Louth Rose Aoife returns from 'emotional' trip to Belarus

Our 2017 Louth Rose Aoife Heffron from Dundalk, has just returned from an emotional volunteering trip to an Orphanage in Belarus with Adi Roche's Chernobyl Children International.

Aoife, a graduate in creative media, accompanied the 2017 Rose of Tralee Jennifer Byrne, Adi Roche and 26 fellow roses for a week of caring for the children in Vesnova Childrens Mental Asylum, where victims that are still being born with dreadful deformities and illnesses are sent to by the countries authorities.

The Roses' misson was to provide one to one attention to the children who are left very much alone all day with feeding and nappy changes being the only attention they get and to bring smiles to their faces. They saw some harrowing scenes but managed to bring an air of happiness to many of the children and had many of the units in the Orphanage buzzing with excitement.

While there, the roses were also shown some of the projects that Adi Roche is responsible for such as "Homes of Hope" where healthier children are fostered to a loving family instead of being admitted to orphanages or other institutions and also Community Care programs where, with Adi's and the people of Irelands help, they manage to assist parents to look after their own sick children at home without the necessity to give them up to an instituition.

The trip to Belarus has been a life changing experience and incredibly emotional.