Airlift to mark 20th anniversary of Chornobyl disaster (04/16/06)

Airlift to mark 20th anniversary of Chornobyl disaster

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - On April 20 an American plane will touch down at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport loaded with $1.8 million in cargo of vital medicine and medical equipment to help Ukraine deal with the lingering effects of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, the 20th anniversary of which will be marked April 26.

The Chornobyl 20 Commemorative Airlift is sponsored by the U.S. State Department in partnership with the Children of Chornobyl Relief and Development Fund (CCRDF) and in cooperation with the Cuban American community's Children's Health Initiative and other organizations and corporations. Its launch was announced on April 5 during a CCRDF-organized press conference at the Embassy of Ukraine.

As pointed out by one of the conference principals, Undersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, this commemorative airlift is part of an ongoing process of providing post-Chornobyl medical and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine conducted by private groups and the U.S. government.

Since 1989, she said, CCRDF has organized 31 air and 16 sea shipments of medical aid valued at more than $53 million. And, since 1992, the U.S. government has provided Ukraine with humanitarian commodities and Freedom Support Act funds with a combined value of more than $1 billion.

This partnership between the public and private sectors, Dr. Dobriansky said, represents "the best of America's initiative and generosity."

Deputy Secretary Dobriansky noted that the involvement of the Cuban American community in the Chornobyl assistance efforts was initiated in December at the request of Ukraine's first lady, Kateryna Yushchenko, who will be on hand to greet the plane when it arrives in Kyiv.

Since then, the Cuban American group has established hospital-to-hospital and doctor-to-doctor exchanges, installed equipment to conduct tele-medicine operations with their Ukrainian counterparts and is bringing Ukrainian children to Florida for medical treatment, as well as for a visit to Disney World.

U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) who helped organize the Cuban American community's involvement in the Chornobyl aid effort, explained it by paraphrasing a statement by Martin Luther King about injustice anywhere being an affront to justice everywhere. "In the same spirit," he said, "my community believes that helping a child anywhere is helping a child everywhere."

Calling the Chornobyl accident "one of the saddest events in Ukrainian history," the event's host, Ukrainian Ambassador Oleh Shamshur, expressed his country's gratitude to all who have come to its assistance. The 17 years of work by the CCRDF has made "an enormous difference" for its 24 partner-hospitals in Ukraine and the many people affected by the disaster, he said.

Dr. Shamshur expressed special thanks to the fund's founders - Dr. Zenon and Nadia Matkiwsky, who were not at the news conference because they were preparing the anniversary conference and concert in Kyiv - and other CCRDF activists, to Gerald Oberndorfer, director of humanitarian programs for Europe and Eurasia at the State Department, to Rep. Diaz-Balart and his colleagues at the House of Representatives, who on the previous day passed a resolution on the Chornobyl anniversary calling for continued assistance for Ukraine. (See text of the resolution at right.)

"This is a grand project, and this project will be measured for many years to come by the affected children and their families," Ambassador Shamshur said.

Those children and families were represented at the press conference by Vasyl and Maria Kavatsiuk, who shared their feelings about how these assistance efforts helped them.

Mr. Kavatsiuk is a surviving "liquidator" of the Chornobyl disaster. A professional musician and conductor of the Ukrainian Radio and Television Orchestra in Kyiv, he was activated as an army reservist to commanded a unit that was putting the nuclear waste back into the damaged core of the reactor.

After some treatment in Moscow, he returned home, to what he described as a "miserable" life. He was ill, his first daughter, Marta, died before reaching the age of 2, and his second child, Maria, faced an uncertain fate.

But, thanks to the CCRDF, Maria's life, and his, were spared. The Children of Chornobyl Fund brought the family to New Jersey, where both were successfully treated. "As a father and as a family, we'll never forget this," he said. "If you save somebody's life, then you are blessed."

Maria Kavatsiuk was one of the first children brought over by CCRDF for treatment in the United States. "One of my earliest memories is living in the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund home and being surrounded and immersed in all the loving care by many people that helped me and my family," she recalled. "I will always be grateful for all their help."

"There are so many more children that need our help today, and we can only accomplish that with your support," the 16-year-old told the gathering. She also spoke about her plans for the future: "I hope to become an active member of this foundation by becoming a doctor and helping to save children's lives, as the foundation saved my life," Miss Kavatsiuk said.

On the following day, the Kavatsiuk family left for a visit to Ukraine - their first since being evacuated to the United States in 1990.

Also addressing the press conference were Ukrainian Congress Committee of America President Michael Sawkiw Jr., and representatives of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur from Ohio and Congressman Christopher Smith from New Jersey.

CCRDF Director of Procurement Alexa Milanytch, who moderated the session, highlighted some of the achievements in caring for Chornobyl's victims. Even though one-third of the children in the region have suffered from tumors and other medical problems, and birth defects have doubled, there is hope, she said.

"We have seen how even a modest investment can make dramatic impact on survival and cancer remission rates." She pointed out that in one hospital the recovery and remission rates for childhood leukemia improved from 5 percent - "a virtual death sentence" - in 1991 to 75 percent in 2004 as a result of the introduction of appropriate chemotherapy and equipment.

Model neonatal care units were created in hospitals in Poltava, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk, she said, and infant mortality there has dropped by 45 to 80 percent.

These successes, she added, have stimulated unprecedented private philanthropy in Ukraine and local government programs in the region.

House passes Chornobyl resolution

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