Adi Patricia Roche (born 11 July 1955) is an Irish activist, anti-nuclear advocate, and campaigner for peace, humanitarian aid and education. She founded and is CEO of Chernobyl Children's Project International. She has focused on the relief of suffering experienced by children in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Early life Adi Roche was born in Clonmel, County Tipperary in 1955. After finishing secondary school, she went to work for Aer Lingus. She left in 1984 to work full-time as a volunteer for the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. She devised a Peace Education Programme and delivered it in over fifty schools throughout Ireland. In 1990, she became the first Irish woman elected to the board of directors of the International Peace Bureau at the United Nations in Geneva. Chernobyl Children International In 1991, Roche founded the Chernobyl Children International, to provide aid to the children of Belarus, Western Russia and Ukraine following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. The organisation works in the areas of international development as well as medical and humanitarian aid. It works with children and families who continue to be affected by the disaster. Under Roche's leadership, Chernobyl Children International (CCI) has delivered over €105 million to the areas most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and has enabled over 25,500 children affected by the Chernobyl disaster to come to Ireland for vital medical treatment and recuperation. CCI's 'Homes of Hope' programme provides an alternative to state institutions through the use of 30 homes that have been purchased and renovated. This is the equivalent of closing two orphanages in Belarus. It takes children out of orphanages, and places them in loving homes of their own. CCI has built and equipped the first ever baby hospice in Belarus. CCI has provided expert training to the staff to ensure the best care to patients. CCI pioneered the ground breaking adoption agreement between Ireland and Belarus, on behalf of the Government of Ireland. This agreement allowed hundreds of children to be adopted into Ireland. Mental health and disability development: Since 1986 there has been a marked increase in children being born with mental and physical disabilities. CCI has pioneered the Human Rights of people incarcerated in institutional care. This is at the very heart of the CCI mission. 4,000 life-saving cardiac surgeries have been performed and enabled over the last fifteen years in collaboration with Dr.