A LORRY CRAMMED with up to €140,000 worth of donated items bound for Chernobyl has been trashed in Kilkenny.
A person has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident, which occurred yesterday.
The lorry, which is used by the Kilkenny branch of Chernobyl Children International (CCI), was broken into while it was in the Hebron Industrial Estate to be serviced, said Jim Kavanagh of CCI.
The group is due to travel to Chernobyl with the lorry this Sunday.
The damage
As outreach leader for the Kilkenny group, Kavanagh has seen how much work has gone into the fundraising for this truckload of items.
It began in July, with all of the items set to be delivered to a rural town that has recently seen an influx of Ukrainian refugees.
“It’s very difficult to quantify the amount of damage,” Kavanagh told TheJournal.ie.
About a third of it is destroyed, and there is something in the order of 10 – 12,000 nappies missing. They were at the back door of the trailer and were in nappy boxes. They appear to be all gone. We haven’t disturbed any of the load yet in that it literally all has to be unloaded again afresh. That’s the massive logistic problem with it.
He said some items had been damaged during the incident.
People have been rallying around to help since the news broke.
Kavanagh said that replacing the nappies is the most pressing need, but he is unsure whether they will be sourced in time for the shipment to leave on Sunday.
The trailer also contained bedclothes, toys, clothes and shoes, all donated from around Ireland.
The Kilkenny branch of CCI has been active for 20 years, with children visiting the city every year from Chernobyl. Kavanagh journeys to Chernobyl twice a year to help bring over donations.
“We have in this country gone through, by our standards, a fairly tough time in the last five to six years. But we are light years ahead of conditions over there,” said Kavanagh.
The city of Minsk is a very modern city, but go five kilometres outside it in any direction and you’re in a different world. The children in the rural villages live a very, very poor existence.
The area the group is headed to on Sunday is where a lot of Ukrainian people have fled to because of the ongoing conflict with Russia.
“These are people who are literally living with nothing. They are living in camps and makeshift places for sleeping, and that was where [the donations] were all going.”
Kavanagh appealed:
If there’s anybody reading this out there, companies that might donate a pallet of nappies, please get in touch.
His contact details are available on the group’s own website and the group can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Gardaí confirmed that a person was charged in connection with this incident. They will appear in Kilkenny District Court on 14 April.
All photos used with permission of Chernobyl Kilkenny Outreach Group. Comments are closed as a person has been charged in connection with this incident.
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