The Chernobyl disaster: 30 years on (Day 2): Irish eyes smiling down on the young survivors

An institution for abandoned children was more like a ‘house of death’, says CCI chief executive Adi Roche, who has worked hard, with lots of Irish help, to make things better for the youth of Chernobyl, writes Eoin English

From a house of death to a shining beacon of hope — Vesnova Children’s Institute stands today as a monument to the work of an Irish charity and its army of volunteers.

Where once children were left to die, the facility has, thanks to Chernobyl Children International (CCI) and its countless Irish volunteers, been transformed into a flagship for the care of the most vulnerable children in Belarus.