BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

June 29, 2005

A Special Visit Local Girl Raises $$ To Help Belarussian Child

By Michelle Pirraglia

FRIENDLY WELCOME-Pictured, Catie Ryan, left, welcomes her new friend, Nastassia Ruliakova, right, a 12-year-old from Belarus, to the United States. Catie raised close to $1,000 to make Nastassia's visit to the US possible.

Twelve-year-old Catie Ryan, motivated by an article she read in the magazine American Girl, recently raised nearly $1,000 to help bring a young girl from the troubled country of Belarus to her home in Mastic Beach for the summer months.

"I felt bad for them, reading about their living conditions," Catie said about the children who reside in Belarus, a country suffering from the effects of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident, according to the American Belarussian Relief Organization. "Then I thought, instead of feeling sorry for them, I should help them," she explained.

The article Catie read mentioned the ABRO, which she and her parents are now working with in order to bring Nastassia Ruliakova, a 12-year-old from Belarus, to the United States for six weeks over the summer. "I'm counting the days," Catie said three days before Nastassia was set to arrive.

According to the ABRO website, "Belarus, a small country which was part of the former Soviet Union, received approximately 70% of the radiation damage from the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant incident ... This has affected the health of the people, especially the children due to its effect on the immune system. This has resulted in thyroid disease and thyroid cancer, an increase of leukemia and birth defects, and vitamin deficiencies."

In response to these conditions, as well as the poverty of the area, members of a Baptist church in South Windsor, Connecticut decided to take in 13 children from Belarus for six weeks in 1991. Since then, more than 3,100 children have made the trip to America, according to the organization, which has spread to several Northeastern states, including New York. Long Island coordinators Steven and Audrey Tice have headed the program locally for six years. "We originally heard about it [the ABRO] through our church," said Audrey Tice, adding that she and her husband took over as coordinators after their first year of participation in the relief program. "The coordinator stopped doing it, and we were the only family left, but we really enjoyed the experience and wanted to continue the program locally," she explained.

Visiting Belarus in 2003, Tice was struck by seeing the living conditions first-hand. "It's not a very good situation, there's a lot of poverty," Tice commented. "The living situation does vary, but the children [who participate in the program] are either from orphanages or very poor families."

The ABRO is a Christian organization, and to qualify as a host family, interested persons must get a letter of recommendation from the pastor of their church. The children range from age seven to 17, and families can note their preferences on the application.

One of the responsibilities a host family has is to pay for the air fare of the child or children they are housing, according to Tice. Catie's mother, Margaret, was proud to see her daughter follow through on her original commitment by raising most of the money through the sale of cupcakes and brownies, which she made, outside a local Waldbaum's.

"At the time she was 11, and I told her it was a really big commitment. We thought maybe she'd forget about it, you know how kids are, but she followed through," Margaret said of her daughter. "It was really Catie who pushed it. We stood outside in the snow at the Waldbaum's in Shirley for six months selling cupcakes."

Also receiving donations from the community and holding a garage sale, Catie raised enough funds to bring her new friend, Nastassia, to Long Island. She arrived on Thursday, June 23 with a chaperone from Belarus, and will be with the family through August. "We're just going to make sure she has a good time," Catie said, adding that she hopes to take Nastassia to Splish Splash, the beach and other local sites.

According to the ABRO, the visit should also include "giving their bodies a rest from the physical and emotional stress of living in a contaminated environment. If the children are removed from the area for that approximate period of time [six weeks], the level of radiation in their bodies is lowered."

Host families also must bring the child or children to the doctor's office, according to Tice, who has been taking in a brother and sister from Belarus for six years straight. "Most of the tests done at the doctor's office are general, it's not anything contagious," Tice explained. "The children are mostly tested for thyroid conditions because of the radiation there."

Tice said the experience of bringing the children to her home in East Rockaway has been beneficial for her own sons, Jeremy and Jonathan. "I think it's helped them have a broader perspective, and helped make them less self-centered because they've had to share everything," she commented. As for any language barrier problems, Tice said, "We communicate - we kind of have our own language."

Catie expressed her excitement about all her hard work becoming a reality with Nastassia's arrival, summing up her motivation by stating, "I just really wanted to help."

Those interested in finding out more about the ABRO and how to participate can visit www.abro.org, where an application, along with information about the organization, can be found.

Source:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14775624&BRD=1776&PAG=461&dept_id=6365&rfi=6