On Wednesday 27th July, I went to a disco held by Riversway Elim Church, for a group of children from Belarus near to Chernobyl where the nuclear disaster happened in 1986, writes teen blogger Liam Thomas.

Seventy per cent of Belarus is contaminated with radiation.

Because of this everything that is grown there is also contaminated, and due to the cost of importing food being so high they have to eat the contaminated food.

This leads to the children who live there having low immune systems thyroid and kidney problems, leukaemia and also cancer; which are all due to the contaminated food.

Jane Elliott who runs the Shropshire branch of Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline said that when she visited Belarus, the mother of a family was very upset because she was slowly killing her children by feeding them the contaminated food, but there is nothing that could be done to prevent it.

The charity Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline brings over at least 10 children every summer for four weeks at a time; this boosts their immune system greatly.

The charity is a completely voluntary organisation which relies very heavily on fundraising to pay for the children to come to the UK.

The charity is always looking for people to help out, whether it be by being a host family next year, or by donating in the form of facilities, or activities, or transport, for example if someone had a minibus they could take the children to the coast for the day, which also boost’s their immune system.

The host families are not only in contact with the child for the time that they are in the UK, but keep in contact after their visit through phone calls, birthday and Christmas cards and letters.

One hundred per cent of the fundraising done for the charity goes to the children.

The charity is always in need of donations. Each child returns to Belarus with 30 kilos of luggage that is given to them in the UK, including clothes, multivitamins, toiletries, tea and coffee, hand cream and lip balm because of the very cold winters, when it can reach -30 degrees.

The Children are in the UK for two more weeks, so if you would like to donate before their return home you can contact Jane Elliott on 07846 172750.

The personal experience that I have had, meeting the children had made me want to be involved in whatever way I can.