When Belarusian-born Sveta Kipatkova first heard about a Quebec program that could reduce her daughter’s exposure to radiation, she jumped at the opportunity.
Every summer, from the end of June until mid-August, Séjour Santé Enfants Tchernobyl (SSET) brings Belarusian children to the province to give them a healthy break from the polluted environment they grew up in, and where the effects of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster are still being felt.
According to the volunteer organization, in some regions of Belarus, the rate of thyroid cancer is 125 cases per million children, compared to an average of one to two cases per million children worldwide.
Kipatkova says her mother, uncle and aunt all have or have had cancer.
It is one of the many reasons why she chose to send her daughter, Aksenia, to stay with Edith Harvey and her family.
“I’m happy because I can’t give my daughter such a nice holidays,” said Kipatkova, who sent Aksenia from her small hometown of Chausy to Quebec for the second summer in a row.
Here, Aksenia can breathe clean air, eat uncontaminated food and drink clean water.
A disaster with far-reaching consequences
The night of April 26, 1986, changed that for many people in Europe.
While the 50,000 residents of the Ukrainian town of Pripyat were sleeping, workers at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant attempted to carry out a safety test.
But the fourth reactor exploded, triggering history’s most devastating nuclear accident.
A huge radioactive cloud travelled across Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and the rest of Europe.
Today, parts of Belarus still bear the brunt of the catastrophe.
The summer getaway in Quebec aims to improve the children’s physical condition. From the plane ticket to food and insurance, host families pay for the whole stay.
“I asked her if she wants to return home. Maybe she’s bored, maybe she misses [us]. She said no,” said Kipatkova, laughing, adding that she’s grateful to the host family.
Aksenia’s participation in the program is inspiring other families from her hometown to put their children in the program.
And the 12-year-old girl says she is considering staying in Canada.
“I’m having fun…. Quebec is pretty, lots of people,” said Aksenia. “This family is very nice, cute. Edith has four daughters, they’re very cute. Have a dog too, very nice.”
‘It brings the whole world closer’
Over the summer, Belarusian translators facilitate communication between the children and their host families.
Aksenia even ended up learning English at Harvey’s bilingual home in Gatineau, Que.
In 2020, Harvey started exchanging messages with the young girl’s mother so she would feel comfortable sending her daughter here.
“When she arrived last year at the airport, she just jumped in my arms. She was so happy to come,” said Harvey.
Beyond enjoying the province’s nature and meeting new people, the experience has had positive impacts on Aksenia’s health.
Harvey says her radiation levels went down by 36 per cent after her first trip.
She says helping others makes her feel great.
“I’m hoping that I’m showing her a different way of living because everything’s different in every country and the more you learn about another country, it gives you a perspective and openness to change or to better yourself,” said the mother of the host family.
“It brings the whole world closer.”
The program has been around for more than 20 years across Canada, and its continued success shows that there is still a need, said former SSET board member Fiona Beaudoin.
She says it changes lives. In 2017, Beaudoin welcomed eight-year-old Dzianis in her Montreal home in the city’s Pierrefonds–Roxboro borough.
He’s stayed with them for almost every summer since then.
The Belarusian boy became a member of the family and Beaudoin has even offered to pay for his education if he wished to study in Canada.
‘I have to meet them’
Last year, the Montrealer welcomed three children through the program.
“If it would happen here, that we would have our children contaminated and unhealthy, and a family from down there would welcome them, I would be so happy,” said Beaudoin.
“You don’t decide where you’re born.”
In October 2019, she decided to take the experience to a new level. She packed her bags and left to Belarus for a week.
“We were like: ‘He’s coming from another country. His parents are sending him with people that speak French somewhere. They don’t even know anything about us,'” said Beaudoin.
“These parents trust us so much. I have to meet them.”
She spent two days at Dzianis’s village, two days at one of the interpreters’ homes and a few days in Minsk, the capital, where another child she had hosted lived.
She also got a chance to meet other children who had participated in the program and bring gifts from host families in Quebec.
Beaudoin wants to encourage other Quebec families considering applying to the program to do so.
“It’s eye-opening for everybody. We’re in the same planet so we can help each other,” she said.
In 1986, a nuclear accident in Chornobyl, Ukraine, contaminated much of Belarus and other European countries, leading to high rates of cancer. The organization Séjour Santé Enfants Tchernobyl (SSET) helps affected children by bringing them to Quebec for health stays. The program, which aims to reduce the radiation levels Belarusian children are exposed to, allows them to return each summer until they are 18.