{"id":8077,"date":"2023-04-28T09:11:31","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T09:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=8077"},"modified":"2023-04-28T09:11:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T09:11:42","slug":"cuba-and-the-children-of-chernobyl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cuba-and-the-children-of-chernobyl\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba and the Children of Chernobyl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On April 26, 1986, the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl plant produced a nuclear spill whose radiation contaminated 150 thousand square meters of what today are Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Considered the worst nuclear accident in history, it was in many ways a slow-motion mishap. In addition to the 30 workers and rescuers who perished in the hours and days immediately after the explosion, hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Land, water, agriculture and livestock were contaminated. The number of deaths in subsequent decades remains in dispute. The lowest estimates are 4,000; others 90,000 and up to 200,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several countries contributed resources, personnel and assistance to the recovery; the overwhelming majority went to contain and seal the reactor. In 1990, when the horror of the tragedy had ceased to be news, Cuba sent a medical team to evaluate the health consequences of the radiation. They found a situation in which cancer levels in children had increased 90 percent. The island would soon undertake medical assistance that is still difficult to measure: from 1990 to 2011, it cared for 26,000 people \u2013 22,000 children \u2013 from the affected area, covering medical, food, housing and recreational expenses for the minors and their companions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first 139 children from Chernobyl arrived on March 29, 1990 and were received by Fidel Castro. The images are touching, the President looks and greets the parents with attention and tenderly caresses the little ones. He promises them the best medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little ones from Chernobyl continued to arrive for more than two decades. Tarar\u00e1, a city 20 kilometers from Havana, was selected to take care of them. Located on the seashore, before the revolution it was a vacation destination for the upper middle class. The revolutionary government transformed it into a youth summer camp. In 1990 it was adapted to care for the children of Chernobyl. In addition to having two hospitals and a clinic, the camp had a dining hall, recreational and cultural spaces, school, theater and parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like being in a hospital,\u201d recalls Roman Gerus who was in Tarara as a child, \u201ceven the sickest children had a good time.\u201d Khrystyna Kostenetska, who was also treated there, describes, \u201cI remember an incredible sea, waves, sunsets, nature and ice cream; I also remember children with serious health problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon arrival in Cuba, the children were evaluated by doctors organized into four categories: the most serious ones with oncohematological problems that required specialized therapies; those suffering from chronic pathologies; children who could be treated on an outpatient basis; and the relatively healthy ones who required medical follow-up because they had lived in the contaminated area. All were treated under the comprehensive logic of the Cuban medical system, whose teams included pediatricians, oncologists, psychiatrists and dentists. Sometimes ailments unrelated to the spill were detected and treated as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Cuban initiative, which has been characterized as the longest humanitarian program in history, took place during one of the most difficult times for Cuba. The disintegration of the USSR in the early 1990s had eliminated its main trading partner and the island\u2019s economy suffered a brutal contraction. Everything was in short supply except solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When historian John Kirk \u2013 whose book Public Health Without Borders provides a detailed account of the island\u2019s care for the Chernobyl children \u2013 asked the director of the medical program in Tarar\u00e1 how Cuba could offer such help in such difficult times, he replied, \u201cThese are children, very sick children. How could we not treat them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several of the children who arrived were orphans and many others were poor. The disintegration of the Soviet Union meant the end of its social care infrastructure. The incipient capitalist system put a price tag on treatment that many could not afford. In addition to suffering from physical ailments, many lived with the trauma of having been evacuated from their homes. And the question remained as to what ailments would develop in the future and in other generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xenia Laurenti, deputy director of the Chernobyl Children\u2019s Health Care Program, states bluntly: \u201cIf you ask a Ukrainian child what he or she would like, the answer is not \u2018toys\u2019, but \u2018health\u2019. This is psychologically built in. And part of the program is aimed precisely at psychological rehabilitation, at not rejecting any kind of pathologies. Our goal is to cure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No price can be put on this effort to heal. In 2010, a Ukrainian NGO tried to do so, calculating it at more than 300 million dollars for Cuba\u2019s medical expenses alone. The testimonies of parents who, years later, between tears and smiles, express their gratitude to the Cuban people for the care they gave children, best capture the human dimension. \u201cThis is not just medical help \u2013 expressed one mother \u2013 it is a very great moral help for my people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was, like so many other initiatives of the Cuban revolutionary government, an unparalleled globalization of solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tanal\u00eds Padilla<\/em><\/strong> is a professor-researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Author of the book Unintended Lessons of Revolution, a history of the rural teacher training colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: La Jornada<\/a> , translation Resumen Latinoamericano \u2013 US<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a little know fact that Cuba provided medical treatment and care to more children affected by the Chernobyl disaster than any other country in the world. According to official figures, over 25,000 children from the affected areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were treated in Cuba’s healthcare system between 1990 and 2011, thanks to the island nation’s humanitarian aid program. This is because the island nation’s humanitarian aid program received little media coverage in the West, despite its significant impact on the lives of thousands of affected children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101011,"featured_media":6121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6072,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/chernobyl-children-in-cuba-an-untold-story-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":8077,"position":0},"title":"Chernobyl Children in Cuba: an Untold Story (Part I)","author":"Editorial Team","date":"March 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Tarara, children of Chernobyl. Photo Liborio Noval By way of introduction\u2026 One day in 2011, Peruvian visual artist Sonia Cunliffe visited the beach resort of Tarar\u00e1. She noticed bald children bathing on the beach. She asked who they were and they answered her: the Chernobyl children. She was shocked, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/3-30-chernobyl.jpeg?fit=519%2C330&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3734,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cuban-aid-what-hbo-didnt-mention-in-their-chernobyl-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":8077,"position":1},"title":"Cuban Aid: What HBO Didn\u2019t Mention In Their \u2018Chernobyl\u2019 Series","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Although Cuba went through economically difficult times, our state continued to offer specialized treatment to minors, fulfilling a commitment of solidarity\" HBO\u2019s \u2018Chernobyl\u2019 has been criticised for being historically inaccurate, but on Sunday, Cuba pointed out that their crucial role in providing free treatment to the victims is being airbrushed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6120,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/chernobyl-children-in-cuba-an-untold-story-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":8077,"position":2},"title":"Chernobyl Children in Cuba: an Untold Story (Part 2)","author":"Editorial Team","date":"April 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"March 29, 2022 was the 32nd anniversary of the arrival in Cuba of 139 children from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus; after the impact of the explosion of the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. 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CubaenResumen resumes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cuba"","block_context":{"text":"Cuba","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/cuba\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/hijo-de-chernobyl-1.jpg?fit=766%2C421&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/hijo-de-chernobyl-1.jpg?fit=766%2C421&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/hijo-de-chernobyl-1.jpg?fit=766%2C421&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/hijo-de-chernobyl-1.jpg?fit=766%2C421&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3568,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/the-little-known-story-of-the-chernobyl-children-cured-in-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":8077,"position":3},"title":"The Little Known Story of the Chernobyl Children Cured in Cuba","author":"Editorial Team","date":"August 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"While the new four part HBO documentary about the 1986 nuclear power plant meltdown in Chernobyl is being viewed by millions a related story\u00a0of human dignity and solidarity that was omitted also needs to be told. 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