We arrived at the centre at 9am and we finally got t tour the center and see all of the activities. The centre serves as a support for people who have relocated from the Chernobyl zone both recently and 20 years ago. The center helps with people with drinking problems and centres around seemingly all social problems. there are two main focuses o the center which are psychological and social and seems to appear at first as an art museum instead of a center with paintings, sculptures and collages everywhere. Their program is supported mainly through the arts and creativity and its spirit is alive in every room. We had a chance to see the work in progress and Emma and I were both totally amazed at the efficiency of the center. The team was also great.

We had a press conference with the local media and radio and I was relieved to find their questions direct and valid to our cause. We had Tanya translate for us during the interview. It went for about an hour and then we were off to see the orphanage.

We rode for about 10 km out of town when we reached the town of new zelesa and met the director of the orphanage ludmilla. The whole town had been relocated because of the Chernobyl disaster and the orphanage was opened in the kindergarten due to a lack of students in the area. It seemed that the houses were all the same had served their purpose without sparing any extras. The orphanage was situated in front of a statue dedicated to the relocated people.

I had left the crowd to see a little closer. The statue was set back a little ways on a small plot of land tat had graded over the years. There was a space for a flowerbed that had been barren for years. Beside the statue which was overgrown with weeds was a bouquet of flower that looked like I had been there for couple of years. It felt like this statue didn’t belong there anymore.

We continued to our next stop which was another town that had to be relocated. The mayor of new korogod explained that the population had dropped to about half since the relocation time 20 years ago and the houses were only built as temporary structures or a temporary problem. This lack of planning led to problems in housing as they were built on sand beds and degraded over the years. There is of course no infrastructure and the people are waiting in stalled action for the government to do something.

The center has helped a little by finishing 4 projects in the town including central heating for the school and piping gas to the hospital but this is only the start to the reconstruction of the town. There are other problems like 5% of the population has cancer.

It seems like to big of a number to be neglected but a blind eye is turned on he town.

Emma and I had the opportunity to have dinner with the mayor olga myhailiova and see for ourselves the houses that were constructed on this site. She also made a huge dinner for us with Ukrainian delicacies.

I am so full and I have never eaten so much in my life. We wound the day off with an internet session and a relaxing coffee.