NATIONAL PROJECTS:

Chernobyl Orphanage Development Programme is an Irish charity which works to sustainably improve the living conditions of orphans in Belarus, the country worst affected by the Chernobyl disaster.  Our efforts are targeted at the 13,000 orphans who live in 57 orphanages across the country, often without access to even basic facilities such as toilets or showers.
	We began working with Grosovo orphanage in the south of the country in 1996. Our principal projects there ranged from replacing al the beds and putting in new furniture and playrooms, to renovating the orphanage's 60-acre farm.
Since then we have taken on major projects with at five other orphanages. We have renovated from start to finish Dyatlovo orphanage in the Western Belarus, a process which involved putting on a new roof, new showers and toilets, replacing all of the kitchen equipment and machinery, putting in a sixty-acre farm, with land, machinery and sheds, and putting in a new playground. We have also taken on dozens of smaller projects at Orphanage Number 5 in Minsk, at Lida orphanage in the south of the country and at Rudensk, an orphanage for sexually-abused children outside Minsk.
	More recently we have taken on the redevelopment of Besangovichi Orphanage in the north of the country. This orphanage, which is in the worst condition of any in the country, is home to about 164 children with special needs. Having already replaced the beds and furniture, restocked their medical clinic, and library, renovated their laundry and put in a new playground, we are now working on putting a new roof on the orphanage, a project which will cost up to E100,000.

Email: tmcenaney@independent.ie