Belarus Trip March 25th - April 5th 2009

Click here 24 members of the Friends of the children of Belarus have just returned from Belarus after completing a large school renovation project in Luninets. On 25th March 7 members went ahead of the remaining 17 members to prepare for the project and source all the materials.The remaining 17 traveled on 29th March. The group worked on the total renovation of the toilet facilities in a school in Luninets which has 1,140 students and 104 teachers. This included 41 toilets, 30 sinks, Cubicles, tiling, plastering, new sewer lines, etc, etc.
Lots of good work was done while interacting with the staff & locals. The group stayed in a local boarding school which was closed for mid term break. The job was completed on Friday evening after long days and lots of effort by all the volunteers. On Thursday the new members of the group went to the Exclusion Zone around Chernobyl, where they met the famlies and seen their very poor conditions.

During the week some members visitied famlies, other schools, day care centres, social institutes, etc with help and planning future projects & help. 2 schools were selected for next Easter. These are in need of help with one of them having no toilet facilities. On Saturday morning some members along with an interperter visited some of the families whose children came to Ireland in July 2007 and 2008. This was a great experience for all.

The members would like to thank all who made the trip possible - through cash donations, food donations, car washes, etc, etc. They would also like to thank Aer Arann and Bolavia Airlines for their help and not charging for all our excess luggage.

Please be patient as videos can take several minutes to download depending on your internet speed

Video Day 6 Work down in the basement click picture above	Video Day 7 Welding & Tiling in cubicles click picture above	Video Day 7 Levelling the floors click picture above	Video Day 7 We think our roads are bad ! click picture above
Video Day 7 Jarlath chops wood while waiting for the bus click picture above	Video Day 8 All busy at work click picture above	Video Day 9 Tiling in progress click picture above	Video Day 10 click picture above
Video Day 10 Problems with tile grout ! click picture above	Video Day 11 Luke & Martin make the doors click picture above	Video Problems with the language click picture above	Concert Part 1 click picture above
Concert Part 2 click picture above	Concert Part 3 click picture above	Video Day 12 Thank-you concert, dancing ! click picture above	Video Day 12 Thank-you concert ! click picture above
Video Day 1 click picture above	Video Day 2 (part 1) click picture above	Day 2 (part 2) click picture above	Video Day 3 (part 1) click picture above
Video Day 3 (part 2) click picture above	Video Day 3 (part 3) click picture above	Video Day 3 (part 4) click picture above

Thanks to O'Tooles, Tuam who supplied us with 70 lbs of sausages & 70 lbs of rashers, along with puddings & beans.	Thanks to National School Ware who have been supplying us with new cloths for the children in the schools since 2002
Thanks to all who helped with Fundraising Car Washes in Williamstown, Clonberne, and Carranmore	Thanks to Kepak, Athleague who donated all the steaks
School No 2 Luninets	Toilets before work started
Work under way	Richie & Sean prepare the walls
James & William replace sewers	Jarlath gets help from the Principal
Kenneth & Jarlath prepare for cubicles	John, James, Natasha (English teacher), James, Michael, & Vova (driver)
Tom & Eugune load out materials	Christy & Mike tiling
Martin, Jarlath & Luke make platforms	Waiting for bus at digs
Visiting the famlies	Visiting the famlies
Gerry mixes floor leveller	Getting materials
Gearoid & Michael install pipework	Gearoid enjoys a school meal
Martin, Michael, Tom & Gearoid look at work for next year	Martin tiling
Keith preparing toilets, etc	James & Michael prepare sinks, etc
John making good walls & Floors	Tom & Joseph tiling, etc
Michael, Richie and Gearoid relax with a game of cards	Michael gets first aid to eye
Job nears completion	Local children after football match
Thank-You meal by school	Thank-You concert by school