Joyous and emotional scenes at Shannon Airport as 135 children from Chernobyl affected areas arrive to stay with devoted families this summer – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Joyous and emotional scenes at Shannon Airport as 135 children from Chernobyl affected areas arrive to stay with devoted families this summer




There were joyous and emotional scenes at Shannon Airport on Friday as 135 terminally ill children arrived in the country from Chernobyl affected areas to spend the summer here.

The happy scenes which were made possible by the Chernobyl Children International’s (CCI) Rest and Recuperation Programme came as the brave children met up with Irish volunteer families who will house them over the coming few weeks.

According to the charity organisation​ the children will be housed across 13 different counties this July which will continue a 31 year tradition that has seen children from Western Russia stay with devoted families here.

The charity also say the annual visits have been known to improve the children’s health as radiation levels in their body can drop by nearly 50%.

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