A HEARTFELT reminder that Chernobyl nuclear disaster is still not over was made on the 30th anniversary last Tuesday by Victor Mizzi, the Haslemere-based founder of the Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline charity.

Radiation poured out of a reactor at the nuclear plant in Ukraine for 10 days in 1986, contaminating 77,000 square miles and 71 per cent of neighbouring Belarus.

A 19-mile exclusion zone still surrounds the reactor and those exposed, their children, grandchildren and future generations continue to be diagnosed with cancers and genetic disorders.

Mr Mizzi founded the charity to help child victims in 1991 by giving them recuperative breaks of four weeks in the UK.

He has seen his lifeline go from strength to strength and has just stepped down as chief executive but remains firmly committed to the cause, having been awarded the MBE for his charitable work.

His great fear now, which is shared by new chief executive Dennis Vystavkin, is that too many people, 30 years on, think the problems have now been solved.

Appealing for continued support, he said: “People think after 30 years, it is over. But Chernobyl will be blighted for hundreds of years and generations are still being born with problems. This is one disaster that can’t be cleaned up.

“I have passed the charity over to Dennis and it will be safe in his hands. He joined seven years ago and we have worked together non-stop. I have given 27 years to it 24/7.

“I started it in 1991 after a few child victims were invited to Haslemere by two ladies. I appealed for help and over a week, town residents donated around £12,000.

“My original dream was to help 200 a year eventually but that had grown to 4,000 within four years. It grew almost by word of mouth and we now have 250 links across the country that literally cover the UK.

“I bought Chernobyl child Igor Pavlovets, one of the first disabled babies, to the UK. He is remarkable and has made a new life at his home in Godalming and is now a father. The children keep in touch.

“Last year I hosted daughter of a girl I had previously hosted who became a leader of a group coming to the UK to put something back into charity.

“The charity doesn’t stop with children.

“We provide on-going supplies of multi-vitamins and basic healthcare products to the children on their return, we work with our Belarusian partners in Minsk and Gomel to locate children who are in need of recuperative care from outlying villages, we help children too sick to travel by providing chemotherapy medicines to children’s cancer hospitals in Minsk, Gomel and other regions.

“We support village projects and when needed, bring children to the UK for long term medical care and education.

“People who can’t host can help us by donating. We have saved a lot of lives.

“I would like to thank all the people in Haslemere, who have made the charity such a success.”

A measure of Mr Mizzi’s popularity – both locally and globally – was demonstrated when he suffered a spell of serious illness recently that prompted his decision to retire.

“He received 1,400 cards from well wishers.

Camelsdale resident Pauline Fitter leads the charity’s Haslemere link. She joined forces with Mr Mizzi at the very beginning and has been a trustee since 1995.

She said: “I have been with the charity through thick and thin.

“Our first group had 23 children and three leaders, we now help about 50,000.

“More than 700 children have now come to Haslemere and the town has raised a lot of money.

“Chernobyl can’t move on. I have visited the area and it is like a ghost town.

“The nearest town was all ready for a May Day celebration. The Ferris Wheel is still there but has gone rusty and a doll dropped by a child is still in the road.

“There seems to be a great belief that after 30 years things have got better – but it will be hundreds of years before the soil is clean.”

The charity has just relocated from Mr Mizzi’s home to Hartley Business Park in Alton, where Mr Vystavkin heads a team of four.

“At least seven generations will experience genetic aberrations,” he said.

“We are dealing not just with the children from that time but their children and the children of their children. They are all innocent victims.

“We get no support from Government. From 2010 the charity has been forced to pay for visas for the children we bring to the UK, which means we have to pay an extra £200,000 every year.

“We lobbied MPs to try and prevent it and many wrote in support – but we were not helped by Government.

“We desperately need donations and more host families.

“We are happy to give talks about what we do to local organisations.

“No third party agency is involved in our support and our help is delivered straight to the beneficiary.

“We would love to hear from any transport company that could help with travel from airports in UK.

“The children come here for four weeks and that makes a great difference.

Our fresh air and clean food helps them lose the contamination in their bodies and kickstarts their immune systems.

“They don’t pose a threat to anyone else.

“We also need volunteers to run our Family Support project in which UK families sponsor families in Belarus.

“This charity all about the best-ever communication between nations – people-to-people diplomacy.

“Around five-and-a-half million people live in highly contaminated sites, including two million children.

“On Chernobyl’s 30th anniversary we want to remind everyone the disaster is not over and we need help more than ever.”

To support Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline, visit ccll.org.uk.