Home instead of Chernobyl
| Home instead of Chernobyl eV | |
|---|---|
| Club type | Nonprofit organization |
| founder | Dietrich and Irmgard von Bodelschwingh |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Place of foundation | Bünde ( North Rhine-Westphalia ) |
| Seat | Holzgerlingen ( Baden-Wuerttemberg ) |
| Chairperson | Edeltraud Schill |
| main emphasis | Relocation, integration, reconciliation |
| website | http://www.heimstatt-tschernobyl.org/ |
Home instead Chernobyl eV is a German non-profit association , which has set itself the task of families in the resettlement of the by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster contaminated areas of Belarus to support in a non-contaminated area in the north.
Emergence
The organization was founded in 1990 by Dietrich and Irmgard von Bodelschwingh. The Bodelschwinghs became aware of the problematic conditions in parts of Belarus after the Chernobyl reactor disaster on April 26, 1986 brought the country to the center of public attention in Europe . There have been many initiatives in Germany to bring children to Germany for recreational stays. However, the problems of these children were quickly recognized when they had to drive back to their contaminated homeland. This was the reason for the foundation of the non-profit association "Heim-statt Tschernobyl eV" to help the people in their own country and to build a new home with them on a healthy earth. A resettlement program was launched through self-help building mud houses, in which many people - even without special prior knowledge - can participate.
activities
Since 1991, groups of voluntary helpers from Germany have been traveling to Belarus for 3 weeks in the summer months and building a new house together with affected families in the non-contaminated north. An essential part of the concept is the ecological construction method and the responsible use of energy: The resettlement houses are built using clay and insulated with reed panels that are produced on site.
In the meantime, a total of 57 residential buildings have been built in Drushnaja and Stari-Lepel (near Lepel ). For this purpose, an ambulance and a community house with an office were built by ÖkoDomStroj in Drushnaja. And in Lepel an ambulance, as well as a house of encounters and a workshop for the handicapped were built. In addition, an office for the partner organization was set up in Minsk.
Building together with over 1,500 volunteers from Belarus and Germany created friendships and made new, reconciling encounters possible.
The construction camps have resulted in further initiatives that have come together to form a network of personal assistance and structural programs - as the German association “Heim-statt Tschernobyl” and in Belarus as “ÖkoBau”.
Special projects
Construction of wind turbines
The two wind turbines near Drushnaya above Lake Narach . In the years 2000 to 2002 Heim-instead of Chernobyl installed two wind turbines with a nominal output of 250 and 600 kW above Lake Narach near the Drushnaya settlement.
The wind turbines were mainly financed from donations, among other things with a special support program by "SNOW eV". The two wind turbines produce an annual average of almost 1.3 million kilowatt hours, which corresponds to the electricity requirements of 600 to 700 Belarusian households. The electricity generated is fed into the public grid for sale. With the earmarked proceeds, the Belarusian partner organization "ÖkoDom", as the operator of the facilities, finances further projects for families with radiation damage.
On August 29, 2013, the third wind turbine from ÖkoDomStroj / ÖkoBau with a nominal output of 1000 kW went into operation.
Focus project ambulance
In the first few years the focus was on individual aid in the form of resettlement and house building. In a second phase of the association's work, there was also structural aid. In October 2006 Heim-instead of Chernobyl was able to inaugurate a new project with the first ambulance center. It is about the construction of an ecologically oriented model house as an outpatient clinic for local medical care. The following objectives were pursued with this construction project:
- After building more than 50 clay houses, an ecological model house with a different construction technology was to be created:
- Wood panel construction with reed insulation
- Solar panels
- Photovoltaic
- Wood chip heating
- A small but well-equipped outpatient clinic was built in this building to provide comprehensive medical care to the population - especially the children - on site. In close connection with the district hospital 30 kilometers away, outpatient treatments and social care in the living area are offered. This model, which has meanwhile been copied by the Belarusian authorities in another area, leads to an improvement in the quality of life of both the resettlers with their many young children and the population of the surrounding villages. In 2010, this ambulance center was awarded a “1. Award for particularly good medical care ”.
After several years of intensive planning and fundraising, Heim-instead of Chernobyl was able to inaugurate an ambulance (a so-called FAP) in the second resettled village in October 2013. It is also an ecologically built house with solar thermal and wood chip heating. The management is in the hands of a field shearwoman who also moved into a house built by Heim instead of Chernobyl at the same time.
With the construction of the ambulance centers in Drushnaja and Stari Lepel, the infrastructure for the resettlers has now improved significantly.
Cooperation with the upper level college in Bielefeld
Since 2004 there has been a cooperation between the association and the Upper Level College at Bielefeld University (OSK) . Every summer around 10 colleagues from the OSK travel to Belarus with one of the house building camps. However, they do not take part in the actual building of houses, but rather go into the vicinity of the resettlement settlement and work on houses and land for old and single people.
The project has two main directions: On the one hand, it should serve to counter any tensions between the old-established residents of the villages and the new residents or to prevent them from arising. The situation between long-established residents and resettlers is often characterized by a large disparity in living conditions. While the houses built by Heim instead of Chernobyl have an almost western standard, the living conditions of the elderly are often poor, for example there is often no running water and no renovation or maintenance work has been carried out on the houses for decades. In order to counteract this situation, the project groups provide assistance to the elderly in the village. Depending on the needs and wishes of the elderly, fences are built, gardens are prepared (also to enable cultivation again), floors and walls inside are renovated, roofs or walls are sealed or the like.
