All of their income goes to Russia to pay for fuel. The agricultural system is collapsing. Serious shortages of food are common. At times there is no sugar. Milk was unavailable for weeks at a time last winter.
Wild mushrooms flourish in a forest in Belarus.
Despite their poverty, many people have dachas, or cabins, away from the city. The whole economy depends on this. Grandparents often live in them and grow food for the whole family. The contaminated territory was marked off and evacuated, but people, out of sheer necessity, have farmed on land they know is harmful. Forests closed to the population due to health risks have been broached by folks harvesting mushrooms and berries, which absorb cesium from the soil, Simpson said.