Family looking forward to Nastia coming back ‘home’
30 FAMILIES ACROSS CORK WILL OPEN THEIR HOMES TO CHILDREN FROM CHERNOBYL FROM THIS WEEEND
THERE will be a warm Macroom welcome to 17 year-old Nastia Sivakova, who lives in Belarus. Indeed, Cork’s famous reputation for hospitality will be take centre stage again as 30 families from the city and county open their hearts and homes to children from the Chernobyl affected region of Belarus for month-long rest and recuperation holidays.
The children are part of a group of 135, all of them with serious illnesses and disabilities, who are being brought to Ireland by Adi Roche’s Chernobyl Children International (CCI). They will arrive at Shannon Airport this Friday afternoon, June 23.
They will be welcomed by host families from 13 counties across the country. The families, who are volunteers with CCI, have spent thousands of hours fundraising since last Summer to bring these children to Cork for vital respite care.
Amongst the children arriving is 17-year-old Nastia Sivakova, who lives in a CCI pioneered Independent Living Facility on the grounds of a state-run institution in Belarus. In this state-of-the-art complex, Nastia has the ability to work with occupational therapists, nurses and teachers to enhance her ability to care for herself in the hopes of one day being freed from an institutionalised life. Each year Nastia travels from Belarus to stay with her West Cork family, Sharon and Danny Lynch and their sons from Macroom.
Over the years the Lynch family have developed a special bond with Nastia, who is considered one of the family. Nastia comes to Ireland twice a year, in summer and at Christmas, and Sharon often visits her at Vesnova throughout the year.
Nastia was abandoned to an institution in Belarus as a baby. She has cerebral palsy and until CCI’s intervention, had never been outside the walls of the institution. She had never experienced simple things like the wind. Since she started visiting Ireland seven years ago as part of CCI’s Rest and Recuperation Programme she has blossomed. Her visits to Ireland have given her many opportunities, her language skills have improved and she has learnt English, more importantly it has given her the sense of family Nasta had been missing.
“We have been hosting Nastia since she was an eight-year-old, shy, timid little girl. Watching her grow into a beautiful, hardworking and determined young lady has been an honour and privilege for my family. We know that with alot of love and support from us that Nastia will achieve even more of her goals. The excitement and anticipation of her arrival next week is unreal. Becoming Nastias host family has made us more compassionate and appreciative of what we have and is one of the best things we have ever done,” said Sharon and Danny Lynch.
The Summer Rest and Recuperation Programme gives the children, who come from impoverished backgrounds and state-run institutions, a health-boosting reprieve from the toxic environment and high levels of radiation to which they are exposed. This is due to the ongoing recontamination of the environment by Forest fire in the effected regions.
Studies have shed much needed light on the benefits of Rest and Recuperation to the children who live in some of the world’s most radioactive contaminated lands in the Chernobyl affected regions.
Host families from 13 counties all over Ireland welcomed the children today for the start of their month-long, life-prolonging respite holiday, during which time radiation levels in the children drop by nearly 50 per cent and up to two years is added to their life expectancy.