Since 1994, Hewson has been a patron of Chernobyl Children's Project International (shortened to Chernobyl Children International in 2010), an organisation founded and run by Roche that works with children, families, and communities that continue to be affected by Chernobyl. Through the years, Hewson has taken at least ten trips to Belarus and other nations in the region despite the risk to her health. She has organised overland aid convoys and sometimes driven ambulances filled with medical supplies herself; in one case she had to retreat quickly when a fire spread in a village a few miles from Chernobyl. Hewson has made sure her own children met those from Chernobyl with birth deformities and other illnesses, so that they would have a broader appreciation of the world and what to be thankful for. She has said that fundraising for those affected is very difficult, given that many people believe the problems of Chernobyl are all in the past.