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01 June 2006 18:38

Ukraine 3000 marks Children’s Day

On June 1, International Children’s Day, the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation held a ceremony to send a Manifesto of Responsibility to governments and heads of nongovernmental organizations.

The Manifesto is intended for the future. Our children will live in that future to carry out policies and principles of the document and so were asked to send it. (The Manifesto was sent by children living with cancer.) They outlined their positions as follows:

Lesson One: We must always be honest and strive to hear the truth.

Lesson Two: When resolving pressing problems, we must always think about those who will live after us.

Lesson Three: We are conscious that no nation can resolve their problems alone, so all nations should unite for the sake of children’s future. We urge the governments of all countries to:

• always remember that the world community should TOGETHER care about children’s health and future generations;
• admit that the number of ill children has considerably increased due to the Chornobyl accident;
• make sure all countries of the world appreciate the need to help regions affected by the Chornobyl disaster and, more importantly, children living in those regions.

An exhibition of artworks by children with cancer was held during the ceremony. Then they put handmade clay storks in nests to symbolically urge the birds to always come back home. (Many nests in Ukraine's contaminated areas have been empty for years.)

Accompanied by the Revutsky boy choir, Taras Petrynenko and Tetyana Horobets, performed “God, Forgive Us.” The ceremony was staged by director Taras Hrymalyuk.