Expectant mothers daily arrive at MWB’s Mother and Baby Care centre in Sarny. Some travel over 120km seeking help. Since the cloud of contamination from Chernobyl, many of these mothers may experience miscarriages or suffer from anaemia. And their babies are more likely to suffer cancer. MWB does everything to support them through their pregnancies and post-delivery.

A Mother and Baby Care package costs £15. Support more mothers by giving a Mothercare parcel from our Present for the Future gift catalogue.

Two expectant mums receive their MWB Mothercare parcels from Svitlana

Memories of Chernobyl

MWB’s Mother and Baby Care co-ordinator, Svitlana, knows what it’s like to grow up in the shadow of Chernobyl’s radiation fall-out. She was five years old at the time of the world’s worst man-made disaster, on 26 April 1986. She and other Sarny residents gathered for the Soviet May Day marches: ‘I remember they were all happy as they marched and didn’t know about the tragedy and the radiation. The Polish BBC radio first gave us the news.’ 

The disaster was not officially reported for three weeks. Then people were told there was nothing to worry about. More than 20 young men from Svitlana’s village were forced to be Chernobyl ‘liquidators’. Today, only five of them are alive – all with cardiac-related diseases. Svitlana remembers children were forbidden from playing outside or going to school.

‘I also remember we were given iodine against the radiation. It affected the thyroid gland first. The number of cancer cases has increased since then, especially among children. And there are more miscarriages and babies born with damaged organs. More young people died from strokes. The statistics say that the length of life decreased by 10-15 years. My father died of a heart attack when he was just 44. I believe this is all the legacy of Chernobyl catastrophe.’

Help us to meet more families’ needs by donating now.