Their eggs made by Ukrainian artisans sell like hotcakes. For the 29th year, the association “Les Enfants de Tchernobyl” is selling 30,000 “pysanky” for the benefit of the victims of the Chernobyl disaster, and a fortiori, of the war in Ukraine. The solidarity operation has met with unparalleled success. The recipes – €120,000 if all the eggs find buyers – will be used to finance actions on the spot, once access to the country has been made possible.
“It’s a real tidal wave, people feel very concerned about what happened, they all want to help, this is particularly the case this year”, testifies Brigitte Riegert, coordinator of the operation. Indeed, at the Marmoutier Easter market, these multicolored wooden eggs, turned, painted and lacquered by hand and sold for four euros each do not remain on the association’s display shelves for long.
“They are very beautiful !”, exclaims Stephanie approaching the stand with her seven-year-old daughter. She leaves with two brightly colored eggs. “If everyone does the same, a small donation here, another there, we can do a lot. We are all very sensitive to that, to these images that we see on television. It is shocking, especially children who find themselves without parents. Myself having a little girl, I imagine, alone. It pains me a lot”.
Out of stock
Behind the checkout, Régine Anstott, member of the association, notes this outpouring of solidarity and empathy every day : “We are victims of our success, we are almost out of stock”. You have until Monday, April 18 to unearth the last eggs offered for sale by the association.
Until now, the main mission of “Children of Chernobyl”, founded in 1993, was to help the populations, particularly the children who live in the region contaminated by the fallout from the Chernobyl disaster. “This year, the reception is compromised by geopolitical conflicts, continues operation coordinator Brigitte Riegert, but in any case, we will continue to help them as soon as we have access to the country. We will try to intervene to bring them help, in the hospitals, to bring healthy food, etc.