The creative power of friendship and mutual assistance

The international project "Construction of a medical and preventive institution in an ecological and energy-efficient design for primary healthcare of the population in Lepel district" has been successfully completed: yesterday, the solemn opening of a paramedic-midwife station and a service house for a medical worker took place in the village of Stary Lepel.

It is unlikely that our German partners know the Belarusian word "toloka". Nevertheless, it is with an international "toloka" that an entire settlement is being built in Stary Lepel for displaced persons from the Chernobyl zone. Houses are being erected using ecological technologies, and the village itself is growing with other social facilities. A couple of years ago, a cultural and educational center was commissioned here, and now there is an opportunity to significantly improve medical care for the residents of this and about a dozen other nearby villages.

The new building, with an area of 156 square meters, includes a reception room, physiotherapy, examination, and treatment rooms. Landscaping has been done and a barrier-free environment has been created for people with disabilities. The paramedic-midwife station is heated by a pellet boiler and a solar collector, and illuminated by energy-saving LED lights – funds for this were allocated within the framework of the Small Grants Programme of the UN Global Environment Facility. Part of the medical equipment was purchased through donations from private individuals – the collection was organized by the German charitable organization "Häuser statt Chernobyl" (Houses instead of Chernobyl), and part by the central district hospital. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, German charitable public organizations, and the Lepel District Executive Committee also participated in the project implementation. Volunteers – young people from Germany and Belarus – provided significant assistance, and this year Italians joined them.

Incidentally, at the meeting held at the district executive committee, a very important aspect of the participation of young people from different countries was highlighted, not only in the implementation of the project, but also in relations between peoples: they are learning to understand each other and are thinking about a happy future for humanity.

The new FAP will serve about a thousand residents, including many elderly people and veterans, 30 young families with children who arrived in the Lepel region from areas contaminated as a result of the Chernobyl NPP accident, schoolchildren of the Starolepel school, children from the local kindergarten – all of them need constant qualified medical care and regular examinations.

An important aspect: along with the FAP, a new house with all amenities and five rooms has been commissioned. This is service housing and it is intended for medical workers. This will help solve the problem of shortage and frequent turnover of medical personnel in the countryside: specialists often leave villages due to lack of housing and underdeveloped infrastructure. The symbolic key to the new rural medical facility was solemnly handed over to the acting chief physician of the Lepel district, Ilya Shendolesov.

The celebration was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to the Republic of Belarus, Wolfram Maas, Deputy Governor of the Vitebsk Region, Vladimir Terentyev, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Igor Kachanovsky, Chairman of the Lepel District Executive Committee, Boris Efremov, and his deputies, Chairman of the District Council of Deputies, Nikolai Misyura, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the International Non-Governmental Association "EcoDom", Bernd Kemper and Yuri Suprinovich, Board Member of the Public Association "Houses instead of Chernobyl", Gero Müller, and other German guests, representatives of the Department for Humanitarian Activities of the Office of the President of the Republic of Belarus and the UNDP, and other officials, volunteers and guests. On behalf of the grateful residents of Lepel, a veteran of labor, Galina Sergeevna, spoke. The solemn opening was accompanied by the flute ensemble "Siring" from Minsk, which had repeatedly helped our German friends collect donations for the construction of facilities in Staroye Lepel, and amateur performers prepared a wonderful concert.

The project participants expressed their hope that the FAP building, constructed using ecological and energy-efficient technology, will become a model project and find application in other rural regions of Belarus.

Elena Telyatko.

In the photos: 031 – Wolfram Maas, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Belarus, Boris Efremov, Chairman of the Lepel District Executive Committee, and Vladimir Terentyev, Deputy Governor of the Vitebsk Region; 077 – a souvenir photo of fruitful joint work on Belarusian soil.

Photos by the author.