Playgrounds are springing up in Belarussian orphanages courtesy of Irish people embarking on working holidays to help improve the lives of the children there, writes Alison Healy.

Some people spend their holidays lying on a beach or hill-walking. Others spend that time buying shoes for Belarussian orphans or taking them to the opticians. A growing number of people are using their holidays to travel to the east European country to work with orphanages.

The Chernobyl Orphanage Development Programme (CODP) has already refurbished two orphanages and has provided playgrounds for 6,500 children. It aims to have installed playgrounds in the country's 57 orphanages by next year.

Journalists rarely get involved in the stories they cover, but this project began six years ago after Sunday Times business writer Tom McEnaney travelled to Belarus on an assignment for his then employer, the Sunday Tribune. He accompanied a group of carpenters and plumbers who were refurbishing the Grosovo orphanage for 200 children, through the Waterford-based Chernobyl Aid Ireland.

"When I was over there, I couldn't just wander around with a notebook, so I took on my own project," he recalls. The former civil engineering student set up the Model Room - a space where children could learn how to make model aeroplanes.

The Model Room was next door to a classroom so he got lots of curious young visitors. "When I took a break, I had one on my shoulders, one on either hand, one holding on to the seam of my trousers. It's kind of hard to walk away from that. The only appropriate reaction, for me, was to go back and do something about what I'd seen."

He returned six months later with some friends and decided to tackle the orphanage's run-down farm. On hearing that the children had never received a visit from Santa Claus, the Irish visitors decided to return for Christmas. They raised money from friends and contacts and went shopping in Belarus with a wish-list of fishing rods, watches and soft toys.

The charity has a strict policy of buying aid in Belarus where possible. This makes the funds go further, and also helps businesses in Belarus. Also, if an appliance breaks down, it's easier to source the parts or to bring it back to the shop. The volunteers also hire workers out there, reasoning that their own talents lie in organisation, not in plastering and plumbing. The CODP operates on zero costs, with no office or administration bills. Not only do volunteers pay for their own flights and accommodation in Belarus but they must also raise at least €5,000 if they want to make the trip. More than 20 people have now travelled to Belarus to work on the project, most of them on return visits. Volunteers include friends, relatives and people from the business community. "Friends of mine used to warn each other to be very careful about going for drinks with me because the next drink you would end up having would be vodka in some really dodgy bar in a remote part of Belarus," says McEnaney. "And it's kind of true."

A typical day of the "holiday" starts at 7 a.m. and could involve buying a plough, measuring children for shoes or haggling over the price of 200 beds. But his favourite project involved putting in a playground in Dyatlovo - the second orphanage they adopted.

"To see the children of Dyatlovo about three days after the playground went in was just something else. Children who were listless and relatively lifeless were now jumping around screaming, having a great time. They had been terribly under-stimulated. They had no toys, art materials, very few pens, no paper.

"They had these old Russian books, but Dostoyevsky is no more attractive to a 10-year-old Belarussian child than it is to an Irish child."

After seeing the success of the playground, the volunteers vowed to replicate it in all 57 orphanages. They have now built 28 of these, at a cost of under €4,000 each. "We were hoping to get the other 28 in this year but the fact is we have run out of money," he says. The grass playgrounds include swings, slides, sandpits, see-saws and a big carousel. They are built to last, he says, as they are made by a factory in Minsk, which used to make tanks for the Russian army. Volunteers tell him that their Belarussian experience has been the most fulfilling thing they have ever done.

"One can go to the sun, or take a week off to do DIY around the house, but spending your holidays doing charity work in somewhere like a remote part of Belarus is a different experience," McEnaney says.

"The benefit of that week stays with you the whole year round. You may be tired when you return, but you will be smiling."

Donations can be made to the project's Bank of Ireland account, number 538 07879, sort code 90 00 33. For more details phone: 086 608 5454.