Web 3D Studio

On the 5th of September our Director Mike Tully accompanied a team of 17 volunteers to a children's hospice in Belarus to help construct an adventure playground and a sensory garden for children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster:

"Waiting in Gatwick airport for the other volunteers to show I was wondering what the week ahead would hold. I'd only looked up exactly where Belarus was the night before, and although I knew of the cataclysmic effects of the Chernobyl disaster I'd only recently learnt that Belarus was the nation worst hit. It was through my girlfriend's mum, Amanda, that I became involved in the charity The Trust for Chernobyl Children. Amanda is the treasurer of the charity and invited me along to Belarus to lend a hand in the improvement of the hospice.

The Trust for Chernobyl Children was founded in 2001 with the aim of helping improve the quality of life of the children of Belarus. Radiation from Chernobyl has caused children living in contaminated areas to have weakened immune systems and although it is more than 20 years since the disaster a third of all children aged 0-4 at the time of the accident are expected to develop thyroid cancer during their life time, and there have been significant increases in diseases to children born after the disaster to irradiated parents. The Trust's work includes bringing groups of Belarusian children over to the UK for respite holidays - just a few weeks of fresh air and non-contaminated food and water is enough to give their immune systems a two year boost. Alongside these respite holidays regular fundraising events are held locally, and every year hand-painted Christmas boxes filled with items such as hats, soap, toys and pens are sent to Belarus and distributed to needy children. In 1994 the first children's hospice in the whole of the former Soviet Union was built in Minsk, and later a summer camp 90km outside Minsk was established to provide seriously ill children with some fresh air and peaceful surroundings in which to relax and enjoy themselves. This summer camp began as a field, and through the Trust for Chernobyl Children's hard work the camp is being transformed into a centre where children can go and play in an adventure playground, be stimulated in a sensory garden, and enjoy the flowers and landscaping - all the while being with their families and receiving the medical support they require. A year earlier a group of volunteers had set out all the ground work for the revamped summer camp and now it was time to complete the job.

In the past I've hosted a rather small scale charity fund-raiser for the Trust, and Web 3D Studio developed the charity's website, but these efforts seemed a tad futile and I thought I really should get my hands a bit dirtier and help to develop something a bit more tangible.

The team spanned a vast age group and an even vaster skill set ranging from landscape designers and doctors to manual labourers. I proudly accepted the latter title having brought with me the experience of knocking together a couple of wonky pieces of furniture as a child, and of course my skills at juggling (arguably one of the most useless of talents).

The standard format of the days was: wake-up (trying not to be the last out of bed), have a bowl of porridge, begin work, wait for the magic gong sound which signalled lunch/dinner/tea break and eventually light the bonfire and sit around it drinking healthy quantities of vodka, beer and wine. I was amazed at how much a team of 18 people can achieve when working together and in just the first couple of days a giant A-frame had been erected for the wheelchair swing, a wheelchair roundabout/see-saw was almost complete, and the sensory garden was well underway including, if I say so myself, a rather spectacular pergola hand-crafted by me and my trusty sidekick Adam.

I was loving it; making benches all day and then sitting around chatting with a group of great people and wondering why I spend so much time in front of a computer. The day before we left this thought had been diluted slightly and I was suitably shattered, and I think possibly an inch shorter from carrying inexplicably heavy logs, but I was still sad to leave. I think everything that was set out to be achieved was achieved and I can't wait to hear feedback from the hospice come the summer time when the children will get to try out our creations.

If you have a free half hour please go and check out www.trust4chernobylchildren.org.uk and have a read about the amazing work the charity does.

Tom had the unfortunate luck of having his birthday during the week. This meant he went in the pond.