Children born in the aftermath of the worst nuclear accident the world has ever seen are still feeling the effects more than 20 years after it happened.

Youngsters in Belarus breathe in polluted air and eat infected food every day, but just one month away from their country could add two years to their lives and people in Bristol could help them to do this.

The Bristol link of the national charity Chernobyl Children's Life Line is looking for people who are willing to open their homes to children from Belarus for either two or four weeks this summer.

The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 saw a reactor explode at the plant in the Ukraine, sending radioactive fallout over a huge area of eastern Europe. The radiation cloud was carried north over Belarus, where 70 per cent of the nuclear fallout landed.

The ground was heavily contaminated and will continue to be for thousands of years. The people of Belarus live with radiation all around them. They drink contaminated water, wash with it and often eat food grown in the affected earth because that is all they can afford.

The children stay with host families in the UK for a month and are given health treatment and foods to build up their systems, as well as being taken on trips and excursions that they would never be able to experience at home.

Host families just need to offer a room and meals. Interpreters travel with the children and they are always available to help.

Doctors in Minsk, the nation's capital, say that the four-week respite break can add up to two years to the children's life expectancy.

There are branches of Chernobyl Children's Life Line all over the country and tens of thousands of children have benefited from its work, not just for health reasons, but also as a respite from the poverty in which many live.

The Bristol link is looking for host families who can open their home to children for two or four weeks from mid July to early August this year.

Anyone who can help can email Andy March at pr.bristol@ccll.org.uk, or visit the website: www.ccll.org.uk/bristol to find out more.