Chernobyl Children Visit RAF Marham – July 2007

Photo Caption: Chernobyl children pose in front of a GR4 Tornado and with RAF aircrew at RAF Marham.

18 children from Chernobyl visited RAF Marham. The visit was arranged through the Charity ‘Chernobyl Children Life Line’ based in Lowestoft. The first location visited was XIII Squadron which flies GR4 Tornados. The children were met by Wing Commander Terry Jones, the Squadron’s Boss, and he gave them a 30 minute briefing about the Squadron and the Tornado in Russian!

Afterwards the young visitors were shown a jet and took the opportunity to sit in the cockpit. In the afternoon the visitors saw an RAF Police Dog demonstration and were presented with a cheque for £750. This money will help fund the 2008 visit.

The final section to be visited was the Station’s ‘Bomb Dump where they saw at close hand some of the weapons the RAF currently uses on operations. At the end of the visit Nastassia Kuzmiankove aged 11 from Belarussian said “I did not know what to expect, coming to a military flying base. The day has been very exciting and it was great to sit in the Tornado aircraft”.

Mike Warner, one of the organizers said “By spending 3 weeks with us and receiving the excellent medical and dental care, will extend their lives by 10 years. Although the children eat plenty of fruit and vegetables in their country, the produce is still very much contaminated, causing problems to their health in later life. We would like to thank RAF Marham for hosting this visit, and to the dog section for their very kind donation”.


Wing Commander Terry Jones, Officer Commanding No XIII Squadron talking to some of the children.

For more information about the Chernobyl Life Line, visit their website:
http://www.chernobylchildlifeline.org/

Belarus, where our work is focused, received 70% of the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear explosion in April 1986 and as a result, thousands are born every year or go on to develop thyroid cancer, bone cancer and leukaemia. As a nation they are presently suffering high inflation and a very bad economic situation where some of the harvest has been lost due to bad weather and antiquated farming systems.

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