Inspirational Adi Roche and Ali Hewson honoured for tireless Chernobyl work
We’re no strangers to Adi Roche and Ali Hewson’s tireless work with the children of Chernobyl, so we were delighted to see they were yesterday honoured with Honorary Doctorates of Letters from the University of Limerick.
Adi Roche, who set up charity Chernobyl Children International (CCI) in 1991, began working in Chernobyl in the immediate aftermath of the nuclear accident, while Ali Hewson, CCI board member and activist has been deeply involved with the charity over the years.
Under their passionate leadership, CCI has delivered over €100 million of humanitarian aid to Chernobyl, and has brought over 25,000 children to Ireland for rest and recuperation. As well as this, over 3,500 children have had life-saving treatments through CCI’s world-recognised cardiac programme.
The pair were also instrumental in exposing the plight of the victims of the Chernobyl accident with the critically acclaimed documentary Black Wind, White Land. Previously the extent of the fallout had been clouded in secrecy and deception by the Soviet Union.
Adi and Ali believe that it is a basic human right to have a family and a place to call home, and so believe institutional care is a human rights violation.
To this end they have brokered and adoption agreement with Belarusian authorities on behalf of the Irish government to ensure that the children of Chernobyl could be adopted in Ireland, as well as developed programmes that advocate for the rights of children. Their collaborative work aims to eventually shut down orphanages and state-run institutions in stricken regions.
“Ali and I are really just the front people, but around and behind us we are surrounded by an army of people,” Adi said as they received the honour.
“This is honouring all of them. We are the voices but, really, they are the foot soldiers, they are the life blood, they are the bones on the body of the charity.”
We’re in awe of these amazing Irish women. Their selfless work has improved beyond measure the lives of countless vulnerable children who desperately needed someone to speak for them.