The other important aspect of the project work is the cultural dialogue that is initiated by the work between Belarusians and Germans. This is primarily about reconciliation and understanding work against the background of the two world wars. The vast majority of the people who are supported by the project are single women, many of whom lost their husbands and not a few large parts of their families during World War II .
Cooperation with the Protestant youth work region Bünde Ost
As part of the humanitarian organization Heim-statt Tschernobyl eV, the youth work camps of the evangelical youth region Bünde-Ost, in the Republic of Belarus in the Narotsch and Lepel regions, in the north of the country with survivors of the two world wars have been held annually since 1996. During the three-week construction assignments, in which German and Belarusian young people between 13 and 18 years of age offer help and support to the survivors of the wars - mainly old people, needy people and people living alone - the young people renovate the apartments and carry out minor repairs on the house and yard . In doing so, they sustainably improve the living conditions of the elderly and people in need. Through the constant search for contact with the people already living there, mutual reservations are reduced.
Historical processing
Since the beginning of 2001, members of Heim-instead of Chernobyl have been working on the events and consequences of the First and Second World Wars for the area of the Narach region and the district around Lepel in Belarus.
The starting point were various finds during construction work in the new village of Druzhnaya on Lake Narach . This village is on the old battle line of the First World War. A small collection has been put together in Druzhnaya which documents the events of the war. There is also documentation about the war graves in the vicinity.
Contacts and discussions with the residents of the surrounding villages drew attention to the events of the Second World War - the destruction of the villages, partisan struggles and forced labor. Our working group now has more than 50 documents, books, excerpts from source studies, draft texts and documentation as part of the processing.
The Belarusian partner organizations
IggV ÖkoBau
The "International non-profit-social association ÖkoBau" (IggV ÖkoBau) was founded in 1999 as a registered association under Belarusian law with its seat in Minsk , Belarus and recognized by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus. The purpose of the statutes is to minimize the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe in the Republic of Belarus and to provide social rehabilitation for affected citizens based on an all-round analysis of the causes of the disaster.
The tasks of IGGV ÖkoBau are:
- Development, implementation and participation in the humanitarian programs and projects to solve questions about the resettlement of people from the territories contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster, questions about ecological, social building and housing, energy supply and energy saving, questions about the social adaptation of the affected population.
- Improvement of the ecological knowledge of the citizens, technical teaching to promote the development of a favorable environment.
From the beginning a partnership with the German association was intended. The starting point of the cooperation was to create the necessary structural prerequisites in Belarus in order to be able to effectively implement the intended projects of the German association in Belarus and to be able to take on responsibility for it. A strong local presence was and is essential for this.
EcoDom Stroj
At the beginning of 2006, at the instigation of the government in Belarus, all economic activities from non-profit organizations had to be transferred to a separate company. The IggV ÖkoBau association has therefore founded the subsidiary ÖkoDom Stroj and this is responsible for all assets related to economic activities - e.g. B. the two wind turbines - transferred and also integrated the corresponding employees into the new company. Today, ÖkoDom Stroj is perceived as a competent authority for ecological and energy-saving building in Belarus.
Today's business areas are:
- ecological and energy-saving construction
- Sales, installation and service of systems for the generation of renewable energies such as solar and photovoltaic systems, pellet systems and wind turbines
- Operation of the two wind turbines owned by the company
- Harvesting of reeds and the production of reed mats and reed for the resettlement houses, increasingly also on the free market
- Consulting and training in the field of ecological building, energy saving and the extraction and use of alternative energies
The vast majority of employees in the company are resettlers from the Chernobyl area and residents of the new villages. With the know-how for the business areas presented, an awareness of a rethinking should be awakened in society. In addition, in the areas of ecology and energy generation and use, alternatives to energy generation from nuclear power plants are to be shown.
Collaboration with the Syrinx flute ensemble
For many years the Syrinx flute ensemble from Belarus worked with Heim-statt Chernobyl and helped to raise funds for the construction of houses for resettlers from the contaminated regions of Belarus. Every two years the ensemble went on tour through Germany and gave benefit concerts in ten different cities and communities across Germany.
The ensemble members, consisting of students and graduates of the Belarusian State Music Academy in Minsk, are exclusively winners of national and international music competitions and, as far as they have completed the Conservatory of Music, play as professional musicians in the Belarusian State Theater for Opera and Ballet, in the Belarusian Philharmonic as well as in other large orchestras in Belarus.
Awards
- Marion Dönhoff Award (2003)
- Main prize of the "Filippas Engel Foundation" (2008)
- German Solar Prize (2011)
- Waltraud Netzer Youth Prize (2014)
- Energy Globe National Award (2014)
- Humanitarian Cooperation Award (2018)
literature
- Wolfgang Belitz: Gustav von Bodelschwingh - The "earth building pastor" from Dünne . Lit-Verlag, Münster 2007, ISBN 3-8258-0469-0 , p. 219 pages .
- Melanie Arndt and Margarethe Steinhausen: We had to start from scratch . Luther-Verlag, Münster 2011, ISBN 978-3-7858-0596-1 , pp. 160 pages .
Web links
- Home instead of Chernobyl official homepage
- Flute Ensemble Syrinx official homepage
- International youth work camp official homepage
- The German street - houses for the Chernobyl victims
- Bielefeld Upper School College