SCAREDY CAT
ANNUAL PUNK ALL DAYERS
Why Did I Want To Do This?
Hi... 
My name is Kari & there's nothing more I love than a night out at a right good punk gig with plently o beer & the company of my good mates! (i'm talking old school here, none o' yer teeny punk, emo, so-cal nonsense)
In 2006 I, or should I say we (including of course, my hubby Peter) got involved with Chernobyl Children Lifeline's local branch
(old Ayrshire CCL link site)
(new Ayrshire CCL link site)
I came across an article in Take a Break magazine (no I don't read those women mags as a general rule, but in my defence I used to be a taxi driver so I spent a lot of time sat in a car bored stiff waiting for hires & need something to do to pass the time - AND I still didn't win any of the competitions!!! GGrrr!!! 
)
Anyway, to get back to my point, there was an article in it about a lady from Fort William who due to disability she found herself unable to have children of her own & became involved with the charity. It basically involves opening up your home (& heart) to children from Belarus who are flown over to this country to stay for 4 weeks once or twice a year.
So, in February 2006, we became a host family for children from the Belarus area who live in the shadow of the fallout from Chernobyl.
We had 2 wee boys from Belarus stay with us for 4 weeks. Basically, it involved welcoming the kids into your home for the short time that they are here; this provides them with clean air & healthy food. There are a lot of activities arranged for their visit through the charity such as days out on the lifeboats, fire station, sea world, swimming etc… there also visits to the doctor & dentists as basic healthcare is'nt freely available in their country.
These visits are important for the kids as it is said that with just one short stay over here it adds approx 2 years onto their lives!
The charity also helps the kids & their families at home with donations of clothes & toys, constructing amenities in the towns & villages eg. Laundries with clean running water etc.. & also helping the kids living with cancer in the hospitals & of course the unfortunate children in orphanages.
26th April 2006 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.
The Belarussian people are suffering more than ever from the legacy of the world's worst nuclear disaster - the radioacive fallout was 90 TIMES GREATER than Hiroshima!!!
It is estimated that today only 1% of the land remains uncontaminated. Hundreds of villages and towns have ceased to exist, 25% of all farmland and forest is lost, and the entire country has been proclaimed a zone of international ecological disaster. The food they eat, the land they live on & the air they breath are all contaminated with radiation from the fallout.
AND as if that wasn't bad enough, the "sarcophagus" which covers Reactor 4 at Chernobyl is nothing more than a thick concrete & lead shell. This concrete casing is gradually crumbling & the lead is leaking out into the surrounding land & waterways poisoning the environment with toxic heavy metals & leading to fears that a second release of radiation could occur.
I/we don’t claim to know a great deal about the politics of the land other than the people of Belarus are a proud race who live under a dictatorship Government. What we do know is that there is a lot of poverty & associated problems such as alcohol abuse etc..
We decided to do this because we can’t have kids of our own & although we have considered other avenues including adoption &/or fostering we understand that it is a major life changing commitment (which would basically mean very little time for our favourite pastime ie: PUNK GIGS & BEER!), not to mention I am not entirely sure in myself that I am cut out for parenthood as I can’t say for sure that I’m very maternal?
So yes, I guess you could say there are maybe somewhat selfish motives behind this , but the way I see it is that I/we would be helping children in REAL need even though it would just be for short period of time & all the while it would give me an insight into what life with kids would be like.
Basically, after I read the article I decided then & there (after talking it over with my hubby of course) that this would be the right course of action for us.
Anyway ... the point to all this is that I wanted to do more!
Hence my bright idea!
Try & arrange a fundraising PunK GiG she thought ...
So
I
DID!!!
The whole idea, thinking, concept, planning, arranging, organisation, blah, blah, blah etc... etc.... behind the All Day Fundraising Punk Gig Event(s) both previously held & still to come in order to mark the 20th anniversary (and future anniversaries) of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster (26/4/86) & raise funds for Chernobyl Children Lifeline Reg. Charity No: 1014274 are copyright of © scaredy-cat (promotions?)
Scaredy Cat NOT Copy Cat!
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