Relationships forged through events such as the Journey to Chernobyl and fundraisers, as well as through various interactions with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, allow for the ongoing introduction of FOCCUS and it’s mission to new audiences. In particular, FOCCUS’ contacts with teachers, which continue to expand in numbers and importance, present valuable opportunities to reach young Americans. To better capitalize on these teacher connections and help advance FOCCUS’ goal to expand public education about Chernobyl, last spring FOCCUS launched TEACH: To Educate About Chernobyl. TEACH strives to incorporate content about the nuclear disaster into elementary through high school curricula and targets public school teachers as major agents for accomplishing this.
Initially, TEACH will build on The Memory Project (www.thememoryproject. org), an international campaign that arranges for children in orphanages, who grow up with no tangible personal history (including pictures of themselves in their early years), to have their portraits painted by students in high school art classes. TEACH will work with orphanages in Ukraine and Russia that are also served by FOCCUS-supported
Community Centers to photograph orphans. Funds have been sent to the FOCCUS-supported Community Centers in Ukraine and Russia to purchase cameras and to provide computer services needed to participate in a project in which photos will be sent to students in art classes who will transform them into painted portraits during the spring 2006 semester. Advantages from this project accrue to all participants. The children will have a unique and personalized record of themselves that they would not otherwise have. The Community Centers will strengthen relationships with the people in the areas they serve. And FOCCUS will continue to build relationships with teachers who are in a position to “teach” their students about Chernobyl as they engage in The Memory Project.
