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Four members of OVACC traveled to Belarus (entirely at their own personal expense). These members personally met with "Hope for the Future", the Belarusian charity with which we are now affiliated.
They also visited Maknakvitchi, a village in southern Belarus located 100km from a Chernobyl exculsion zone (where no one is permitted to live due to dangerously high radiation levels). Maknakvitchi primarily supports a collective cow-calf farm and is the home of a girl ( now all grown up) who came to Canada for 5 respite visits and is now our contact person in this village. Nadia first visited Canada in 1991, with the first group of children to cross the Atlantic to Canada or the USA. We at OVACC have "adopted" Maknakvitchi to focus the efforts of OVACC in one area to have a greater impact.
During the visit we investigated the possibility of bringing children from Maknakvitchi, supplying books for the school, improving the village church and funding university expenses for children who would not otherwise be able to attend. Belarus has a state supported university education; however it is only available to students who achieve very high grades. Others wishing to further their education must fund thier own expenses. Currently a family in our group has been privately funding education for a girl from Belarus who previously visited Canada as a guest.
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