Anna Gorchakova was a psychologist at the Children's Cancer Hospital and she became acutely aware of the need to give support at home to children whose treatment had failed, so that they could die free from pain and with their family around them.
She established the Belarusian Children's Hospice 11 years ago to support such children in the Minsk area. We have worked with Anna to organise visits of hospice nurses to the UK; to take Macmillan and CLIC nurses to Belarus; and in January 2000 we established the first children's 'home hospice' outside Minsk, in Gomel.

Since then small hospice teams have been set up in Vitebsk, Mogilev (through an Irish charity), Pinsk (funded by Chernobyl Children, Rye) and there are now nurses in several parts of Gomel Region.

We currently fund a Palliative Care Team in Gomel City which works closely with the Mayflower Centre and with professional advice and support from the Hospice in Minsk. During  2006 they have been supporting about a dozen families but now plan to expand, thanks to a grant from Greenpeace Environmental Trust, to support around 20 families next year.

We have received generous grants from the Victor Zorza Hospice Trust which have enabled us to bring doctors and nurses from Belarus on visits to the UK, and to send palliative care specialist from Britain to Belarus to give advice and training. We are particularly grateful for the help we have had from Francis House Children's Hospice in Manchester and Severn Hospice in Shrewsbury, and we have also been welcomed at Hannah House and Martin House Children's Hospices in Yorkshire; Spring Hill Hospice in Rochdale, St. Ann's Hospice, Manchester and Hope House, near Oswestry.

When the 'Remember Chernobyl' Coalition was set up to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Chernobyl it was decided that any collective fund raising would be for the Belarusian Children's Hospice. Fudns have been raised to support the completion of a Summer House project for Hospice famileis from Minsk; to help set up a new palliative care team in Slonim; and CCP(UK) contributed £7,500 to purchase a new minibus for the day Centre at the Minsk Hospice.

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