Agnes Kripps

Not until the year 2016 will the world be able to assess and evaluate the long-term impact of this tragedy on the nation’s health, especially of those who were young during the accident and their respective offspring. The year 2016 is significant because it will mark the 30 year, half-life of radioactive cesium-137, an especially dangerous isotope which is widely dispersed throughout Ukraine, Belarus and parts of Russia.

Furthermore, beneath the surface of the land, in the fields and forests, and even in the food supply itself, lie hot particles of plutonium and other radioactive poisons that could threaten many generations yet unborn.

A recent Israeli-Ukrainian health study published in the Journal of Medicine, reported growing evidence that genetic damage could reach deep into future generations. Although we may never know the full extent of this horrendous tragedy we do know that today, there does exist pain, suffering, hopelessness and loneliness. We also know that Ukraine’s antiquated health care system, so shamefully neglected by the former Soviet authorities is unable to cope with this extra burden.

The most pressing problem now is to find storage for the spent fuel and other radioactive waste inside the number three reactor. Another problem is the concrete encasement (sarcophagus) which now has several cracks. These cracks need immediate repair. The sarcophagus was built in haste following the 1986 nuclear accident. Millions of dollars are needed to rebuild and maintain this sarcophagus from complete collapse.

Then there is a danger in leaving the 200 tons of nuclear fuel and 3000 tons of contaminated water entombed in the sarcophagus, and also a danger in storing it. Removing the waste could cause further radioactive damage and threaten the Dnipro river, which some thirty four million people depend on for their drinking water.

Chornobyl’s fallout knew no boundaries, and our efforts to help Ukraine must have no boundaries. Human ingenuity must find a way to guarantee the safety of the radioactive material entombed in the sarcophagus. Safeguarding Chornobyl from a further disaster must be a priority of the entire world. We cannot wish away the consequences of this catastrophe. They are with us today and will continue to have effects on many generations yet unborn. At present 3.5 million people live on Ukrainian territory still contaminated by radiation. Of those, one million are children, the future of Ukraine.

The nuclear accident’s radioactive fallout mutilates the gene pool and devastates the environment. However, the real scale of the catastrophe which displaced hundreds of thousands of people and turned bustling villages and towns into ghost towns, has turned out to be far greater than once thought. There has been a dramatic increase in the cases of childhood thyroid cancer, leukemia, anemia, congenital malformations and alterations of the immune system. Ukraine’s health ministry is also worried about an increase in the deaths of emergency workers, most of whom are still under 50. The death rate in this group is double the national average.

Even though the last operating unit of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant was closed on December 15, 2000, that does not mean that the Chornobyl problems have been eliminated. The grinding poverty, the poor quality of nutrition, the residual effects of Chornobyl and the degradation of the environment have resulted in the heightened need for most basic medication, medical supplies and equipment.

And so, in 1989, the Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund (CCCF), a registered charitable organization was established to respond to these needs and to provide humanitarian aid to the victims of this tragedy.

Specifically, the Fund provides humanitarian aid such as medication, medical and technical equipment, supplies and food to clinics and treatment centers, hospitals and orphanages.

Today the CCCF sponsors a variety of projects to improve health care and general well-being of disadvantaged and ill children as well as adults in Ukraine. The CCCF also assists long-term projects that demonstrate a commitment to education, health care, rehabilitation and community participation.

One of our projects, "Help Us Help the Children" (HUHTC) addresses many needs across Ukraine. Currently, an estimated 100,000 children ranging in age from infancy to 17 years are living in orphanages in Ukraine. This project is committed to improving the conditions in these institutions. Before the 1986 Chornobyl accident, only a small percentage of children in these orphanages had birth defects, today the comparable number is 60 percent.

The CCCF does not bring children to Canada because it is not cost effective. We find our dollars go much further by targeting our aid on site. Each dollar becomes four dollars in purchasing power. All funds donated are used to purchase Canadian goods, medication and equipment which is accompanied by Canadian medical consultants and technicians to ensure proper delivery and distribution. Inventory and donated goods are well monitored to ensure that they do not end up on the black market.

We are extremely proud of our accomplishments to date, but none of this would be possible without the generosity of concerned people who care enough to give, to help those who are unable to help themselves.

And so, a heartfelt "thank you" to all who have so generously donated to support the work of the CCCF and its various projects. Your help is greatly valued and appreciated. We look forward to your continued support so that we may keep on making a difference in the lives of people we touch through our work.

Please send your tax-deductible donations to: Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund, 772 West 52 Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6P 1G4. For more information, please contact Agnes Kripps at (604) 321-6460.

Agnes Kripps is a Director on the National Board of the Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund, and President of the Vancouver Chapter CCCF. She was the first person of Ukrainian ancestry to be elected

August 27, 1969 as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (representing Vancouver South constituency) and also the first woman in Canada to be elected President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (Vancouver Branch) in 1962-1963.