We had 6 boys and 4 girls in our group aged 8 to 10. We did not get some of the girls information until the last minute so it was a bit of a mystery as to who was coming . I had never done this before and felt extremely anxious at  the airport arrivals gate. My inner voice was just saying to itself  “what on earth are you doing!” When I heard Julie say  “this is your group” and 10 very excited children shot out with a trolley each and squealing with excitement. I was introduced to our interpreter and off we went to the mini bus. We met the host parents at Cottons Hotel. The hotel manager had arranged for fruit kebabs and chocolate dips which definitely broke the ice. The children were introduced to their  families and then where driven off with excited chocolate faces. I had imagined that they would be very quiet at first. How wrong I was!.
Vita and Marina stayed with us, they had a small bag each with only a few clothes, their shoes had holes and they had brought presents for us.  A small statue of a Belarus man and some place mats. They also had presents for the second family. Vita had a new toothbrush which she wanted to boil! Her mother said it would remove germs. It took quite a while to convince Vita that this was not needed and eventually she agreed, brushed her teeth and then went to bed and ate chocolate buttons. One boy came from a small village and he did not have a bathroom at home. His family use a communal bath once a week. He was given some new pyjamas which he loved, they had a tryantula on them.The next day his host family could not find them. He had been wearing them under his clothes as he did not want to loose them. It was 25 degrees!. We thought he looked hot!.
One of the girls called Dasha surprised us all, she arrived with a large suitcase and spoke perfect English. She was the sweetest girl you could ever meet. Her mother is very well educated and works very near to the power station. She taught her English to give her a good chance in life. Dasha became our second interpreter !. Over the next few days all the families began to fall in love with the children. A few had homesick moments but they soon passed. We went on lots of group outings and the lions club provided a minibus. After just a few days the children started to look healthier and get pink cheeks. We got through bags of grapes I have never bought so many in my life. It was like watching a paranah frenzy. We took them to Wendy Didams Opticians. 4 needed glasses and she provided them all for free!. We also went to the dentists. They where so brave. Some had fillings and Artem needed an extraction of an adult tooth as it was so decayed. He was so brave and did not cry. He was very pleased after because we gave him his tooth and lots of stickers. He hugged me for taking him! The next day he was chomping on an apple. On our last day we all went to Fornby beach. They had never seen the sea before and went mad with excitement. Jurrii threw of his shoes and ran in. He turned to see me and got flattened by a wave. Artem tried to grab him and went under too. The other boys thought this was great and all leapt in fully clothed!!! The rest of the day was spent in pants. On the final morning the Shropshire group came to collect them. We actually did not want the children to go and everyone cried. There are so many things that happened , most good a few a bit nerve wracking but it really was an amazingly emotional experience. We all went to wave goodbye at the airport. The children all hugged us and waved until it out of sight, then Artem ran back and shouted “good morning”. Suddenly they were all gone and it went very quiet. 10 little whirlwinds flew into our lives for two weeks and have changed our lives.

Sarah Batty, Knutsford Group Co-Ordinator