeal From Our Friends At Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline

The crisis in Ukraine is causing much hardship for residents who just want to be left alone to get on with their lives. These are people we support on a day-to-day basis, people I visited in December. Many have lost their homes, some their lives. It is a tragic situation. There is also a lot of fake news flying around on the internet but I would assure you that everything I write, which is from direct contact with our friends in Ukraine, is genuine and validated.

The buildings pictured here are the very buildings we visited in December when delivering Christmas stockings to the children. Sergei, our driver, used to live in a flat located in the gap in the building. Fortunately, he was not at home when the bomb hit. Most of this area of Borydanka now has no utilities, no water supply, no phones, sporadic internet connection and many people are in hiding in cellars. Yesterday I received a communication from one of the social workers we know. It only said, “I live”. She had managed to get a connection for just a few minutes.

We are not currently collecting donations because there are so many other organisations actively working to do so. We know from our experience and direct contacts that what is needed on the ground is food, water, medication and specific baby supplies such as nappies and high protein baby food. The best way to deliver this is for the products to be bought locally (or in Poland) and delivered directly to those most in need. For this reason, we are concentrating on raising financial aid that we can ensure is used to deliver help in the quickest and most effective way possible. I would ask you to please share this appeal with friends and family.

We are also being asked if we will be bringing children from Ukraine via our health respite program and the answer is yes, when the time is right and we are able to do so. With this in mind, if anyone would be interested in hosting a child/children, we would like to hear from you now so the paperwork can be completed and we can hit the ground running as soon as the opportunity allows us to.

Lastly, one way to raise funds is via our eBay charity shop. If you have anything at all that you think we may be able to sell, please get in touch and, if at all possible, we will arrange to collect from you. The list of what can be sold is diverse but please ask rather than just assuming we wouldn’t want it.

Thank you to everyone for your support in these very trying times.

Elizabeth Parker

01449 760343 / 07771 550868