By Karina Pavlova

A charity that helps bring disadvantaged children to the UK has been supported by local businesses at its latest fundraiser.

Medway’s Friends of Chernobyl’s Children (FOCC) welcomed Chatham Historic Dockyard, KTS Coffee and Sound, and several other companies to their event on Tuesday.

The Cliffe based charity helps children from Belarus, who have been affected by Chernobyl’s nuclear accident, come to the UK to recuperate.

Every year FOCC welcomes 15 children aged between six and 12 to spend a month with host families for temporary recuperative care.

Each child can take part in the project for five years and they often stay with the same host family throughout.

Jan and Mark Wadlow, from Cliffe, have hosted Polina, a girl from Putski in Belarus for the last two years.

Mrs Wadlow said: “Polina was just six years old when she first arrived and she is coming to us for a third time this year, and she has really changed our lives.

“It has been a roller-coaster of emotions for us. It was a bit overwhelming experience for us at first, but it does really start to take off, and it is exciting to take her for a weekend doing things that she has never done before, like eating cherries, which she has never tried.

“What really struck us when she arrived was that she had never seen a flushing toilet before, she didn’t know what soap was.”

She added: “All the things that our children in the UK just take for granted was a whole new world to them. This is where it became a real eye-opener. We realised how much we had to offer while she is here. And these are very simple things, you do not have to spend loads of money.”

During the first week, children visit a doctor and have their eyes and teeth checked. The charity also organises day trips to Chatham Ski Centre, Dover Castle and Dreamland in Margate.

“At the end of their stay, children return home to Belarus with a years’ supply of vitamins, clothes, shoes, supplies for themselves and their family. It is really rewarding experience”, she added.

FOCC trustee Sue Ranson said: “We are very grateful for the help of local businesses and people who are coming along to volunteer and donate money. Everyone was being very generous.

It costs about £800 to bring a child to the UK and although at this particular moment we feel financially stable, it is difficult to raise money for charities where children are not based in this country.”