Area extends aid to Belarusian children :: Charter'97 :: News

Four children from Belarus received eye exams Thursday afternoon courtesy of the Optometric Eye Care Center on Tiffany Boulevard.

The children are visiting the United States as part of the American Belarusian Relief Organization. Children spend six weeks in the country with a host family, and in between medical exams, they go on vacations and learn about American culture, said Belarusian chaperone Olga Marchenko.

Marchenko, 31, said the trip to the United States helps boost the children`s weakened immune systems. Belarus borders Chernobyl, Ukraine, which was the site of a 1986 nuclear reactor accident.

"The radiation makes their immune systems weak," she said. "They become healthy in the six weeks they are here. They feel better when they get back."

The Radiation Effects Research Foundation reports on its Web site that cells of the immune system are produced by repeated division of blood stem cells, and those cells are sensitive to radiation.

Dr. David Braswell conducted the eye exams at the center.

"Most have good vision. Some may need glasses, but generally most have healthy eyes," he said.

Braswell said the center will provide the children with free glasses if needed.

"They take much better care of their glasses than we do here," he said.

Braswell said the center has been providing free care to Belarusian children for about six years.

Csenya Soboleva, 15, is on her seventh visit to Nashville resident Valerie Sauls` home. Braswell provided Soboleva with contact lenses because she is a dancer and not able to wear glasses, Sauls said.

"Health care is not very good there," Sauls said. "Contacts are really expensive there."

Sauls said Soboleva is a part of her family now — Soboleva was a bridesmaid in Sauls` daughter`s wedding two weeks ago.

Soboleva, who has been learning English for about nine years, said she loves America`s roller coasters and beaches.

"This is the best place," she said.

The children have also visited a physician and a dentist while in the town.

"The kids love the dentist," said host parent and Rocky Mount resident Heather Rodgers.

Lynn Isbell, another host, said this is because the dentists in Belarus do not use Novocaine to numb pain.

In addition to the doctor`s visits and vacations, the children also participate in bi-weekly Bible studies, given in Russian by the two Belarusian chaperones, Marchenko said.

"I really think the most important thing is for them to learn about God," she said. "For 70 years, it was forbidden to talk about God."

Belarus was a constituent republic of the USSR for seven decades, before gaining freedom in 1991.

Isbell said the program is not government-sponsored. The money spent on a child`s travel and daily expenses is funded by churches, businesses or, more than likely, the host family`s own pocket. Rodgers said travel expenses alone are about $1,000.

"We save up all year long," said Rodgers, who has brought back 13-year-old Maryna Matsiushkova for the past three years.

Isbell said Rocky Mount is the biggest supporter in Eastern North Carolina of the national program.

Pinetops resident Jenny Voliva said it is her first year participating in the program. She is hosting 7-year-old Szehanna Malashenka, and said the experience has been "wonderful."

"We`re going to bring her back as much as we can," Voliva said.