The ONG Ledicia Cativa has organized a meeting in Santiago for the 66 families which this summer are going to host a child from Chernobyl of between 5 and 18 years old. The objective: for them to live longer.

“This program has been going for 15 years, which means Galician families have given many extra years of life to several hundred Russian children affected by the saddest nuclear tragedy in modern history. There is no greater commitment than that being made by these families, and we are immensely grateful to them”, says the Vice-President of Ledicia Cativa, José Manuel Borrajo. “The families bend over backwards for these children and teach their own children how to selflessly help the neediest. Every day there are more of us, every day more families offer to help give life and now we only need determined help from the government so that, after all these years, we can tell the world that Galicians have big and generous hearts”, she added. This year the number of families in Galicia willing to take in children has doubled.

Health for the children
The main objective of Leticia Cativa is to lengthen the life expectancy of the 66 children that will be hosted by Galician families until the end of August. “They’ll live two more years thanks to spending a summer with us”, says Susana Quintás, one of the Galician mothers, who this summer has taken in Nastia, a 7-year old girl. “If she wants to, she’ll come back next summer; at the beginning you see this as helping the needy, but when the child is with you, this becomes something so much more important, it turns into affection and that’s what makes you devote yourself to the child. For example, language is no barrier when there’s affection. My children are crazy about her and they understand each other just with smiles.”

These Russian boys and girls eat well in Galicia, they receive no radiation, they drink a lot of milk and “they grow more, put on weight and go home healthier”, says another of the Galician mothers. Concha and Carlos Alberto of Celanova say, “my 3 children are thrilled, when she leaves her happy face turns sad; for us she’s a member of the family, because this the fourth summer Elizaveta has come to our house, and it won’t be the last.”

Teaching the children
With this program, Galicia Cativa not only gives life but it also teaches the Galician and Russian children to become aware of other social realities and other cultures, overcoming language barriers and opening up their world. This ONG has demonstrated that great humanitarian work can be done with a minimum structure, because the families get involved, they gladly help one another with the placements, and take on activities and responsibilities in a voluntary and disinterested manner. “This is an example of how much can be done with so little, an example of coexistence, comprehension, friendship and solidarity,” says Borrajo.

Thanks to all the host families, the Russian children will have an unforgettable experience which will change their lives, but also those of the Galician children, who will always remember these months, will have friends in other parts of the world, will share what they have and will know that, thanks to them, the world is a little bit better place,” he adds.

The Director of the NGO ends by saying, “With this action, the Galician children and their parents demonstrate that helping is not only a duty or a self-imposed responsibility, but rather, it is an enriching labor, which teaches and matures all of us; it makes us value what we have, it opens up the minds of young people to a world and to real situations they would otherwise probably never see.”

Support of the initiative
Of course, Borrajo insists on encouraging all the social agents and the government of Galicia to resolutely support these initiatives, as they are the best way of making our country great. In this manner, Galicia acquires another dimension; former participants in our programs make our culture, our people and our Community known at universities, in the media and the Russian networks, thereby projecting our image.

Chary and José Jesús of La Coruña, parents of two children, have taken in a Russian girl for the first time this summer. “For us, collaborating with an NGO doesn't change the world, but the positive impact on us, on our children, and mainly on our “new daughter Tatiana” makes us happier and helps us to “improve” our society.” Mari Carmen and Jesús of Santiago de Compostela, who are hosting Nikka, feel the same way; they are teaching their daughters that they are capable of changing their destiny and that, if we all do a little bit, together we can do a lot, “we are all doing our share, including the media; this year the program is being discussed a lot in the media and we hope it continues that way.”

The sponsors of the meeing are the Galician Department of Culture and Sociocultural Centres (Concellaría de Cultura e Centros Socioculturáis), the Deparment of the Environment (Concellaría de Medio Ambiente) and Begano (Coca-Cola), Caixa Galicia, Aguas de Mondariz and Gadis are collaborating companies.

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Nota_Prensa_Ledicia_Cativa_17julio2010_-ingles.doc