Annual Vigil.

I will be holding my 24 th. annual Chernobyl Vigil in George Square,in Glasgow city centre on Monday 26 April 2010 from 08:00hrs. until 20:00 hrs. If anyone would like to come along on the day to say hello that would be great.

For the last 23 years I have held a Vigil to remind people of the terrible events that began during the night of 26 April 1986. Thousands of people living and working in villages and towns in the area's around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station suddenly had their lives turned upside down. The seemingly benign Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station became a malignant beast. Today its deadly legacy lives on, there are International Scientific teams operating in this real life radioactive laboratory they take samples, write up extensive reports, hold conferences no doubt carrying on a lot of good work.
The relatives of the people who have died,become ill,been evacuated from their homes, the self settlers who live inside the Exclusion Zone the thousands of children affected and their parents are not interested in scientific reports. I have held my Vigil's to remind people in this country of the suffering that Chernobyl has caused in the past, continues to cause at the present time,and will continue to cause in the future.

Edinburgh award

I would like to tell a story of a very helpfull Ukrainian woman whom I met in a Kiev Metro Station a few years ago. Looking around the Metro exits trying to figure out which one to choose, when I heard a frienly voice say in English,can I help you. I turned round to see a lovely Ukrainian woman, I asked her how she knew I spoke English and she said it was my lost look! that gave her a clue,and me thinking I was a cool character. Her name was ..... she was the wife of a diplomat a really nice lady, she took me on a tour around the city centre including the underground church, a fascinating place. We then went for a drink, then she made sure I got to the correct Metro station for home and said goodbye. This is another example of the helpfull people
I have met on my travels.
On 29 January 2010 I was presented with a medal, and an Honour Diploma scroll by the Ukrainian Government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for helping the children in Malin Hospital in the Zheetomir Region of Ukraine. The award was presented to me by Consul Vadym Vakhrushkin, from the Ukrainian Consulate,in Edinburgh. I wore a highland outfit for the occasion, which went down well with the guests.

Correction to first 2010 blog

Elections have been taking place in Ukraine and it looks like a change of goverment is taking place. When I was in Ukraine during the 2004 "Orange Revolution" people wanted their hero Victor Yuschenko to win. He did and citizens thought thought through time their lifestyle would improve, unfortunately this was not the case as events have shown. I know that at Malin hospital, back in 2004 they hoped their situation would improve, but the opposite happened. Now if civil unrest breaks out, once the official election result is announced who knows what will happen. At the present tiome I am trying to work out how to fund raise for the hospital in Malin. I have made enquiries about various fund raising ideas with different companies,in the past but they either wont help,or say because of Health and Safety issues they cannot allow me to try anything! I will just keep trying to come up with a feasable fund raising idea which is allowable?
Sorry folks I made a mistake in this blog, I put in Yanakovich's name instead of Yuschenko !

Last blog for 2009

I met up with one of the past Presidents of the Kiev Lions Club in November 2009. He was a really interesting man,and gave me an insite as to what the Lions Clubs are about.They do a terrific job raising money to help thousands of Ukrainian children who need their help. One of their main fund raising activities for several years has been their Burns Night and every year it goes from strength to strength. Their web site is really worth looking at on www.kyiv-lions-club.org They are a very good organisation and I hope to meet up with them when I return to Ukraine in 2010.
cheers Jim Gillies.

Malin Mov.2009

Two days before leaving I received an email from my friend in Ukraine telling me that I should get vaccinated against swine flu. Ukraine was experiencimg a pandemic,this was the first I had heard about this happening in Ukraine.However all my arrangements were made and for the sake of the hospital children I could not alter my plans they needed my help and I had to ignore the risk and go.When I arrived at Kiev's Borispol Airport all the passport control people were wearing masks just like the cabin crew had been wearing. It was a bit worrying, when my friend collected me at the airport, I saw many masked citizens on the way to his apartement. Later I was told that Schools,Universities,Colleges,Cinemas and Theatres, along with markets had been closed due to the Quarantine Restrictions.On our arrival at the hospital everything was under Quarantine and we had special permission to enter.I was able to buy medicines,small electric room heaters,cleaning materials, paper for their computer which I had bought some years earlier, I also paid their internet for another year. I bought a fridge to keep food for the children fresh. Unfortunately because of the Quarantine I was not allowed to go to villages or orphanages. Bohdan Sobolevski the wee boy abandoned in the hospital 2 years ago, reunited with his mother last year had been brought down to Malin by his mother for a health check,and he looks better wearing some of his new clothing bought with money left with my friend Anatoil Artemenko by Danny Livingston last year when he filmed my work at the hospital, thank you Danny.At the hospital a young man had died due to a mutated swine flu virus that totally destroyed his lungs. I kept away from my grandchildren on my return as a precaution just in case.
The new beds and equipment I have supplied over the years are very much appreciated by Doctors,nurses and parents of the children,but there is still a lot to be done.

Next Trip to Malin.

I will soon be setting of on my next visit to help the children in Malin Hospital. I am hoping to return to the village where Bohdan Sobolevski lives,to see how he is. I also want to visit the orphanages where some of the hospital children have been sent to.
I am flying this time as I am not carrying my usual bags of medical supplies as no companies would help me.But when I am over there I will help the Doctors to provide medical items,medicines,food,clothing and other things the hospital needs for the children. The World wide Economic situation has effected Ukraine,and Malin hospital's financial position,which was already bad,has deteriorated. But I must do what I can for the children in their care. I would like to thank people who gave me donations to help,and assure them that 100% of their donations are used to help the children. I have always paid all my own expenses, and I will continue to do so.
I will post a blog. on my return.

mini bus to Malin

As soon as the woman on the bus listened on my phone she smiled as Dr.Victoria explained the situation. When she handed it back to me I said to Victoria understand! she said yes. Relieved the hospital knew I was not lost after all and was on the correct bus. The driver was collecting fares,however when I tendered my fare of 12 grivna, he said something, but what just then the telephone woman came and sat beside me handing the driver 2 grivna on my behalf (apparently the fare can vary dependant on the mini bus drivers company) I decided to practice my Russian language by thanking Galina for helping with the phone and the fare, she explained that she lived on the outskirts of Malin and worked in Kiev. I was aqble to tell her about my family and she told me about her own family, this conversation took a lot longer than normal due to the language barrier, but we managed. I asked her where she worked, replying with a few words which I never understood Galina brought a square of paper from her bag handing it to me,unfortunately I did not know the wording on the paper. Suddenly Galina reached into her large shopping bag and produced a bag of doughnuts " I work " here. A Bakery,she worked in a bakery offering the bag to me I took a doughnut, I was hungry and the doughnut was great. Later on the journey the bus left its normal route turning into a forest track as the road ahead was blocked. We were at least 40 minutes driving through the forest finally emerging back on the normal route. Finally I began to see parts of the surroundings that I recognised, Galina who had been an interesting fellow traveller stood up to leave asking if I knew where to get off in Malin, insisted on handing me another doughnut before getting off. I have found that Ukrainian people are generally friendly and helpfull on my travels. At last I arrived in Malin, snow covered roads and icy pavements. Next blog finding how to get to the hospital from the centre of Malin, on my own.