09.04.2006.Homemade vodka helps to forget about radiation. American photojournalist Dan decided to make me company to see areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster. I decided to take the colleague along though I knew having him around would not make the trip easier given the Minsk-Washington dissent

Journey notes
of "Belarusian News"
special correspondent
Vassily SEMASHKO

American photojournalist Dan decided to make me company to see areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster. I decided to take the colleague along though I knew having him around would not make the trip easier given the Minsk-Washington dissent. It sounded funny when he asked whether we should stock foods and drinking water going to the city of Khoyniki. Whereas I wanted to see how the American would take the stay at a Belarusian family living on a small district center outskirts.

An old "Icarus" was stirring on the route Minsk – Bragin at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour bringing us to contaminated lands. The bus was almost empty after a stop in Rechitsa. Polessye lowland, fields flooded with spring tide. Peat bogs, which usually smolder in summer raising radioactive dust, are now calm.

A private house on the outskirts of Khoyniki. All conveniences are outside. The stove is fired. I told my friends I was coming with a friend bud did not specify he was from the United States. I just wanted the American to see the ordinary life of a Belarusian family. By tradition they treat the guests with everything that fits the table. Cucumbers, tomatoes, meat, homemade ardent spirits, after which there is no more fear of the probable radioactivity of the set pleasures of the table. Dan very much enjoyed the Belarusian cuisine. By the way, the local foods are cleaner than many of those far from Chernobyl: over the 20 years most of people have got used to maintain the safety radiation level. For instance, there are better chances to buy contaminated mushrooms from grannies at bus stops or stores in Vitebsk or Minsk.

In the morning we head for the Khoyniki district hospital. Physicians and patients have already accustomed themselves to journalists. That is why we do not disturb them at all. The most part of the hospital equipment was provided as humanitarian aid. Regrettably, some of the facilities are second-hand items from West Europe. Recycling costs money there, so they try to throw them out to Belarus under the pretence of humanitarian aid. For example, a "donated" old fax-machine in one of the offices can only accept incoming messages. The Khoyniki hospital had to recycle a batch of unusable medicines (a gift), which was first valued at tens of millions rubles.

A pediatrician receives patients. Most of the children complain of regular diseases like sore throat or cough. Physicians say no diseases connected with the high radiation level are reported. It is notable that the average background gamma and beta radiation in Khoyniki makes 30 microroentgens per hour, while Minsk sees 17-25.
The medical monitoring has become much closer after the Chernobyl disaster. People now look after their health lot more. Physicians say an 80-year-old lady stung by a gnat may come and demand full examination: “what if this pimple is a carcinoma?"

Doctors believe the alcohol overindulgence, which affects the next generation’s health, is a problem much more serious than radiation. But not only Chernobyl-affected regions face it actually.  

I underwent examination myself. No radiation. I will check the level on the way back. I witnessed examination of a rescuer from the Khoyniki emergency situations unit. There is radiation but within measure. All local residents are annually examined on such chair. The physician, who has been conducting examinations for about a year, says he has not registered excessive body burden so far.

An unremarkable five-floored building in one of the city streets. Old women with kerchiefs on their heads almost always sit on a bench at the entrance like near village houses. The house mostly hosts elderly people from villages, which do not exist anymore.

In the Khoyniki suburb there is a monument to villages lost as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, a sculpture of a grieving woman on the background of a semiround wall with names of dead villages of the Khoyniki district on it. There are names of 21 localities. They are rather big deserted villages. Smaller ones are lot more.

The city totals 14 thousand people. Industry: the Khoyniki hydraulics plant, canning factory, cheesemaking plant, fodder mill, motor-car repair plant, applied arts factory, peat briquette factory, concrete products plant, printing house. Oil extraction was started this March. Many people work in the Polesski radiation- ecological reserve created in contaminated territory. The reserve administration stations in Khoyniki. That is why the most commonly encountered color of the clothes in the district center is the reserve uniform camouflage pattern …

To be continued...