About Camp Claddagh

On April 26th, 1986 there was an explosion at a nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, on the border between Ukraine and Belarus. Many tons of radioactive materials were thrown into the atmosphere. Approximately 70 per cent of these radioactive substances blew north over the population of Belarus. This radiation rendered a quarter of the country's best farmlands and forests to be poisoned for hundreds of years to come. However, many children have no choice but to live in these very areas.

Camp Claddagh's mission is to offer rest and respite to children from the worst affected areas of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident. The Camp's primary goal is to give children from the Belarus area a month’s holiday away from their contaminated environment. The time spent away from a contaminated area with a volunteer host famiy in Galway can add up to two years to a child's life (drops in radiation levels of 30 – 50% are regularly recorded in children). Time away from their homeland also gives these children a different outlook and greatly enhances the quality of their lives, making caring friends in another country. It costs in the region of €500 to fly each child to Ireland and they also need to be accompanied by interpreters and other helpers.

Camp Claddagh is also involved in fundraising for the Chernobyl Children’s Cardiac Programme. This Programme offers cardiac treatment to children, including life-saving operations, to overcome the debilitating effects that nuclear radiation has on the heart. Camp Claddagh also has plans to purchase a home in Belarus: the 'Home of Hope' will enable Camp Claddagh to take up to 10 children out of an orphanage and offer them a better future in a foster home environment.

Camp Claddagh is an outreach group of Chernobyl Children's Project International.