Each year, Doris Naeher can't wait for the summer. A former Fairfax resident now living in Gainesville, Naeher and her husband, Wil, have been hosting two sisters from Belarus for the past seven years.
"They become like our grandchildren," Naeher said. "We love them, and we want to do what we can for them."
The two Kravchenkco sisters, Yanya, 13, and Elona, 14, are part of a larger group of about 70 children who come to Northern Virginia every summer as part of a program established by the national nonprofit Children of Chernobyl.
Several area churches, including Naeher's church, Fairfax Presbyterian, participate in the program by providing host families, programs and health care and airfare for the children to stay in Northern Virginia.
"It's something in the world that needs to be done," said Naeher on her church's involvement with the program. "There's so much need in the world, and these are some of the things we can do."
THE AIM of the program is to provide health recuperation respite for the children. Although the Kravchenko sisters were not yet born when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in Ukraine in April 1986, the environment, soils and produce in that area remained polluted years after the accident.
By coming to the United States, the sisters and their peers benefit from dental checkups and from eating produce that wasn't grown in polluted farmland.
"It has been found that if we can get the children out of the polluted environment, for say, six weeks or so, they can go back to Belarus, and it gives their immune systems a boost," Naeher said.
The children also take advantage of the fun that host families and the congregations provide. This summer, Fairfax Presbyterian hosted eight children, and since their arrival in July, they have gone to music camp and Bible camp, Kings Dominion, museums and a shopping mall.
"The congregation is so supportive," said Fairfax Presbyterian Church member Megan Lyons, who with her husband, Jim, organizes children to stay with Fairfax Presbyterian host families. The Lyons family also hosted two children when the program at the church started seven years ago. "They think it's such a worthwhile program."
While the program's purpose is to serve the children, it also impacts the host families who take care of the children during their stay. The Naehers have hosted Yanya and Elona for seven years because they have enjoyed watching them grow up.
"They've become lovely, intelligent girls," Naeher said.
Yanya replied that she also enjoys coming to see the Naehers, and like any typical teen-ager, said she liked getting clothes and going to Kings Dominion.
"I help Nona," said Yanya, speaking of Doris Naeher.
Fairfax Presbyterian plans to continue hosting children for more summers to come.
"You really fall in love with these kids," Lyons said.