Theft or accident? Radioactive contamination!

While Tanja searches for an Internet connection in the village of 3,000 lakes, I sit in the hot room in front of my laptop and ponder the wording of our experiences. It is already 4 p.m. when there is a knock at the door. Ivan and Johann enter and greet me in a friendly manner. “Sorry, I couldn’t stop by yesterday. I was at a family party with Lena. I drank a bit too much vodka,” says Ivan with a groan, rubbing his temples. “It’s not a problem. We went to bed early anyway because we were tired,” I reply, laughing at the pained look on his face. “Oh, by the way. The Austrians left at lunchtime today and took a blanket with them.” “What? You’re joking, aren’t you?” I say. “No, no, I’m not joking. My cleaning lady just told me. She usually checks the rooms immediately after the guests have left. It always happens that someone steals something. But she didn’t expect it with the young, good-looking couple from Europe.” “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. A traveler from Europe degrades himself to a deck thief? Especially in such a poor country. They know what it’s like here. Maybe it was an accident?” “I don’t think so. One of my employees saw them down by the river. They were lying on the blanket.” “Well, maybe they put them in the car by mistake and then left them there?” Johann suspects. “Could be. It doesn’t matter. I’ll just buy a new blanket. I’ll have to train my staff a bit better in the future. In some hotels, the cleaning lady gets the damage caused by theft deducted from her salary,” explains Ivan.

Radioactive contamination!

“Tell me, I’ve heard that in the past, large parts of the Kazakh population were exposed to radioactive radiation from nuclear tests. Have you heard anything about this?” I ask. “Oh, that was back in the days of the USSR. That’s a long time ago,” says Johann. “But the radiation remains.” “Yes, but the nuclear tests were near Semipalatinsk, which is a long way away.” “Yes, according to my map it’s about 1350 kilometers from here as the crow flies. That’s far, but not far. On our journey, we will come within 250 kilometers of this place. That’s a bit worrying, isn’t it?” “I don’t know, Semipalatinsk is a big city full of people. They’d all have to be sick if that’s true.” “Well, think about it, most of the Soviet atomic bomb tests were carried out there. From what I’ve read ? over 300 underground and a few above ground. Since then, there has been a significant increase in cancer cases. So it does affect these people directly. The danger is simply that the radiation doesn’t hurt immediately. Maybe that’s why people don’t give it much thought,” I reply. “In my opinion, you’re looking at it too anxiously. The tests have been stopped there since 1991 and, from what I know from the newspapers, the site was finally rendered unusable and closed in 2000 with the help of the Americans by sealing the last test tunnels.” “That doesn’t mean that there’s still a lot of radiation there,” I reply.

“You’re traveling through Rudnyi the day after tomorrow. Aren’t you?” “So what? What’s in Rudnyi?” “The place is said to be contaminated even though no tests have been carried out there.” “How contaminated?” I ask, startled. “Well, when the Japanese travel to Kustanai by bus and pass through Rudnyi, their little meters go off. Because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they travel with small Geiger counters. When they get close to Rudnyi, they force the bus driver to turn back,” he explains, laughing heartily. “How do you know this story?” “Well, lots of people here know it. Word gets around. We’ll soon be driving through Rudnyi every day and we don’t have cancer. Lots of people live there too and they’re not ill. We just live with it. Who knows what they do there? There are mining companies digging in the ground everywhere. There are huge mountains of rubble all over the area. It all comes out of the belly of the earth. In some places there are huge holes a hundred meters deep. That’s where they work in open-cast mining. They don’t tell us what they’re doing there. I know, for example, that there was a big stone at the entrance to the village. A kind of obelisk. It’s supposed to have shone. Today the stone is gone,” explains Johann. “As far as I know, Kazakhstan is one of the top ten uranium-producing countries in the world in terms of uranium ore extraction. Maybe they mine uranium ore there?” I ask. “Perhaps. We don’t know.”

Something different!!!

Dear reader of our diary!

Please don’t forget our green streak. We don’t want to be intrusive, but it has only grown a little in the last few weeks. Together with you, we want to give life to 25,000 trees during our Trans-East expedition. One tree for every kilometer covered. A tree costs only ? 5,-. The trees are used to regenerate degraded and non-viable forests in Germany. We need healthy primary forests. This means that there are hardly any surviving primeval forests left. Forests are being cleared all over the world. We want to do something about this with our joint efforts. Giving something back to Mother Earth that we take away every day. We believe that the children of future generations should also have a chance of survival. Please help us to create something. So that people in the future will still be able to hear birds chirping and stand in the shade of a tree.

You can find information about the Green Vein on our website.
www.denis-katzer.com

The donations do not benefit us financially in the slightest. Everything you give goes to Mother Earth!!! We guarantee this with our life project and our name.

Donations are very welcome at:
Bergwaldprojekt e.V.
Keyword:Green vein
GLS Community Bank
SORT CODE 43060967
Account number 8022916200

Mother Earth is alive!

We look forward to your comments!